{"id":54770,"date":"2023-09-29T16:03:25","date_gmt":"2023-09-29T16:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain"},"modified":"2023-09-29T16:14:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T16:14:54","slug":"uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain","title":{"rendered":"Uanivi calls for a professional franchise after World Cup pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>Namibian captain Tjiuee Uanivi called on his national rugby federation to learn lessons from South America after the African side ended their World Cup campaign with a 36-26 defeat to Uruguay on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

South American teams have impressed at this World Cup, with Uruguay pushing Tier 1 nations France and Italy close, and debutants Chile scoring tries against both Japan and Samoa before running out of steam against England.<\/p>\n

But for Namibia, it has been another frustrating tournament as they lost all four matches, taking their tally now to 26 defeats and no wins across seven World Cups.<\/p>\n

And while Uanivi pleaded for more matches, like all Tier II nations do, he said a professional franchise would also make a huge difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really sure how many Tests we played in four years (since the last World Cup). I think it\u2019s in single digits,\u201d said the flanker, who was one of three Namibian players shown a card in Lyon.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you come to this level without the experience of playing Tests and the group coming together for a long time, that\u2019s what you\u2019ll get,\u201d he said about the team\u2019s four Pool A defeats, which included a 96-0 thrashing by hosts France.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd secondly, it\u2019s what all Tier II teams ask for every World Cup. The same question\u2019s being asked: \u2018How can you improve?\u2019 And it\u2019s quite easy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s playing more competitive games against Tier 1 teams with quality opposition. Whether it\u2019s one or two games a year during those four years, I think it would be massive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having sent that message out to the global governing body, World Rugby, he had another for the Namibian federation.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd thirdly, the challenge goes out to our union. It is to get that high performance (centre) up and running, and get a franchise that is professional, same as the likes of the South American teams.\u201d<\/p>\n

World Rugby and South American rugby bosses created a regional club tournament after the last World Cup with professional franchises.<\/p>\n

Although the first edition in 2020 was cancelled due to Covid-19, it has continued since then, and even expanded.<\/p>\n

Uruguay\u2019s franchise, Penarol, won the 2022 and 2023 editions, while Chile\u2019s Selknam were beaten finalists last year.<\/p>\n

And Uruguay captain Andres Vilaseca acknowledged that it had made a difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cYear by year, this league has evolved,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been able to work for three years with a large group of professional players, but more than the economic factor, it\u2019s the time and quality of training that we have every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

That, and taking part in the World Sevens circuit, has allowed Uruguayan players to make a living playing rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cUruguay had 46 professional players preparing for the World Cup,\u201d added Vilaseca.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the path, alongside more players playing abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Vilaseca, who plays for Penarol, says growth through regional professional competitions is a more realistic way for Tier II teams to improve than to keep hoping for an invitation to rugby\u2019s top table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe matches for Tier II nations are the big debate, but I don\u2019t know if this will change. It will be very difficult, so you have to look for competition in another place,\u201d he said. – AFP<\/p>\n

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

Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibian captain Tjiuee Uanivi called on his national rugby federation to learn lessons from South America after the African side ended their World Cup campaign with a 36-26 defeat to Uruguay on Wednesday. South American teams have impressed at this World Cup, with Uruguay pushing Tier 1 nations France and Italy close, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":54769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-54770","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":"\nUanivi calls for a professional franchise after World Cup pain - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Namibian captain Tjiuee Uanivi called on his national rugby federation to learn lessons from South America after the Afr ...\" \/>\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\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Uanivi calls for a professional franchise after World Cup pain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Namibian captain Tjiuee Uanivi called on his national rugby federation to learn lessons from South America after the Afr ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain\" \/>\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=\"2023-09-29T16:03:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-29T16:14:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/09\/sm_1695991223.458708.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\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=\"3 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\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Uanivi calls for a professional franchise after World Cup pain\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-09-29T16:03:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-29T16:14:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain\"},\"wordCount\":565,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2023\/09\/sm_1695991223.458708.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\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/uanivi-calls-for-a-professional-franchise-after-world-cup-pain\",\"name\":\"Uanivi calls for a professional franchise after World Cup pain - 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