Welwitschias anticipating the Portuguese challenge tournament

 By Michael Uugwanga 

FOLLOWING a heavy 90-8 defeat at the hands of the South African franchise, the Vodacom Blue Bulls, last weekend, the Welwitschias are set to battle it out with Portugal on July 13.

The Welwitschias coach, Allister Coetzee, at a press conference on Tuesday, appeared to be so relaxed ahead of the Portuguese test; despite witnessing his side’s poor showing against the Blue Bulls, Coetzee promised the Namibian fans that this time around, his side would put up a good show.

 The match against Portugal will also be the national team’s first international appearance since the Rugby World Cup in France last year.

“Players will be playing for the budge on their jersey. We know where we are. We are playing against a quality side that is ranked number 16 in the world and I think we are currently sitting on number 23 in the world. So Chile beating Hong Kong the other day means that they would want to climb above us. For us is a process going forward as we want to make sure that, this is the step of the next cycle. Playing this kind of a test match is enough. Make no mistake this (Welwitschias) side is improving. We did not bring in a lot of outside international because we believe that we need to give a lot of guys (local players) opportunities and exposure,” said Coetzee.

Coetzee, who also previously coached the Springboks of South Africa, knows the financial challenges the Welwitschias currently face, which has seen the team struggling to play international matches regularly compared to the rest of other top tier 2 rugby-playing nations like Namibia.

Coetzee has a contract with the Welwitschias until the end of this year, having been in the hot seat since 2021.