Namibia desperate to win first World Cup match
The southern African nation are rightfully proud of a successful qualifying record but have lost all 22 matches at the actual tournament.
It is something they will be looking to redress and will be targeting victory over Uruguay in their last Pool A game in Lyon on September 27th as their best chance for a first World Cup win.
They meet hosts France, former champions New Zealand and Italy in their other games and have little chance of beating any of them.
Namibia are playing at a seventh successive World Cup, firmly entrenched as the second best team from the continent and dominating the African qualifiers.
Close ties with neighbours South Africa give them an advantage over the rest of the growing number of nations competing in the African preliminaries.
Their squad has a handful of players involved in the Currie Cup and will not lack experience with 16 players from the 2019 World Cup in Japan back for another tilt.
That includes the lock PJ van Lill, who returns for a fourth World Cup and captain Johan Deysel who will take part in his third.
They have been strengthened by the inclusion of flanker Richard Hardwick, who played two tests for Australia in 2017 but has since switched allegiance. He is Namibia-born but grew up in Perth and plays Super Rugby for the Melbourne Rebels.
"I just took things in my own hands - there's a few things in my life that I'd love to accomplish before retiring so the opportunity came up last year in November to go over and play for Namibia and potentially get a crack at a World Cup so I wasn't going to wait around," Hardwick said.
South African coach Allister Coetzee is in charge, having previously coached the Springboks for two years before being sacked in 2018. He took Namibia on a lengthy tour of South America over the last weeks to prepare for the World Cup.
"The never-say-die attitude of the team has really been a stand-out point for me. None of the games started well, but we finished strongly and came back. That is something you cannot coach, to question the ‘why’ of the team. That positive attitude is there and hopefully we can take it into the World Cup as well," he said.
