Namibia to stand tall against Springboks

Namibia are well aware of the challenge posed by world champions South Africa but there is no shortage of self-belief ahead of their Pool D match at North Harbour Stadium on Thursday.

"Hopefully you've not seen the best of us," Namibian captain Jacques Burger said at the team announcement. "Hopefully we can do better than we've done in our previous two games. We've got a lot of good players in our team and we can do a lot better.

"I really believe in my team and we can give South Africa a good show."

Namibia coach Johan Diergaardt has made six changes to the side that lost 49-12 to Samoa, with Jacques Nieuwenhuis at number 8, joined by Marius Visser, Bertus

O’Callaghan, Nico Esterhuyse and Tinus du Plessis in the forwards, while Heine Bock comes in on the left wing.

Nine of the Namibian starting XV played in the sides' only previous meeting, a warm-up match prior to Rugby World Cup 2007. On that occasion South Africa showed little mercy in their 105-13 victory, but Namibia scrum half Eugene Jantjies says his side is more than ready for the rematch.

"There might be some players with fear but they shouldn't be scared because we've been preparing for the game for four years,” he said.

Added threat

Bryan Habana’s return from injury poses an added threat on the fringes for the Namibians but coach Diergaardt says there is no specific plan to contain the speedy South African wing.

"If we start looking into names, then we have to look at 22 names, because I believe all 22 of them are good players,” he said. "We just have to play as a team against 15 players."

While Burger is realistic about his side’s chances, the Namibian captain knows self-belief will be crucial to putting in a good performance, regardless of the score.

"That's a massive part of playing against the top sides,” he said. “You've got to believe you can compete against them and you've got to believe you can beat them even though the odds are against you a lot of the time. You've got to be up for it every time.

“They are the world champions, they are a great side. It’s going to be very tough to beat them but we’ve got to be positive and play like a team who want to win and wants to improve.

“We want to show people that we can play rugby, that we can compete against good sides. If we can get the guys going and get their confidence up I believe we can do well.”