Spectacular Tri-Nations on cards

The Land of the Brave is set to host a spectacular Tri-Nations Rugby Series, judging by the itinerary the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) unveiled in the build-up to the event. The NRU has been joined by Windhoek Draught in hosting the second such event in two years at the Hage Geingob Stadium from November 8-16. The other two teams participating alongside Namibia confirmed as Kenya and Zimbabwe. Tough competition is also expected on the field of play as the three countries, along with Madagascar, are all part of the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) pool 1A group of teams that will play the final round of 2015 Rugby World Cup qualification matches. The winner will join South Africa as African participants in London. The Windhoek Draught Tri-Nations Rugby Series will thus provide an opportunity for all three teams to prepare for the very important CAR 1A tournament, which is set to be hosted in June/July next year. Zimbabwe is set arrive in Windhoek as early as tomorrow, with a view to acclimatising to the local weather ahead of the opening test of the series against Namibia on November 8. The last time these sides met was at the Tri-Nations series in November 2012, where Namibia was the winner by 37-33. Namibia will have their test players like Andre Schlechter, Jaco Engels, Tinus du Plessis, Rohan Kitshoff, Eugene Jantjies, Darryl de la Harpe, Sergio de la Harpe, Theuns Kotze, Heinrich Smit and Chrysander Botha in action during the Windhoek Draught Tri-Nations Rugby Series. The Namibian coaching team has opted to select all the professional test players who were victorious in Senegal in June 2013 where Namibia beat Senegal and Tunisia convincingly to be promoted to the CAR 1A pool. "We want to keep the consistency in the team and build with the senior players to provide confidence and exposure to the younger players in the squad. The team is preparing to win the CAR 1A tournament in 2014 and to participate in RWC 2015 in London. The mindset is thus to get the right team together and prepare to win our first game at a RWC," said Sybrand de Beer, chief executive officer of the NRU. "We invite all rugby supporters to come and support our team on Friday evening. Our team has worked very hard during the last 12 months and they want to show their fans and the Namibian community the progress they made since the last Tri-Nations Series," De Beer added. Entrance for all the matches in the series will be charged at N$20 per adult and all children under 18 will be able to enter free of charge. Meanwhile, Kenya is expected to arrive in Windhoek this Sunday with their first match being against Zimbabwe on November 12. The last match of the series will be played between Namibia and Kenya on Saturday, November 16 in what is expected to be a fun day full of rugby festivities which will kick-off with a Get Into Rugby (GIR) tournament at 8:00. Teams from Katima, Rundu, Oshakati, Walvis Bay, Windhoek and Keetmanshoop will participate. On the day, a sevens tournament will also kick-off and players can show off their skills and speed to spectators. This is in addition to pre-match games that will be played between Namibia’s U/20 team and the Namibia Invitational team at every one of the matches. The Vice-President of CAR, Dave Gilbert, will also visit Namibia and attend the test between Namibia and Zimbabwe.