Davies appointment doesn’t affect us - Theron Welwitschias coach ‘in advisory position’ at Stellenbosch World-renowned rugby coach Phil Davies will remain with Namibia’s national side until after the next world cup. KAINO NGHITONGO Welwitschias coach Phil Davies has been appointed to be part of the Stellenbosch Academy of Sport’s international institute in 2017.
According the Namibia Rugby Union’s acting CEO, Elizma Theron, that does not affect his position at the NRU.
“His involvement in the Stellenbosch academy is mainly on an interval basis with assisting them as he is appointed at the NRU as director of rugby until December 2019 after the next world cup so until such time he will be the national coach of the Welwitschias,” she said.
She mentioned that his duty at Stellenbosch is more in an advisory position.
“Phil is really in high demand in rugby circles throughout the world so we are extremely fortunate that he chose to help us and we have secured his services until 2019 at least,” she said.
Meanwhile, NRU has not found any factual basis to racism allegations made recently.
It is alleged that FNB Wanderers player Theo Coetzee had made racial remarks to Platinum Rhinos player Patrick Malumba during a match played in Windhoek.
According to Theron, the NRU investigated and spoke to the club in South Africa and SARU but no formal complaint was laid.
“We have investigated and questioned a lot of people but we could not find any substantiation of the allegation so at this stage we cannot act if we do not have anything to act on but we have gone through the whole process,” she said.
“We have nothing to act on because there is no formal complaint, it is just hearsay and speculation. Until such time that anyone comes forward and give facts there is absolutely nothing we can do but if it was true we would act in all seriousness because we have zero tolerance of racism, both on and off the field.”
As the union is still working on its transformation plan, Theron said there is no formal transformation document yet.
“We have been working with representative from Rugby Africa and South Africa Rugby Union ... to get it in place by end November,” she said.