Cowling offers helping hand to Namibia

Namibia have been getting the heads up on how to cope with the English weather ahead of their Pool C match at Exeter’s Sandy Park today (8pm).

Exeter Chiefs Academy manager Robin Cowling has been enlisted to help the team prepare to take on the Georgia scrum, but he's also been giving tips on playing in the rain.

Namibia’s head coach Phil Davies called on the services of close friend Cowling (pictured), the former England, Leicester Tigers and Gloucester prop, to visit their training base in Plymouth to cast his eye over a unit session with the forwards.

"Tonga out-scrummed us last week,” said No.8 Renaldo Bothma. “We've been working on the scrum and will go for a different approach this week and it will be interesting. Hopefully this time we will be better prepared.

“Robin knows the ground, he knows the conditions as well, and for us playing down in Namibia there’s not a lot of rain. These are bit different conditions to what we are used to, so he gave us some small details and some tips that the guys grabbed on to.”

As well as the input from the former Tiger, Namibia will also benefit from the return of tight-head prop Raoul Larson from a hamstring injury.

Defence coach Roger Thompson said that if they fail to win the scrum, Namibia would “have to play the game of our lives” to triumph over Georgia.

Against Tonga, Namibia scored two of their three tries from driving mauls, and Bothma has confidence in this part of their game. “We did very well in the mauls last week, against a big Tongan side, and it will be the same against Georgia. We have to match up against them tomorrow.”

From being the side humbled 87-0 by South Africa in the 2011 World Cup, Namibia have gone toe-to-toe with the bigger beasts this time around, scoring one try against New Zealand and three tries against Tonga.

An inaugural World Cup win still eludes them, but with the announcement that Namibia will play in the 2016 Currie Cup, the South African provincial competition, Thompson is adamant this is only the beginning for Namibian rugby.

“There are exciting prospects lined up for our union with regards to participation in the Currie Cup. We need to take this momentum, the good performances we’ve had, into next year and the year after that. So if we can get sterner competition leading up to 2019, we will definitely be a different team come the next World Cup.”

Bothma (pictured), who plays for the Sharks in Super Rugby, agrees. “For a lot of the guys who are amateur, it will be great to participate in a competition like the Currie Cup, you play against South Africa’s best players in the competition and a lot of talent is brewed there," he said.

"So definitely, it’s an interesting prospect for our rugby next year, and I think that will help with a lot of the guys getting contracts after the World Cup, and for the younger guys to build up their experience.”