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Trustco Namibia have announced an N$18 million sponsorship deal over six years in partnership with the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU).

The deal will focus exclusively on Sevens in the country, and will help fund the hosting of the international Trustco Namibia Sevens.

The announcement was made in Windhoek, where the tournament will be held, and among others Paul Treu was in attendance.

The South Africa head coach will be looking to take his IRB Sevens World Series champions to the tournament which will take place from September 25-26 at the Hage Geingob Stadium.

The Managing Director of Trustco Group Holdings, Quinton van Rooyen, said that Sevens was a great way to carry the image of Namibian rugby and the sponsorship deal can help the growth of the Namibian Sevens side.

“We certainly hope that the Namibian team can surprise a few of the big guns in our inaugural tournament and are confident that the team’s performance on home turf will get them invited to some of the events on the annual IRB World Sevens Series Circuit,” he said.

Responding to the landmark deal the NRU’s Head of High Performance and Development, Christo Alexander, said the tournament was set to take Namibia by storm.

“This will be the first tournament of its kind in Namibia, and one of the biggest yet to be staged in Africa. Some of the world’s best Sevens teams will be in action, including the Springboks, Fiji, Samoa and Argentina.”

So far 11 international teams have confirmed their participation, including Portugal, Tunisia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Uganda, Botswana and Namibia, while the NRU is still awaiting confirmation from Spain.

A South African A team will also participate in the tournament as well as a further eight provincial teams from South Africa.

Besides that, a Sevens schools tournament involving eight Namibian and 12 South African schools will run concurrently at the Windhoek High School stadium.

Corne Powell, the Managing Director of Trustco Life and a former Namibian rugby captain, said that Sevens provides a great platform to develop most of the key elements of rugby, such as speed, agility, fitness, stamina, vision and skill, with one eye no doubt on the future of the sport and the Olympic Games.

“Several international rugby super stars like Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen, Andre Venter, Breyton Paulse and Joost van der Westhuizen first made their mark in Sevens rugby,” said Powell.

“Considering that Namibia has lost many players to provincial and Super 14 South African teams, this venture will certainly provide a solid foundation to develop upcoming young local players to represent the senior national team in years to come.”

The vice president of the NRU, Sarel Losper said the tournament was a dream come true for the NRU and followed months of negotiations.

“The NRU are proud to celebrate what is without doubt a momentous occasion in the local rugby fraternity. The tournament was a dream of the NRU executive.

“Our greatest hurdle was to gain the sanctioning approval of the International Rugby Board. This sanctioning was received late last month, which allowed us to invite a formidable selection of teams to participate in the inaugural Trustco Namibia Rugby Sevens Tournament,” he said.

Losper added that there was a strong possibility that European teams like the current Sevens world champions England and Wales could participate in next year’s tournament.

Deputy Minister Shifeta congratulated Trustco for their investment in Namibian sport and called on the NRU to honour their agreement with Trustco.

He said the Sevens tournament would provide a perfect opportunity for Namibia’s top players to get in some much needed practise before their crucial World Cup qualifier in the 15-man code against Tunisia in November.

“Our rugby team is doing very well at the moment. We are the second ranked nation in Africa and I have no doubt that we will qualify for the World Cup. This is a very important partnership between Trustco and the NRU and I hope that it will continue long into the future,” he said.