Spider bite ends Namibia star’s World Cup

NAMIBIA star Johan Retief has had his World Cup cruelly brought to an end after being bitten by a spider in France.

The 27-year-old had started his nation’s opening two matches of the tournament against Italy and New Zealand. However, he was strangely missing from the heavy defeat to France last week.

Ahead of Wednesday’s final group game against Uruguay at the Groupama Stadium, it was finally revealed what his problem was.

According to French outlet L’equipe, Retief was bitten by a spider in the team’s hotel in Aix-les-bains.

Whilst some will have been hoping for superpowers or at least a little bit of help on the pitch, Retief has unfortunately had to pull out of the remainder of the World Cup. It is suggested that the bite has developed an infection, which needed medical treatment.

Namibia boss Allister Coetzee stopped short of confirming the bite but did announce that Retief was out of the clash against Uruguay.

Speaking during Monday’s team announcement, he said: “Johan Retief is quite a weird one. He has developed an abscess close to his pectoral area which means the wound has been open.”

Backs coach Chrysander Botha bemoaned Retief’s incident but has suggested that his absence could afford others a chance in Namibia’s final group game.

He added: “You can’t foresee those things. It is very unfortunate what happened with Johan, and we will miss him because he is a very classy player in the lineout and he can play as a four or a seven.

But that also opens up opportunities for other players.”

Away from Retief, Namibia will also be without captain Johan Deysel.

He has been hit with a six-match ban after his red-card challenge on France star Antoine Dupont.

The Toulouse scrum-half was left needing surgery on a fractured cheekbone. Deysel received a barrage of abuse online for the challenge but Botha insists that it was not intentional.

“Johan Deysel is our leader and has always been an example for everyone,” he said.

“His expulsion was an accident, those things happen and he never had bad intentions.

Namibia’s problems regarding their team do not end there. Le Roux Malan, Wian Conradie and Divan Rousseau are all also set to miss the upcoming showdown with Uruguay in Lyon.

Ahead of the match, Namibia sit bottom of Pool A with three defeats from as many games and have already been eliminated. Uruguay’s fortunes have not been much better after losing their opening two matches.

They need to beat Namibia and overcome New Zealand in

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