Ken Borland

If South Africa’s 2003 World Cup squad were a wine, it would have been considered a very poor vintage indeed, but they did inspire a 17-year-old kid in Umtata to such an extent that he is now on his way to the 2015 World Cup in Great Britain.

The young adult dreams of Lwazi Mvovo are now coming true as the maker of tries looks to cement his place in the Springbok starting XV following an impressive display in the previous Test they played, the belated win over Argentina in Buenos Aires.

“I was watching the 2003 World Cup in Umtata and I decided to start playing rugby then. I was playing soccer at the time, but I ended up switching sports because I knew I could make it in rugby. That was my whole focus, I didn’t allow any stumbling blocks to get in the way of my dream,” Mvovo said after being named in Heyneke Meyer’s World Cup squad in Durban.

While the experienced JP Pietersen will obviously be pushing hard to regain the number 14 jersey, Mvovo has another string to his bow in that he can play fullback and can obviously be expected to handle the kicking game, both in terms of offence and defence, that is likely to see plenty of action at the World Cup.

“Playing as a fullback for the Sharks has opened up a whole new game-plan for me, it’s been a great couple of years. I think I have lots of natural talent, but I still have to work hard. The moment you relax you lose that feeling that you’re in the game. I still do speed training, but also a lot of kicking and catching. I do whatever I need to do to improve – kicking, catching high balls – and I’ll still do that going forward,” Mvovo said.

Although Mvovo grabbed his only chance in the international season with both hands to seal his World Cup place – proving his BMT – he said it was a nervous week in Durban before the squad announcement.

“Nobody can be sure you’re in the squad, but you just have to concentrate on training well and making sure that whenever the opportunity comes, you use it very well. So many players want to be in the Springbok team, it’s an honour and a privilege, so the training camp was just about working hard for me,” Mvovo said.

The 29-year-old with 13 Test caps does not need any prompting to talk about the United Kingdom being a happy hunting ground for him. He made his Springbok debut in Edinburgh in 2010 and he scored his first Test try the following weekend against England at Twickenham, a fine individual effort that sealed a 21-11 victory.

“Yes, Twickenham was where I scored my first international try and there are great memories whenever I go there. I hope to do the same this year if I get the chance.

“This team is experienced in the Northern Hemisphere, the tour at the end of last year really helped us. We’re going with a game-plan and we must just stick to it, the fields and the weather don’t affect that a lot,” Mvovo said.

The transformation issue swirling around Springbok rugby is also not going to distract Mvovo.

“What I can control is my dream of going to the World Cup, so performing at the camp was the most important thing, I didn’t let outside stuff affect me. But my heroes as a kid were Springboks so we must be the heroes of children now,” Mvovo said.

At 3pm on June 28 in the Madagascan capital of Antananarivo, Namibia looked set to cry tears of sadness as a shock 29-22 defeat at the hands of Kenya left their hopes of qualifying for the 2015 World Cup hanging by the slimmest of threads.

By 5pm on July 6, at the same Mahamasina Stadium, the Namibian rugby team were crying tears of joy as an extraordinary 89-10 victory over the hosts had booked their spot in England 2015 on points difference over Zimbabwe and Kenya.

Following that opening-day loss, just their second against the East Africans since 2006, results had fallen Namibia’s way to keep their hopes alive. The Welwitschias beat Zimbabwe 24-20 to stay in contention, while their fellow Southern Africans did them a favour by overcoming Kenya 28-10 on the final day.

Crucially, neither Zimbabwe nor Kenya managed to get a bonus point in that match, which left Namibia needing to beat Madagascar by 53 points to qualify for the finals of the global showpiece.

“We were down in the dumps up to the last day, but we just believed until the very end. We had the will to keep on fighting until our last breath, until all 15 of us had to be carried off the field if necessary,” flank Tinus du Plessis said after the triumph.

“We had a massive points difference to work on, so we just planned to take it 10 minutes at a time. It’s amazing to think that we’ll now be playing our first match against the All Blacks!” the London Wasps player said after Namibia had earned a berth in Pool C of the World Cup with New Zealand, Argentina, Tonga and Georgia.

The CAR Division 1A doubled up as the Africa Cup and Namibia’s three games there more than doubled the number of Tests they had played since November 2013. One of the biggest problems facing developing African rugby nations is the lack of internationals they play and coach Danie Vermeulen used matches against the Blue Bulls and Western Province in Windhoek to prepare for Namibia’s most important games in four years.

An after-the-hooter penalty by Theuns Kotze – one of six he kicked to go with a conversion – gave Namibia a 30-28 victory over a youthful Western Province side, who had outscored the Welwitschias by three tries to two.

The following week, Namibia were beaten 34-13 by a powerful Bulls outfit. It was a highly physical encounter, in which the Bulls only pulled away in the second half, and Namibia Rugby Union CEO Sybrand de Beer believes his team were perhaps still affected by it when they played Kenya in Madagascar seven days later.

“We didn’t play the way we should of against Kenya and I think the Blue Bulls game took a lot out of the team. They were just not in the moment and we beat ourselves really. It meant World Cup qualification was no longer in our own control, which makes it difficult, we had to rely on other results,” De Beer said.

Two tries in the first 10 minutes by wing Heinrich Smit gave Namibia a great start, and they led 22-19 going into the final quarter, but in trying to keep the strong-finishing Kenyans out, they conceded a raft of penalties and a fourth try and crucial bonus point to start their campaign on a poor note.

Zimbabwe were trying to qualify for their first World Cup since 1991, as well as ending a six-game losing streak against the Welwitschias, who were forced to overturn a 10-17 half-time deficit.

The Sables, boosted by the presence of former Natal Sharks and Gauteng Lions SuperRugby flyhalf Guy Cronje, used their dangerous backs to score the opening try, but Namibia relied on their dominant forwards to rumble their way to a penalty try.

But Zimbabwe’s backs conjured another try just before half-time and a second Cronje penalty stretched their lead to 20-10, forcing Namibia to make a determined comeback in the second half.

Flank Renaldo Bothma, after a great break by replacement hooker Dian Wiese, and fellow loose forward Rohan Kitshoff, from a rolling maul, scored tries converted by Kotze to keep their World Cup hopes alive.

Namibia had to defend stoutly for the last 10 minutes as PJ van Lill was sent to the sin-bin, but they did so to give them a faint chance of progressing.

Against Madagascar, it was the chance for Namibia’s attacking play to shine and, although their forwards dominated from the outset, it took the Welwitschias 12 minutes to stamp their mark on proceedings with centre Johan Deysel’s opening try.

Two more tries, superb long-range efforts by wing David Philander and Exeter Chiefs bound fullback Chrysander Botha, were scored before the end of the first quarter and an outstanding first half saw Namibia go into the break 63-0 up and firmly back in World Cup contention.

Experienced props Johnny Redelinghuys and Jaco Engels both scored tries, while the explosive Bothma scored twice, Philander completed his brace and there was a penalty try as well.

Further tries by Kotze, left wing Johan Tromp, a third by Bothma and another penalty try were the knockout blow for Zimbabwe and Kenya.

It was a moment of great joy for Namibia and a sign that they are past the dissent which plagued rugby in their country around the time of the previous World Cup.

“Rugby in Namibia was quite badly hit in 2011 when the exco resigned and technically we were insolvent. But the latest financial statements have been declared clean and passed without any qualifications and there is good governance and the basic foundation in place. We are now back to concentrating on rugby,” De Beer said.

Namibia’s U20s finished sixth in the Junior World Trophy in Hong Kong, beating 2013 finalists Canada and suffering narrow defeats to eventual winners Japan and Uruguay.

For a country with a small playing base, development is crucial and the IRB’s Get Into Rugby program is reaching tens of thousands of schoolchildren all over the vast south-west African country.

The continuation of the Windhoek Lager Tri-Nations Series is a major benefit for the national team and in November 2013 they saw off two of their major rivals for World Cup qualification, Zimbabwe, 35-26, and Kenya, 55-35.

Looking ahead to World Cup year, the inclusion of Namibia in South Africa’s Vodacom Cup competition (the level below SuperRugby) will obviously benefit preparations, while De Beer and Vermeulen have their eyes set on the acquisition of more players, such as Free State Cheetahs captain Torsten van Jaarsveld and Sharks star Anton Bresler, the lock who has moved to Scotland but was in the peripheral vision of the Springbok selectors.

Bothma, one of the stars of the Mpumalanga Pumas’ Currie Cup Premier Division campaign, is one of the newly-qualified Namibian players and he excelled in Madagascar.

Three matches in Europe in November 2014, against Canada, French Barbarians and Portugal, should ensure the further growth of this resurgent Namibian team.

French rugby might not have seen the last of Argentine backline star Juan Martin Hernandez, with the 31-year-old confirming this week that he will consider returning to European rugby in 2015.

Hernandez left Racing Metro last month despite still having 11 months remaining on his contract, to head back to Argentina to concentrate on Test duty and their looming entry into SuperRugby.

But their participation in SuperRugby only starts in 2016, so Hernandez will obviously have to find a stop-gap club for 2015.

The presence of Ireland and British Lions flyhalf Jonathan Sexton and the arrival of Springbok Johan Goosen may also have prompted Hernandez’s decision.

“I’m only without a club for the Rugby Championship and the Tests in November and then we will see what happens. 2015 is a new year,” Hernandez said rather cryptically last week.

Hernandez, like so many other Argentinians, came to France to develop his game and he said his time at Racing Metro had done much for his career.

“You try to reach a very good level as a rugby player and the standard is more high in France than in Argentina. It was a big step coming to France but 90% of the players in Argentina develop their game in Europe.

“Racing Metro were a very good, strong team and when I joined them they had just gone into the first division. So I was around for the construction of the team. It was my decision to go, but I think Racing Metro will have a great season to come and maybe they will be European and Top 14 champions,” Hernandez said.

The gifted utility back has played a measly 44 Tests in 10 years and the injury curse that has so afflicted his career struck again this weekend when he withdrew from the Test against the Springboks in Pretoria with a groin injury. Some Argentinian journalists at Loftus Versfeld called Hernandez’s injury problems more mental than physical.

The smart money at the moment is on El Mago joining his former club, Stade Francais, because Hugo Bonneval, a player they relied on heavily at fullback last season, is on the injured list.