Uanivi calls for professional franchise

NAMIBIA captain Tjiuee Uanivi called on his national federation to learn the lessons from South America after the African side ended their Rugby World Cup campaign with a 36-26 defeat to Uruguay on Wednesday.

South American teams have impressed at this World Cup with Uruguay pushing Tier 1 nations France and Italy close and debutants Chile scoring tries against both Japan and Samoa before running out of steam against England.

But for Namibia, it has been another frustrating tournament as they lost all four matches, taking their tally now to 26 defeats and no wins across seven World Cups.

And while Uanivi pleaded for matches, like all Tier II nations do,

he said a professional franchise would also make a huge difference.

"I am not really sure how many tests we played in four years (since the last World Cup), I think it is single digits," said the flanker, who was one of three Namibia players shown a card in Lyon on Wednesday.

"When you come to this level without the experience of playing tests and the group coming together for a long time, that is what you will get," he said about the team's four Pool A defeats, which included a 96-0 thrashing by hosts France.

"And secondly, it is what all Tier II teams more ask for every World Cup. The same questions being asked: "how can you improve?" And it is quite easy.

"It is playing more competitive games against Tier 1 teams, quality opposition, whether it is one or two games a year during those four years, I think it would be massive."

Having sent that message out to global governing body World Rugby, he had another for the Namibian federation.

"And thirdly the challenge goes out to our union... it is to get that high performance up and running and get a franchise which is professional, same as the likes of the South American teams." — Supersport.