All Blacks show Namibia respect
New Zealand want to improve on Argentina effort against African side
COACH Steve Hansen, pictured, has challenged the All Blacks to raise the bar in their second Rugby World Cup match against Namibia today, despite fielding a second-string side against the lowest-ranked team at the tournament.
New Zealand opened their title defence with a hard-fought 26-16 victory by their firstchoice team over Argentina at Wembley and move across London to the Olympic Stadium to face the Africans in Pool C.
“One of the things that we pride ourselves on is trying to improve our performance from the previous one,” Hansen told reporters yesterday.
“We have a line in the sand as far as the game against Argentina goes. The group going out now (today) have to change that line to a higher performance level. It does not matter who we are playing.”
Like every coach of a rugby heavyweight facing one of rugby’s less powerful nations, Hansen was asked what lessons he has drawn from Japan’s upset of the Springboks last weekend.
“We can’t just assume that Namibia will lie down because they won’t. They will be proud men and will come out and give it everything they have got,” he added.
“We will give Namibia total respect because that’s what they deserve as another playing nation. Rugby is a funny thing and sport is a funny thing. If you don’t prepare properly then you can get a hiding.”
Although the 20th-ranked Namibians have never won a match in four previous appearances at the Rugby World Cup, they do have a player that most teams at the World Cup would happily draft into their team in loose forward Jacques Burger.
“He is a pretty special player,” Hansen said. “He is totally committed. If you are going to be in his part of the park and you are carrying the ball then you’d better get ready to get smashed.”
Dan Carter opened the tournament at flyhalf against the Pumas and Beauden Barrett will wear the New Zealand No10 shirt against the Africans, which leaves Colin Slade as clearly the third choice stand-off.
Slade gets a chance to show his versatility at fullback today and is happy to have a game, even if not being able to press his claim in his favourite position is a little frustrating.
“I leave it up to the coach, mate,” Slade said.
“I’m comfortable anywhere and just looking forward to the challenge. It’s not ideal but you roll with it.
“We prepare well enough every week, regardless of whether we are playing. If I get that opportunity I am ready to go.”
Saracens loose-forward Burger will captain a Namibia side laced with World Cup experience for their daunting game.
Coach Phil Davies named his 23-man squad on Tuesday for the first ever meeting between the sides, including 10 players with previous experience at the global tournament.
Burger is by far the most high-profile as he plays in his third World Cup, along with scrumhalf Eugene Jantjies and loose-forward Tinus du Plessis.
“We want to start building momentum with the rest of the tournament in mind and for each match we will use a 23man strategy in order to sustain an 80-minute performance required at this level,” Davies said. “We have also looked at the World Cup as a fourmatch programme and have full confidence in our 31man squad to reach our goals.”
One of those goals is to win a first ever World Cup match having been defeated in each of their previous 15, conceding 974 points in the process.
Even the most optimistic Namibian fan would be hardpressed to form an argument for that to happen in this fixture, but with games against Georgia and Tonga to come, a competitive showing against the world champions would build confidence.
“It’s the ultimate challenge in rugby but I am pretty confident we’ll give a performance,” Burger told reporters.
“Realistically, we can’t really look at the scoreline.
“We should obviously try to win, that’s the way we play, but it’s all about what we can take away from the special moments during the match.
“Like keeping them for 10 minutes on our goal-line, or putting together a couple of sets of play, or breaking their line and scoring a great try.”