Until independence, players for Namibia were also eligible to represent South Africa, with Namibian-born Springboks including Jan Ellis.

Rugby union has been played in Namibia since 1916 when it was introduced by soldiers from South Africa who had invaded the German-run colony.

Hardened by regular, tough competition in the Currie Cup, the first few years of Namibian rugby union were relatively successful, their highest point being 2–0 home series victories over Ireland and Italy in 1991.

One of Namibia's players, Andre Stoop was signed by English champion rugby league club, Wigan.

Although Namibia defeated Zimbabwe that year, the team lost to Côte d'Ivoire and drew with Morocco (all in Casablanca).

Namibia initially struggled in the qualifiers for the 2007 tournament, suffering a shock defeat to Kenya, their first ever to the African Great Lakes nation, and another to Tunisia.

However, after defeating Tunisia at home, the team was effectively through to two deciding matches against Morocco, to determine which of the two African nations would make it to France in 2007.

As the lowest ranked team at the start of the 2007 World Cup, Namibia was given no chance in its opening game of against Ireland.

Their first match in the Rugby World Cup held in New Zealand (at the Rotorua International Stadium) resulted in a defeat by Fiji by 45–29.

Theuns Kotzé provided his side's one consolation, as his conversion of a Heinz Koll try made him Namibia's all-time highest Rugby World Cup points scorer.

[2] The team lost to New Zealand, South Africa and Italy, while the match versus Canada was cancelled because of Typhoon Hagibis.

[3] Below is table of the representative rugby matches played by a Namibia national XV at test level up until 17 July 2024.

[5] On 21 June, Allister Coetzee named a 36-player squad for their July international matches against Blue Bulls and Portugal.