Burger is face of Namibia’s fighting spirit

BRENDAN GALLAGHER traces the rugged history of Nambian rugby as it celebrates 150 years

THE Namibian Rugby Union are celebrating their centenary this season although in keeping with a wonderfully ad hoc and slightly eccentric rugby nation they are one year late. Officially the festivities were postponed in 2016 – a lack of money was possibly the reason after the coffers were emptied to get their team to RWC2015 – although one prominent member of that team informs me with a chuckle that actually everybody just forgot.

No matter, the continued existence of the Namibia rugby team with scarcely 1,000 senior players in total, is always something worth celebrating. They might not set the Test world alight but, considering their gossamer-thin playing resources and finances they still put most other nations to shame. True amateurs taking on the professionals and having a good time on the way.

Rugby was introduced into what is now Namibia by South African and British troops in 1916 soon after what was German South West Africa had been invaded the previous year. The Damaraland Union was formed in 1916 and South West Africa became a South African Province until independence in 1990.

It was always a rugby outpost rather than hothouse but they provided opposition for the Lions on every tour between 1955 and 1980 with an honourable 23-16 defeat against Willie Jon McBride’s side in 1974 probably their best performance.

There were a couple of strapping Namibian backs who played for South Africa in 1950s without ever threatening to become permanent fixtures in the Boks team. Silas Swart scored a try on his solitary Test appearance against the 1955 while Lofty Fourie scored a cracker during his second and final Test when South Africa lost 9-5 to France in 1958. Again, defeat didn’t go down well with the Boks selectors and he was axed from the squad.

The Namibian nonpareil, until the arrival of Jacques Burger, was another destructive flanker in Jan Ellis who was South Africa’s first choice openside for 11 seasons forming a legendary partnership with Piet Greyling for much of that time. As well as being as fast as a gazelle, a good handler, natural try scorer and a savage tackler Ellis was fiery in the extreme.

If not suffering from a chip on his shoulder exactly, there was definitely the feeling that Ellis had made his way in the rugby world the hard way with South West Africa and that nobody had ever done him any favours. Certainly, Doc Danie Craven always believed that cussedness was what made Ellis a force of nature and one of the great Springboks ever.

“There’s an excitement and energy about playing for

Namibia that is difficult to explain”

That triumvirate of Silas, Fourie and Ellis are generally recognised as the three Namibians who made good with South Africa. Another modern day Namibian – the controversial Henry Tromp –won Springbok caps after a senior career spent playing in South Africa. Some also point to Percy Montgomery who was born in Walvis Bay, the only safe anchorage on Namibia’s wild west coast, while even more tangentially the great Frik du Preez spent a good deal of his life living in Namibia.

Ellis played in useful South West sides but the highwater mark for Namibian rugby was undoubtedly the late 80s and the first couple of seasons of independence which came to the country in 1990. While still South West Africa they competed every year in the Currie Cup –when it really was a roaring world class tournament – first in the B Division and then the A with a best finish of third in 1989, a campaign which included a famous win against a full strength Western Province at Newlands.

From that team the skipper Gerhard Mans and the volatile but brilliant Andre Stoop were true international class – in fact the latter could have been a world star had he taken the Springboks route – and during those early years there were narrow series defeats at home to Wales and France and outstanding series wins over Ireland and one of Italy’s strongest ever sides.

Namibia were undoubtedly ball park in the Test arena but it was still an uphill battle. Namibia was off the beaten track and an inconvenient and expensive place to tour while they themselves could not afford the trips to Europe they needed to develop and keep apace of a rapidly changing game.

After the summer of 1993, when Wales were again given a good run for their money in Windhoek, Namibia did not get to play a single game against a T1 nation until the 1999 World Cup when they lost 47-13 to France in Bordeaux.

Nor did they get to play another T1 Nation before the 2003 World Cup. And so on. It’s a familiar story for the minnows of Test rugby.

Namibian rugby has found itself in a peculiar cycle. Four years of playing, and usually beating, T2 and T3 opposition in Africa – the likes of Madagascar, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Tunisia and Kenya – followed by the short, sharp shock of a World Cup where suddenly they will lining up against the All Blacks and other giants.

It’s absolutely no way to develop long term but it’s the cards Namibia have been dealt with and they love their rugby enough to accept that. They have yet to win a game in the World Cup, the closest call being their 17-16 defeat against Georgia in 2015 although probably their best performance was a battling 32-17 defeat against Ireland in 2007.

In just one sense Namibia are lucky. Africa is not a developed rugby continent and perennially they are strong favourites to claim that second World Cup qualifying spot behind the Springboks. There is always something massive to aim for to energise each generation of players but equally there is always that day of reckoning when reality sinks in and Namibia realise the size of the task ahead of them.

In more recent years Jacques Burger has clearly been their talisman and, along with Ellis, the most accomplished and proven Test player in Namibian history. He did it the hard way playing for Griquas in South Africa and then Aurillac in Pro D2 and the Blue Bulls before Saracens swooped.

For eight years Burger put his body on the line like no other for Sarries while never neglecting his homeland. While operating virtually on one leg, he was still named as one of the five players of the tournament at RWC2011 and in the subsequent four years he defied medical science to overcome a succession of ‘career ending’ injuries to help Saracens to domestic and European titles and again captain Namibia at the 2015 World Cup.

“There is a lot of athletic talent in this nation, we must harness it properly”

“There’s an excitement and energy about playing for Namibia that is difficult to explain,” says Burger.

“Everybody in the team and the squad has done it the hard way and made sacrifices to be there. When I was playing we always knew that we faced incredible odds playing some of the big guys at World Cups like New Zealand or South Africa or France – that on the scoreboard we would take a beating – but that never depressed us or embarrassed us.

“The only thing that mattered was that we play to the best of our ability and, of course, flying the flag for our nation. We never failed in that respect and the fantastic support we always seemed to attract tells me that rugby people always acknowledged our efforts.

“I was incredibly proud of playing for Namibia and the big challenge now is to somehow make sure we can keep competitive in the coming decades. There is a lot of athletic talent in this nation, we must harness it properly.”