Namibia emerged triumphant from the Africa zone qualifiers for Rugby World Cup 2003 by the smallest of margins, having scored one more try than their opponents Tunisia in a play-off that ended 43-43 on aggregate.
The Welwitschias had won the first leg 26-19 on home soil in Windhoek on 28 September 2002 only to then lose 24-17 two weeks later in Tunisia to force the try count back.
Their passage until then had been straightforward. Namibia entered the qualifying campaign in round three in June 2002 and beat Madagascar by 116-0 and Zimbabwe 42-30.
Namibia are no strangers to the Rugby World Cup scene, having qualified for the first time in 1999 and, while they suffered heavy defeats by France, Fiji and Canada, they took pride in scoring an early try and being level with France after 20 minutes.
Captain that day was Quinn Hough, the flanker who brought the curtain down on his international career at the end of Rugby World Cup 1999 and is Namibia’s most capped player with 118 appearances.
Four years on Namibia, whose coach Dave Waterston has instilled rugby league defensive patterns into their game, return looking for a first Rugby World Cup win with Corné Powell, Hakkies Hüsselman and Heino Senekal their star names.
Namibia’s proudest moment on the international stage undoubtedly came in 1991, a year after they won independence from South Africa, with Ireland and Italy both suffering 2-0 series defeats in the capital Windhoek.
That year the Welwitschias won all 10 of their Tests, five against Zimbabwe and the other against Portugal in Lisbon.