Form guide points in tourists Portugal’s favour

All those difficult to quantify factors – such as the effect of Windhoek’s infamous high altitude on energy in the second half, or the motivational support from a patriotic home crowd, fighting spirit or tactical decision-making in every moment – are what makes Saturday’s big rugby test against Portugal at Hage Geingob Stadium so intriguing.

In a test match week that already saw Namibia name a severely depleted side to face the Europeans, mishaps on the training field further delved into coach Allister Coetzee’s new-look test side.

Lock Adriaan Ludick was forced to withdraw from the starting lineup this week, as scans revealed a minor hamstring tear after he felt discomfort when pulling away on a kick chase on the training field.

Adriaan (12 tests) will be replaced by his older, taller brother Ruan (26 tests) in partnership with Johan Retief at lock, while Mahepisa Tjeriko of Unam (12 tests) will take over the 19 jersey on the bench.

Additionally, newly appointed Namibia captain Prince !Gaoseb also suffered a hand injury at training which put him in the “doubtful” category late in the week. The 26-year-old flank is set to take over the reigns for the first time in the absence of the test team’s established leadership of recent years that consisted of Johan Deysel, Tjiuee Uanivi and Torsten van Jaarsveld, all members of the “three World Cups” club, or Pieter-Jan van Lill (four World Cups). These four veterans captained every Namibian test teams since the start of 2019.

However, with Namibia’s geographical seclusion contributing to its scarce exposure to big test matches compared to any European nation, the Welwitschias will be extremely motivated to grab this golden opportunity against a fast-emerging rugby nation – who since November 2018 has gone from 24th to their current 16th world ranking.

In contrast, Namibia, despite better placings at certain stages, finds itself in the identical spot (23rd) this week as it did in November 2018, when Darryl de la Harpe captained the side to a 29-23 win in Lisbon in the last meeting between the two nations.



PLAYERS TO WATCH

Portugal’s Nicolas Martins (selected at flank on Saturday), Hugo Camacho (scrum-half) and Manuel Cardoso Pinto (full-back) were named in the European Rugby Championship dream team following the 2023-2024 series which ended in March this year.

However, Portugal’s results in the series also show that they are not unbeatable. Belgium achieved a 10-6 home win in February, before the Portuguese recovered with a 54-7 domination of Poland and a 49-24 win against Romania in Bucharest.

This placed them into the semi-final, where they eliminated neighbour Spain (33-30) before Georgia overpowered them 36-10 in the cup final in Paris.

Under new coach Simon Mannix (former All Blacks fly-half), Os Lobos (The Wolves) nevertheless have a healthy core of their exciting 2023 World Cup team that beat Fidji, drew with Georgia and maintained 20-point losing margins against Australia and Wales.



DEPTH

With three debutants in Namibia’s starting team (fullback Jay-Cee Nel and wings Lloyd Jacobs and Quirione Majiedt) and another five on the bench with no caps between them, it will be insightful how much Allister Coetzee will make use of his replacements on Saturday.

Reserve hooker Armand Combrinck (Namibia U20 this year) had his 20th birthday last Friday, the youngest member of the Namibia test squad, while Majiedt is 21 years old.