Jacques Burger takes the reigns from Allister

The erratic three-year era under Allister Coetzee as head coach and director of rugby officially drew to a close yesterday when the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) unveiled highly-regarded former national captain 41-year-old Jacques Burger as its director of rugby.

Chrysander Botha (36), backline coach of the 2023 Rugby World Cup team and former test full-back and wing, has been confirmed as the head coach to replace former Springbok coach Coetzee (61).

The task of preparing for the July 2025 Rugby Africa Cup in Uganda’s capital Kampala looms large for Namibia, with the upcoming tournament serving as the qualifier for the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia.

Losing to a highly confident Zimbabwe last July for the first time in two decades and surrendering the Rugby Africa Cup crown delivered an untimely blow to the confidence of Namibian rugby fans.

The appointment of Burger, Botha (former national try-scoring record holder with 28 in 50 tests) and assistant coaches Rohan Kitshoff (39, former Western Province captain and loose-forward), Jaco Engels (43, former Blue Bulls prop) and David Philander (37, eleven tries in 30 tests) is expected to inject a new wave of youthful energy, passion and pride in the jersey. Between the five of them, all have played in two or three World Cups.

NRU president Petrie Theron told Sport Wrap that the NRU board has been in negotiation with World Rugby (the main financier of Namibia’s head coach position) throughout the process of appointing Coetzee’s successor shortly before the end of his contract in December 2024.

“We discussed all the new appointments in depth with World Rugby. They understand our motivations and support our decision. We want to show a greater level of faith in Namibia’s current generation of emerging coaches, to invest more into our locally-based pool of coaching talent than had been the case in previous World Cup cycles.

“We express our thanks to Allister for his efforts and we wish him success for the future.”

The NRU this week called up a selection of players for a national training camp under the new coaching regime.

However, Namibia will not be in action during the November 2024 window period for test rugby and will rely on a schedule of friendly matches against South African franchises such as the Bulls and the Stormers to prepare its squad for the task of World Cup qualification.

Theron explains: “Our union does not have money available to go on an overseas tour. We’ve had to make a pragmatic decision to consider which is more important – a tour that will be expensive given the exchange ate and the current economic situation of our country, or to maximise our preparation towards the 2025 RWC qualifier in Uganda. We have decided to focus on securing matches next year against opposition of the same, or even better, quality.”

Open to learning

Burger said: “As a coaching unit, we are not naive and we are open to learning from outside experts and keeping ourselves updated with changes and relevant at the top levels. Alongside the NRU we will make sure we get the right people in at the right times.

“We are still working on ensuring more match time for our local boys against quality sides. The cohesion in the squad once players from abroad are called up will be of vital importance; giving the squad enough time together to develop the team culture. We talk a lot about it, but believe me it is important for team mates to care for one another, to become friends, to bleed together, handling the good and the bad together.

“If we stay humble and keep working hard, I’m really excited about the talent of the group of players we can put together. Not only the professional players abroad, but even those locally. We want to do everything in our power to bring them to the training field together as often as possible, even though that is also a challenge in our current everyday reality.”

ALLISTER COETZEE’S SCORE CARD WITH NAMIBIA

03 July 2021, lost to Ivory Coast 13-24 (World Cup qualifier) in Abidjan.

07 July 2021, beat Madagascar 52-10 (World Cup qualifier) in Abidjan.

14 Nov 2021, beat Kenya 60-24 in Stellenbosch.

21 Nov 2021, beat Zimbabwe 41-10 in Stellenbosch.

01 July 2022, beat Burkina Faso 71-5 (World Cup qualifier) in Marseilles.

06 July 2022, beat Zimbabwe 34-19 (World Cup qualifier) in Aix-en-Provence.

10 July 2022, beat Kenya 36-0 (World Cup qualifier) in Aix-en-Provence.

12 Nov 2022, lost to Spain 15-34 in Madrid.

19 Nov 2022, beat Canada 43-37 in Amsterdam.

05 August 2023, lost to Uruguay 18-26 (Nations Cup) in Montevideo.

12 August 2023, beat Chili 28-26 (Nations Cup) in Valpairiso.

09 Sept 2023, lost to Italy 8-52 (Rugby World Cup) in St. Étienne.

15 Sept 2023, lost to New Zealand 3-71 (Rugby World Cup) in Toulouse.

21 Sept 2023, lost to France 0-96 (Rugby World Cup) in Marseille.

27 Sept 2023, lost to Uruguay 26-36 (Rugby World Cup) in Lyon.

20 July 2024, beat Burkina Faso 38-5 (Africa Cup) in Kampala.

24 July 2024, lost to Zimbabwe 10-32 (Africa Cup semi-final) in Kampala.

28 July 2024, beat Kenya 38-27 (Africa Cup bronze final) in Kampala.

Non-test appearances

25 June 2022, lost to Italy A 21-43 (RWC warm-up) in Cape Town.

29 July 2023, lost to Argentina A 27-34 (Nations Cup) in Montevideo.

26 August 2023, lost to Vodacom Bulls 30-43 (RWC warm-up, Windhoek).