U/20 trials an important starting point

ANDREW POOLMANNewly appointed head coach Chrysander Botha accepted the challenge of putting together the strongest possible Namibian under-20 rugby team after the trials held in Windhoek on Saturday.About 80 players participated in trial matches at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Saturday, with Botha expressing satisfaction with the potential on display.“We obviously have a lot to work on in terms of conditioning and improving basic skills, but a lot of good came out of these trial matches.“Players put their hands up and in general were looking quite fit and strong. I feel we have time to prepare and that we are in a strong position for the challenge ahead.”Botha, former fullback and Namibian record holder for the most test tries, said about 12 members of last year’s squad still qualify as under-20 and are expected to form the core of the group preparing for Rugby Africa’s annual Jean-Luc Barthes tournament to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, in April.Frikkie Engelbrecht, a hooker who toured with the senior national team to the World Rugby Stellenbosch Challenge last November, could not attend the trials, but still qualifies as under-20.Meanwhile, the bulky inside centre Kian Fransman is sure to miss the Kenya tour while still in rehab following a knee operation.The upcoming tour presents a very important starting point to restore the integrity of the pipeline of talent feeding into the senior national team.Significant opportunities for player growth and development have gone to waste with Namibia only playing minimal schools’ rugby during the past two tears of the Covid-19 pandemic, while the scheduled national U/20 tours were also cancelled.Add to this the fact that Namibia has been left out of the Under-18 Craven Week since 2017, and has not been part of South Africa’s senior provincial competitions since the SuperSport Challenge in the first half of 2018.Rugby Africa’s Jean-Luc Barthes U/20 tournament serves as a continental qualifier for one team to progress to that year’s World Rugby U/20 Trophy tournament.The selected training squad will be announced pending NRU board approval. Below are the two teams that contested the final trial match on Saturday (bracketed are the regions where each player was born, not necessarily where they currently reside):POSSIBLE A TEAM1 Jano Otto (Otjozondjupa), 2 Franko Pearson (Khomas), 3 Lucky Mauha (Kunene), 4 Conville Draghoender (Hardap), 5 Christiaan de Sousa (Otjozondjupa), 6 Ray-Eez Feris (Hardap), 7 Gregory Namaseb (Kunene), 8 Alexander Jansen (Erongo), 9 Enrique Husselmann (Hardap), 10 Adriaan Steenkamp (Erongo), 11 Constantine Mazibuko (Khomas), 12 Raschano van Rooi (Khomas), 13 Owen Hawanga (Khomas), 14 Janes van Zyl (RSA), 15 Bavin Kotzee (Erongo).Replacements: Dominic Diedericks (Otjozondjupa), Lister Cochrane (Omaheke), Shuuveni Imbondi (Khomas), Niel Holtzhausen (Erongo), Geraldo Beukes (Khomas), Ethan Koopman (Erongo).POSSIBLE B TEAM1 Jorries Afrikaner (Khomas), 2 Friedrich Grobbelaar (Otjozondjupa), 3 Iyambo Tshuuya (Otjozondjupa), 4 Henri Rossouw (||Kharas), 5 Luca Cindano (Khomas), 6 Rowan Jansen (Erongo), 7 Riaan Grové (Khomas), 8 Joe Losper (Hardap), 9 Oela Blaauw (||Karas), 10 Nathan Isaacs (Erongo), 11 Quirione Majiedt (Khomas), 12 Michael Tjazerua (Erongo), 13 Jonathan Hanekom (Omaheke), 14 Keanan Januarie (Khomas), 15 Hendrick van Schalkwyk (Khomas).

U/20 trials an important starting point

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Republikein 2026-02-24

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U/20 trials an important starting point

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