Van der Berg to wear 13 against Senegal today

Notwithstanding a slightly experimental look to its backline selection, Namibia will be favoured to comfortably get past Senegal in their opening match of the all-important 2025 Rugby Africa Cup / 2027 Rugby World Cup qualifier in Kampala today.The Namibians under head coach Jacques Burger arrived in Uganda yesterday morning. Today at 13:00 (Namibian time) will be the kick-off of their campaign against the West African team that finished sixth at last year’s Rugby Africa Cup in Kampala.In 2024, the Senegalese lost 17-36 to Kenya, beat Ivory Coast 25-8 and lost the fifth-place playoff to Uganda (31-34).In four previous meetings Namibia has never lost a rugby test match to Senegal. Their close calls however included their first-ever visit to Dakar in 2008, under flank Jacques Niewenhuis as captain and John Williams as coach, with Namibia surviving 13-10 in a World Cup qualifier.Four years later, Namibia under coach Danie Vermeulen and with Tinus du Plessis as captain struggled to another 20-18 win in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Madagascar.The nations had a rematch in 2013 in Dakar, with Vermeulen and captain Pieter-Jan van Lill recording a determined and ultimately comfortable 35-12 win.Senegal’s first visit to Windhoek in 2017 became a humbling 0-95 drubbing handed out by Phil Davies’ squad under the captaincy of Rohan Kitshoff, who is now a national assistant coach.Well prepared“Definitely, winning the tournament is every team’s goal,” said Namibia’s captain Prince !Gaoseb at yesterday’s captains photo shoot in Kampa.“We had good preparations – played Uganda, played Italy. It just depends on the day, who is eager to win. Last year one of our biggest setbacks was the set-pieces, and being clinical. “It’s a very competitive tournament, and I think that is a good thing for African rugby.”For Senegal captain Demba Kane, facing one of Africa’s giants is nothing short of inspiring. “Namibia is a very good side, they are the benchmark in Africa. It’s always a massive thing to test yourself against them,” he said.Centre pairingThe selection of André van der Berg at outside centre will have raised some eyebrows from Namibian fans, who know him largely as a fly-half or fullback. In his first season as a professional player in France’s Federale 1 league, Van der Berg did make some appearances at inside centre over the last few months with US Limoges. Van der Berg’s move from fullback to replace Alcino Izaacs is one of the changes from the team that lost to Italy two weekends ago.The returning Cliven Loubser also brings experience and creative attacking abilities to the 15 jersey, while Danie van der Merwe and Jurgen Meyer is retained after satisfactory outings in their difficult test debuts against Tier One side Italy.Oliver Kurz will be the only debutant in the starting lineup, moving in as Johan Retief’s lock partner. The 22-year-old Kurz, who joined from Rissho University in Japan, played in two of the warm-up matches, against Uganda and the Pumas.Veteran hooker Torsten van Jaarsveld adds some pedigree to the Namibian bench, along with centre Le Roux Malan who arrives from another successful season with the USA’s first-ever three-time champion franchise, the New England Free Jacks.Namibia15 Cliven Loubser14 Danie van der Merwe13 André van der Berg12 Danco Burger11 Jurgen Meyer10 Tiaan Swanepoel9 Jacques Theron8 Adriaan Booysen7 Max Katjijeko6 Prince !Gaoseb (captain)5 Johan Retief4 Oliver Kurz3 Aranos Coetzee2 Louis van der Westhuizen1 Jason BenadeBench: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Otja Auala, 18 Haitembu Shikufa, 19 Adriaan Ludick, 20 Armand Combrinck, 21 Andrew (AJ) Kearns, 22 Alcino Izaacs, 23 Le Roux Malan.BroadcastAll matches will be broadcast live by official partner NBS Sport (https://nbssport.co.ug), while also streamed globally on RugbyPass TV and the Rugby Africa Facebook page.09:00, Zimbabwe v Morocco.11:00, Algeria v Ivory Coast.13:00, Namibia v Senegal.15:00, Kenya v Uganda.

Van der Berg to wear 13 against Senegal today

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