New faces in Team Namibia
New faces in Team Namibia

New faces in Team Namibia

Limba Mupetami
The Namibian rugby union has named a 28-man squad for the upcoming Nations Cup tournament in Montevideo, Uruguay from 10 to 18 June.

This tournament, as well as their participation in the Rugby Africa Gold Cup 2017 during July, serves as preparation for qualification for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Half the team is still under 25 years of age as five new faces join the fray. The new recruits are Mahepisa Tjeriko, Johan Retief, Justin Newman, Lesley Klim and 19-year-old flyhalf Cliven Loubser.

The team consist of ten local players and 18 foreign-based players and will be captained by Blue Bulls loose forward Renaldo Bothma.

New recruit Tjeriko said it was a shock when he received the news that he was in the team.

“It is up to me to go out there and show everyone what I got. I have a lot of work to do in the gym in preparation for the tournament. I have represented Namibia in the under- 20 Cup and I don't fear any team at the moment because we have strong, experienced players guiding us,” he said.



The squad is as follows:

Props: Casper Viviers, AJ de Klerk, Collen Smith, Johannes Coetzee and standby Andries Rousseau.



Hookers: Torsten van Jaarsveld, Louis van der Westhuizen, Shaun du Preez and standby Gerhard Lötter.



Locks: Tjiuee Uanive, Janco Venter, Ruan Ludick, Mahepisa Tjeriko and standby: Muniovita Kasiringua



Backrow: Wian Conradie, PJ van Lill, Renaldo Bothma (captain), Johan Retief, Christo van der Merwe and standby Leneve Damens



Scrumhalves: Eugene Jantjies, Damian Stevens and standby Cameron Klassen



Flyhalves: Theuns Kotze (vice-captain), Cliven Loubser and standby MP Pretorius.



Centers: Darryl de la Harpe, JC Greyling, Justin Newman, Johan Deysel and standby Francois Wiese.



Back 3: Johan Tromp, Lesley Klim, Gino Wilson, Chrysander Botha and standby David Philander.

LIMBA MUPETAMI

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-06

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