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RWC 2011 game preview – Wales v Namibia
Namibia are the latest victims of the IRB's policy that means "tier 2" nations are asked to play 2 games in the space of 4 days, conversely Wales have had not played since last Sunday. Despite this Namibia have made less changes to their starting XV than Wales have, 3 new players come into the starting XV for the Namibians compared to their 87 – 0 defeat to the Springboks on Thursday while Wales have made wholesale changes with 11 new players making the starting line up.
Wales will be as concerned with keeping all their players fit as they will be with dominating the game, Wales already have injury concerns over Dan Lydiate, Shane Williams and James Hook and with no other open side in the squad the fitness of inspirational Captain Sam Warburton is crucial and will be vital if the Welsh have serious aspirations to go further in the tournament.
Bookmakers are offering odds of 50-1 on a Namibia win and the favourite winning margin is Wales by more than 51 points, so the result is essentially a foregone conclusion and the game will be more of an opportunity for Wales' "new" 11 players to demonstrate to the coaching staff that they are deserving of a regular starting place.
The coaching staff will also want to the team to match South Africa's defensive display and prevent the Namibian's from scoring a single point. The Springboks did not really stamp their mark on that game until the 61st minute when they scored their 6th try, another 6 followed in the remaining 19 minutes of the game. The Namibian forwards competed admirably in that game and despite being ranked 17 places below the South Africans at 19th on the world they still managed to 47% of the possession over all and they achieved an admirable share of the territory too, with 43% overall during the game.
Wales have selected a front row that should be well rested, in the case of props Gethin Jenkins and Craig Mitchell because they have battled injuries for most of the last 6 months and in the case of hooker Lloyd Burns because he has been second in the pecking order behind Huw Bennett. Lee Byrne has had more criticism than any player at this World Cup and few people believe he should have even made Wales' final squad so this is a huge chance for him to prove the naysayers wrong, former skipper Ryan Jones' return from injury is also a huge opportunity that he should be selected in the number 6 jersey should Lydiate fail to recover in time to play Fiji next weekend. Possibly the most exciting chance falls to Scarlets scrum half Tavis Knoyle who has looked to have all the physical presence of regular scrum half Mike Phillips and on occasion Knoyle has displayed both the quickness of foot and mental sharpness that Phillips is sometimes found lacking.
If Knoyle can organise his forwards and provide Wales' record cap winner Stephen Jones with some fast and accurate passes then Wales' young backline which includes 25 year old Aled Brew, the 23 year old Jonathan Davies, 22 year old Leigh Halfpenny and World Cup debutant 20 year Scott Williams could all open their try scoring accounts at Rugby World Cups.
Blog By @Buck_Mitchell
