Neighbours South Africa and Namibia will go head-to-head on Saturday the 28th of September. Darry Worthington previews the all-Africa World Cup derby below.
A much-changed Springboks side will be looking to make a statement when they take on African minnows Namibia. The ‘Boks have a solid record against their opponents running up some mammoth scores over the years. Will it be carnage yet again out in Japan or will the Namibians keep things respectable.
South Africa v Namibia
Saturday 28 September
Toyota Stadium
11:45
To Win (80 Mins)
South Africa N/A
Draw 40/1
Namibia 20/1
Handicap
South Africa (-60.5) 9/10
Namibia (+60.5) 9/10
South Africa
The ‘Boks got their World Cup campaign off to a bit of a disappointing start as they went down by ten points to arch-rivals New Zealand. The result has seen their chances of topping their pool go to pieces, and Erasmus men will have to take the hard road if they are to make this year’s final.
While there were mitigating circumstances for the ‘Boks defeat – the officiating at scrum time was questionable, to say the least – there were facets of their game that cost them dearly. The area that was of most concern was their box kicking with livewire scrumhalf Faf de Klerk having a seriously off day with the boot.
De Klerk may need to watch his back as Herschel Janjties, who will start this weekend, is waiting in the weeks and an impressive performance against Namibia may force De Klerk out of the starting XV.
Janjties will link up with his namesake Elton in the 9/10 combo this weekend, with Frans Steyn coming in outside of Elton. Other changes to the backlines see Warrick Gelant come in at fullback and Sbu Nkosi given a shot on the wing.
There are also numerous changes in the forward pack with the most intriguing seeing veteran hooker Schalk Britz shift to the number eight berth.
Namibia
Like their neighbours, Namibia also opened their campaign with a disappointing defeat as they went down 47-22 to Italy. The men from West Africa actually gave a very good account of themselves in the opening half of that defeat but tired in the second half and were eventually run int the ground.
There are a few faces in the Namibian side that will be rather familiar to Currie Cup fans with the Sharks’ centre Johan Deysel set to play a role off the bench.
Namibia have only ever played South Africa twice with the ‘Boks having scored a total of 192 points and Namibia having only scored 13 across those two fixtures.
Verdict: South Africa (-60.5) 9/10
I know big margins have rarely been cleared at the World Cup this year but this South African team looks a major attacking threat. I reckon they’ll clear this one comfortably.
