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Namibia booked their place at Rugby World Cup 2023 as Africa 1. The Welwitschias were winners of the 2022 Africa Cup which took place in France. Namibia defeated Burkina Faso 71-5 in the Quarter Final, Zimbabwe 34-19 in the Semi Final and Kenya 36-0 in the final.
Having won the tournament, Namibia have booked the final spot in Pool A at RWC 2023. Kenya remain alive and will compete in repechage against three other countries. Of them Portugal has presently been confirmed. The others are to be one from Asia and the runner-up of the Chile vs USA series.
Pool A will contain five competitors from four continents. Namibia will face Uruguay, New Zealand, Italy and hosts France. The matches will all be played in September; Africa 1 has neither a friendly draw nor match schedule.
The Welwitschias open their campaign on Saturday, September 09. They will do so in St. Etienne against Italy. The match is a repeat of the pool match from RWC 2019 in Osaka, Japan. The Africans played well early-on before Italy pulled-away to complete a comfortable win.
The African will travel to Toulouse for their second pool match. It will be against three-time World Cup winners, New Zealand. The match will take place on Friday, September 15. It is also a repeat of a pool match from four years earlier. A second-half blitz resulted in New Zealand being big winners over Namibia then. A much closer match was the case at RWC 2015 in London, England.
Game three for Namibia will be six days after game two. It is to be another tough assignment; the Welwitschias take on France in Marseille. The match is a repeat of the RWC 2007 fixture. That game was game two for both teams and France were coming-off a home defeat against Argentina in the tournament’s opening match.
While the first three matches are all repeat fixtures from prior Rugby World Cups, the final match is a new one. Namibia will face Los Teros for the first time in a Rugby World Cup. The match will be on Wednesday, September 27 in Lyon.
RWC 2023 FIXTURES – NAMIBIA
Saturday, September 09 – Italy vs Namibia (St. Etienne)
Friday, September 15 – New Zealand vs Namibia (Toulouse)
Thursday, September 21 – France vs Namibia (Marseille)
Wednesday, September 27 – Uruguay vs Namibia (Lyon)
