Currie Cup campaign a success: Theron
The acting CEO of the Namibia Rugby Union, Elizma Theron, says the Windhoek Draught Welwitschias' Currie Cup 2017 campaign was a huge success as the team demonstrated a big improvement compared to last year.
Speaking to Nampa on Tuesday, Theron said the team was on track to achieve the goals set at the beginning of their participation in the competition last year.
Theron said the NRU knew that they would face huge challenges when they accepted the invitation to play in the Currie Cup, as they relied on amateur players while their opponents used professionals.
“Last year was a rude awakening for us, but the improvement is evident as we won our first match in the tournament this year (beating Eastern Province 51-25 here) and we came so close to winning two or three other matches,” Theron said.
She added that the union worked on a four-year cycle with the main aim being world cup qualification.
“We set ourselves [the goal] of reaching the semi-finals of the Currie Cup by the third year of participating in the tournament and definitely next year we will do that.
“We also wanted to improve the depth of our players by exposing as many of them as possible international playing standards and we are doing that,” she added.
She said by playing in the Currie Cup, the Namibian players were slowly gaining confidence and experience in competing at the highest level.
She added that while the competition has been good for the national team, it has not been good for the local rugby league as the Welwitschias have had to fight for players with local clubs who are competing in the Gold Cup.
“We are going to structure the local league in a way that will allow all teams to compete properly without fighting for players,” Theron said.
She added that the Currie Cup has helped change the mind-set of local players who have taken part in the tournament as they now handle themselves professionally, although they are amateurs.
She paid tribute to coach Lyn Jones, whom she said had brought a vision, focus, belief and professional way of training, explaining that players did not believe they could compete with their South African counterparts before his appointment; a belief that has since changed.
The Currie Cup First Division is the second tier of the Currie Cup competition, an annual South African rugby union competition organised by the South African Rugby Union.
Namibia played seven games, winning one and losing the rest to finish seventh out of the eight teams in this year's competition.
In last year's competition, the Welwitschias lost all five games.
NAMPA
Theron said the NRU knew that they would face huge challenges when they accepted the invitation to play in the Currie Cup, as they relied on amateur players while their opponents used professionals.
“Last year was a rude awakening for us, but the improvement is evident as we won our first match in the tournament this year (beating Eastern Province 51-25 here) and we came so close to winning two or three other matches,” Theron said.
She added that the union worked on a four-year cycle with the main aim being world cup qualification.
“We set ourselves [the goal] of reaching the semi-finals of the Currie Cup by the third year of participating in the tournament and definitely next year we will do that.
“We also wanted to improve the depth of our players by exposing as many of them as possible international playing standards and we are doing that,” she added.
She said by playing in the Currie Cup, the Namibian players were slowly gaining confidence and experience in competing at the highest level.
She added that while the competition has been good for the national team, it has not been good for the local rugby league as the Welwitschias have had to fight for players with local clubs who are competing in the Gold Cup.
“We are going to structure the local league in a way that will allow all teams to compete properly without fighting for players,” Theron said.
She added that the Currie Cup has helped change the mind-set of local players who have taken part in the tournament as they now handle themselves professionally, although they are amateurs.
She paid tribute to coach Lyn Jones, whom she said had brought a vision, focus, belief and professional way of training, explaining that players did not believe they could compete with their South African counterparts before his appointment; a belief that has since changed.
The Currie Cup First Division is the second tier of the Currie Cup competition, an annual South African rugby union competition organised by the South African Rugby Union.
Namibia played seven games, winning one and losing the rest to finish seventh out of the eight teams in this year's competition.
In last year's competition, the Welwitschias lost all five games.
NAMPA
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