Rugby
Diergaardt new Namibia coach
2009-12-19 17:03
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Windhoek - Namibia have appointed Johan Diergaardt to take over the coaching duties of the national team after the departure of John Williams.
Williams departed in September to take up a role as the coach of the Falcons and Diergaardt, who served as his assistant coach with Namibia for the past two years, was appointed on Friday at a press conference in Windhoek.
President of Namibia's Rugby Union, Buks Bock, made the announcement that Diergaardt would be appointed as from December 1 to take over from Williams.
Bock said that Williams would continue as a technical advisor ahead of the 2011 World Cup.
“We made an offer to John Williams which we believe is a just reward for what he has done for our team. He will join the team a month before the World Cup and accompany them to New Zealand. Whether he is here more often will depend on his availability from the Falcons,” Bock told Namibia Sport.
Bock said that Diergaardt would have the prerogative to decide whether he needed more assistants or not.
“Johan must decide whether he needs an additional forward coach or not. Hakkies Huselmann has been the backline coach, but we will have to see if he will be available, because his job has clashed with his coaching duties and we need to have permanent coaches. Hakkies gave us some options of future cooperation that we are looking at,” Bock said.
Diergaardt said that Williams will be missed.
“I believe John Williams left big shoes to be filled. He was a great leader and had a great management team. We will miss him but now we must carry on with the legacy that he left behind.
We must stay humble and the hard work will only start now, but if I look at how hard the players have been working under our conditioning coach Ewert Smit, then I am confident about our future,” he said.
Namibia will prepare for the Vodacom Cup with a match against Russia on January 23, followed by a match against a Blue Bulls B side in early February.
Namibia’s campaign in the Vodacom Cup starts with a home match against the Griffons on February 27, while the tournament will continue through to May.
In June Namibia will compete in the IRB Nations Cup competition in Romania, while the year will be rounded off with a European tour in November when Namibia will play three or four tests against European nations like Spain, Portugal and Belgium.
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