When the Lions tours to SA resumed in 1997, they no longer played games against other African sides, as previously occurred.

[3] Phil Matthews' team was beaten 15-6 in the first test, and 26-15 in a match just two months before they started their 1991 Rugby World Cup campaign.

[3] For the Irish to be caught unawares was hardly surprising – Namibia had previously languished in the B Division of South Africa's Currie Cup, and only pulled away to become an independent nation in the 1980s.

Namibian rugby still bears some similarities to its South African counterpart, using an aggressive, fast-moving game, ideal for their arid conditions.

[4] There have been some attempts to remedy this, and the conscious effort to bring in black players has included caps for the likes of Eden Meyer.

[4] Big hard forwards such as Johann Barnard are complemented by fast running backs such as Henning Snyman, Gerhard Mans and Andre Snoop (who now plays rugby league in England).

[6] As a vast, sparsely populated country, with little infrastructure, players frequently have to travel huge distances to games.

Another unusual feature of Namibian rugby is a high proportion of evangelical Christians, who often hold prayer meetings before matches and sometimes refuse to play on Sundays.

The current NRU Domestic League teams are: Namibia has made the World Cup on seven occasions, in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, and 2023 but has never won a game.

They competed in Pool B for the 2019 World Cup in Japan and drew a match against Canada to finish fourth in the group.