All you need to know ahead of the Rugby World Cup pool A match between the All Blacks and Namibia in Toulouse.
What’s on: All Blacks v Namibia.
Where: Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
When is kick-off time? 7am Saturday NZT
All Blacks v Namibia kickoff time, how to watch in NZ, live streaming, teams, odds
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World Cup results so far:
What’s on the line?
Success at the Rugby World Cup is measured very differently by New Zealand and Namibia.
For New Zealand, the tournament is a good one only if the cup is won.
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For Namibia, its mere presence in France is a win.
The Namibians are unlikely to end their World Cup losing run — 23 games and counting since 1999 — but they also won’t go down wondering.
Both previous World Cup matches with the All Blacks were one-sided; 58-14 in 2015 in London and 71-9 in 2019 in Tokyo. Namibia was outclassed each time but played hard to the end. They will be relishing another shot at the three-time world champion.
Some players had to change jobs in order to get leave for a month to attend the tournament. The capital Windhoek centers the country, so coming to practice from up north can mean a drive of five hours; from the Atlantic coast, four hours; and from the south, seven hours.
“Wherever the players are situated, it’s always a sacrifice,” coach Allister Coetzee said. “And that tells of the resilience of the people and how much they love rugby.
What colour jersey are the All Blacks wearing?
The side will be wearing black against Namibia after team managers drew lots ahead of the tournament. The Africans preferred jersey is a deep shade of blue.
What the coaches say
Ian Foster:
“We are expecting a very tough Namibian side to test us on Friday.
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“Whilst we were disappointed with the result in the first round, it hasn’t moved our focus from what we need to do to in our pool games. This game is vital for us to grow and we can’t wait to get to Toulouse and test ourselves.”
Allister Coetzee:
“Success for a Namibian team is once you overcome all the challenges and you get to a World Cup for a seventh time, that is already success in its own right. There are a couple of big nations not lucky to be here. We have worked hard and played ourselves into this competition again.
“There is a bigger calling for these gentlemen. They play to be role models for the future generations.”
The weather
A bit cooler compared to Paris last weekend. Should be around 23C around kickoff after a high of 29C earlier in the day.
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How the sides line up
All Blacks:
Beauden Barrett, Caleb Clarke, Anton Lienert-Brown, David Havili, Leicester Fainga’anuku, Damian McKenzie, Cam Roigard; Ardie Savea (captain), Dalton Papali’i, Luke Jacobson, Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Nepo Laulala, Samisoni Taukei’aho, Ofa Tu’ungafasi. Reserves: Dane Coles, Ethan de Groot, Fletcher Newell, Scott Barrett, Tupou Vaa’i, Aaron Smith, Richie Mo’unga, Rieko Ioane.
Namibia:
Cliven Loubser, Gerswin Mouton, Johan Deysel (captain), Le Roux Malan, Divan Rossouw, Tiaan Swanepoel, Damian Stevens; Richard Hardwick, Prince Gaoseb, Wian Conradie, Tjiuee Uanivi, Johan Retief, Johan Coetzee, Torsten van Jaarsveld, Jason Benade. Reserves: Louis van der Westhuizen, Desiderius Sethie, Haitembu Shifuka, PJ van Lill, Adriaan Booysen, Max Katjijeko, Jacques Theron, JC Greyling.
TAB odds
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All Blacks by 12 and under: $21
All Blacks by 13 and over: $1.001
Draw: $151
Namibia: $81
How to follow the action
For live commentary of All Blacks v Namibia, join Elliott Smith on Newstalk ZB, Gold Sport and iHeartRadio.
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You can watch the game on Sky Sport 1 and live streaming on Sky Sport Now; an alternative commentary option from the Alternative Commentary Collective is available on iHeartRadio and Hauraki.
You can also follow live updates at nzherald.co.nz.
Get full coverage of the Rugby World Cup.
