TOKYO – Namibia coach Phil Davies has named his team for the Pool B match against South Africa at the impressive City of Toyota Stadium on Saturday, 28 September.
Namibia made 10 changes to the starting XV who lost to Italy last Sunday.
Only captain Tjiuee Uanivi, Cliven Loubser, JC Greyling, Chad Plato, and Johan Tromp return. This is the second most changes they have made in-between RWC matches. The Welwitschias made 11 changes when preparing for Argentina on four days rest at RWC 2015.
Eugene Jantjies will extend the Welwitschias' all-time appearances record to 68.
Namibia's Eugene Jantjies is appearing in his fourth Rugby World Cup, a rare feat. Photo: Christiaan Kotze/BackpagePix
AJ De Klerk is in the starting XV of a World Cup match for the first time. He has previously featured in three, all coming off the bench.
Peter John Walters - who became the first player since 2011 to make his test debut for Namibia in a World Cup match when he came off the bench against Italy – will now start at inside-centre.
JC Greyling is the most prolific try scorer for Namibia since the last Rugby World Cup with 17. No other Namibian player has scored more than 12 in that period. Lesley Klim and JC Greyling are among only six players to score at least four tries for Namibia in a single test match in the professional era.
Namibia first qualified for the Rugby World Cup in 1999. Since then, they have played in every tournament to date. They opened their 2019 account against Italy last Sunday – their 20th Test in RWC history – and the Azzurri won 47-22.
Legends!
Eugene Jantjies competing in his 4th World Cup and Italy's Captain Sergio Parisse in his 5th 💪🏽. pic.twitter.com/hlEEfRHe6Y
— Namibia Rugby (@namibia_rugby) September 23, 2019
Saturday’s Test match between South Africa and Namibia will only be the second between the two countries in a Rugby World Cup Tournament.
The referee is Mathieu Raynal of France. This will be his 24th Test match as a referee. The Assistant referees are Nic Berry of Australia and Andrew Brace of Ireland while Graham Hughes, from England, will be the TMO.
The Namibia team to play South Africa is:
15-Johann Tromp, 14-Chad Plato, 13-JC Greyling, 12-PJ Walters, 11-Lesley Klim, 10-Cliven Loubser, 9-Eugene Jantjies, 8-Adriaan Booysen, 7-Max Katjijeko, 6-Thomasau Forbes, 5-Tjiuee Uanivi (captain), 4-Johan Retief, 3-AJ de Klerk, Louis van der Westhuizen, 1-Desiderius Sethie.
Replacements:
16-Obert Nortje, 17-Andre Rademeyer, 18-Johannes Coetzee, 19-Prince Gaoseb, 20-Janco Venter, 21-Wian Conradie, 22-TC Kisting, 23-Johan Deysel.