NamibiaSport

2010 saw the Namibian Welwitschias win the IRB Nations Cup for the first time in history after maintaining a 100 percent winning record in Bucharest, Romania in June.

They beat, Romania in their opening match 21-17, in their second match they beat Scotland A 23-20.

On the final day of the tournament Italy A needed to win against the hosts for them to take home the title but lost out to Romania 27-22 to hand the Namibians, who were playing against Georgia on the same day, the trophy.

The Namibians went all out and managed to beat the fellow World Cup qualifiers 21-16 in a match that was very physical.

On their return to Namibia a very jubilant Johan Diergaardt, the coach of the Welwitschias thanked the team for their performance.

“I want to thank the team for the character they showed. They showed great courage and strength when they came from behind in all three games to win. I also want to thank them for listening to what I told them,” Diergaardt said.

“Winning the cup means a lot to us, we are just grateful that we got the chance to participate in the tournament,” Diergaardt said.

“This crop of players has the potential to become a great team,” he continued.

“Next year we will participate in the Vodacom Cup in preparation for the World Cup and we will also participate in the Nations Cup. But hopefully we will be able to get more friendlies to help in our preparations for the World Cup,” he added.

Their captain, Jacques Burger, who plays professional rugby for the English side Saracens said that winning the cup would impact positively on the team ahead of the World Cup that will be held in New Zealand in September and October 2011.

“We are a lot better now after participating and winning the tournament. This was a real boost going into the World Cup next year,” Burger said

Namibia was drawn in the same group as the South African Springboks, Wales, Samoa and their first match will be against Fiji on September 10.

In the later part of the year the Welwitschias went to Europe where they faced Spain and Portugal in November.

In their first match they lost 33-20 to Spain and then they went on to lose 24-12 to Portugal the following week.

Before they participated in the Nations Cup, the Welwitschias took part in the Vodacom Cup in South Africa but only managed to win one out of their seven matches in their provincial North Section setting.

The team will in 2011 participate in the third-tier competition as the only amateur side of the competition.