Pool A Preview: Australia v Namibia Sat, 6 a.m. AdelaideNamibia have invited trouble by naming a second-string team for their pool A match with defending champions Australia.
Namibia have invited trouble by naming a second-string team for their pool A match with defending champions Australia.
Namibia coach Dave Waterston has already conceded his team has no hope of winning the match so has decided to throw some of his youngest and least experienced players into the fray.
Waterston has saved his best players for the final game with Romania, a match the Africans have real ambitions of winning, but hopes his younger players will learn from the experience.
"It's done for the future of Namibian rugby and we believe that's the right way to go," Waterston said.
Namibia captain Sean Furter and former skipper Corne Powell were both relegated to the bench along with first-choice flanker Schalk van der Merwe.
The side for the Adelaide contest includes 21-year-old openside flanker Shaun van Rooi, Jurgens van Lill (22) and outhalf Morne Schreuder (24).
Waterston said the players had been told to play attacking rugby.
"I think the public deserve, in a David and Goliath contest, positive rugby," he said. "Wherever we go we endeavour to play positive rugby and so far we've scored three tries . . . we might be getting hammered, but at least we're getting over the tryline - I think that's important."
Australia coach Eddie Jones expects his players to face a tremendous physical challenge even against the relative minnows.
"I don't think any game is a walk in the park. Every game in the World Cup has been physical, every game there's been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing," said Jones.
Jones has opted to rest many of his front-line players, with just four recalled from the 90-8 mauling of Romania last week.
One of the key decisions he has made is to reintroduce lock David Giffin via the bench just 15 days after his horror fall against Argentina, which left him with head and shoulder injuries. Giffin has been cleared by a neurologist and trained without problems.
AUSTRALIA: C Latham; L Tuqiri, S Mortlock, N Grey, M Rogers; M Giteau, C Whittaker (capt); M Dunning, J Paul, B Darwin, J Harrison, N Sharpe, G Smith, D Croft, D Lyons. Replacements: B Cannon, B Young, D Giffin/D Vickerman, J Roe, M Cockbain, M Turinui, M Burke.
NAMIBIA: R Pedro; D Mouton, DP Grobler, E Wessels, J Booysen; M Schreuder, H Husselman (capt); K Lensing, C von Tonder, N du Toit, H Senekal, E Isaacs, S van Rooi, H Lintvelt, J van Lill. Replacements: P Isaacs, A Blaauw, S van der Merwe, S Furter, N Swanepoel, D Grunschloss, M Africa.
Referee: Joël Jutge (France).
