{"id":40420,"date":"2023-03-02T09:48:04","date_gmt":"2023-03-02T09:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend"},"modified":"2023-03-02T10:08:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-02T10:08:21","slug":"welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend","title":{"rendered":"Welwitschias readies for hard-tackling Pumas\u2026 as Airlink Cup kicks off this weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Rugby World Cup-bound Welwitschias will this Saturday have another golden opportunity to further patch up their fitness levels and overall preparations when they square off against visiting South African outfit Pumas at the Hage Geingob stadium in the capital.<\/p>\n

The Welwitschias, as the country\u2019s rugby 15 are affectionately known, will lock horns with the Pumas in the inaugural edition of the Airlink Cup, and assistant Namibian coach Chrysander Botha \u2013 who will be overseeing the team this weekend \u2013 has promised to give the visitors a good run for their money.<\/p>\n

\u201cPumas are a team that prides themselves in the physicality aspect of the game and they have shown that they can compete with the best in South Africa. The demands in that aspect will be high and to limit the risk of injury, we need to limit the amount of game time for each player…We will be playing two full teams, as we currently have a large group of players, and everyone will get an opportunity to get some much-needed game time after a lengthy pre-season,\u201d said Botha, the former Welwitschias skillful full-back.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe selection is also aimed at building up to operate at optimal levels for 60 minutes, with impact players closing out the games. Lastly, this also provides a great opportunity for our local club players to go out, compete and develop against the Currie Cup champions.<\/p>\n

They [the fans] will get to witness the best of South Africa and Namibian rugby going head-to-head in action.<\/p>\n

From a coaching perspective, we are confident the warm-up matches will be an exciting and successful opportunity for our local players to claim places in the World Cup squad.\u201d<\/p>\n

More importantly, Botha underscored that this weekend\u2019s Airlink Cup and the Mzanzi Rugby Challenge, slated for 25 March 2023, are all aimed at preparing Namibia for this year\u2019s World Cup in France. In the Mzanzi Rugby Challenge, the Welwitschias will face the Border Bulldogs in South Africa.<\/p>\n

Namibia Rugby Union president Petrie Theron also hailed the impact and significance of the Airlink Cup, saying: \u201cThe Airlink Cup trophy contest on Saturday provides great preparation opportunities for Namibia\u2019s 2023 World Cup team\u201d.<\/p>\n

Later this year, Namibia will be participating in their seventh successive Rugby World Cup tournament, where they will kick off their World Cup campaign against Italy in Saint-E\u0301tienne on 9 September, before playing three-time Webb Ellis Cup winners New Zealand in Toulouse six days later.<\/p>\n

Next up for Namibia is a match against hosts France in Marseille on 21 September. They will bring their Pool A campaign to a close against Uruguay in Lyon on 27 September.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Namibia<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. Rugby World Cup-bound Welwitschias will this Saturday have another golden opportunity to further patch up their fitness levels and overall preparations when they square off against visiting South African outfit Pumas at the Hage Geingob stadium in the capital. The Welwitschias, as the country\u2019s rugby 15 are affectionately known, will lock horns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":40419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-40420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"\nWelwitschias readies for hard-tackling Pumas\u2026 as Airlink Cup kicks off this weekend - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rugby World Cup-bound Welwitschias will this Saturday have another golden opportunity to further patch up their fitness ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Welwitschias readies for hard-tackling Pumas\u2026 as Airlink Cup kicks off this weekend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rugby World Cup-bound Welwitschias will this Saturday have another golden opportunity to further patch up their fitness ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-03-02T09:48:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-03-02T10:08:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677737889.77.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"457\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Welwitschias readies for hard-tackling Pumas\u2026 as Airlink Cup kicks off this weekend\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-03-02T09:48:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-03-02T10:08:21+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend\"},\"wordCount\":456,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/03\/postQueueImg_1677737889.77.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/welwitschias-readies-for-hard-tackling-pumas-as-airlink-cup-kicks-off-this-weekend\",\"name\":\"Welwitschias readies for hard-tackling Pumas\u2026 as Airlink Cup kicks off this weekend - 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