Wales bid to put flagging Namibia to sword at W.Cup

Wales will bid to put Namibia to the sword when the two sides meet in Monday's Pool D match to take a step towards qualifying for the knock-out phase of the World Cup. The Welsh narrowly lost their opener 17-16 to South Africa but rebounded to beat Samoa 17-10. After the Namibia test, they face Fiji in their final game, the South Sea Islanders having knocked them out of the 2007 World Cup. Namibia, however, have correctly proven to be the pool's whipping boys having notched up three heavy defeats to Fiji (49-25), Samoa (49-12) and South Africa (87-0). The African side now face an awful four-day turnaround from the Springbok routing to face a Wales team that comes into the game after an eight-day lay-off. "It is tough for a team with a lot of amateurs but we don't want to make excuses," Namibia captain Jacques Burger said of the swift turnaround. "We're here at the World Cup. We qualified for the World Cup. "But it is a very short turnaround. There's not much you can change in three days. "We're definitely going out with a positive outlook. We're going out to try to win. Even if it sounds impossible, we have to go out and try to win," Burger said. "We have to play rugby like a winning side. That means less mistakes, sort out first phase ball and keep the ball in hand." Wales coach Warren Gatland made 11 changes to his starting line-up for the clash with Namibia. All but one of the bench selected for the victory over Samoa last time out have been promoted, with only Andy Powell retained as a replacement, and five players come into the side from outside the previous match-day squad. Stephen Jones and Ryan Jones, both British and Irish Lions veterans and double Six Nations Grand Slam winners, make their returns from calf problems to feature for the first time in the 2011 tournament, replacing Rhys Priestland and the injured Dan Lydiate respectively. Scarlets fly-half Jones will be appearing in his fourth RWC and is set to break Wales' all-time appearance record by winning his 101st cap, one more than 2007 RWC captain Gareth Thomas. The third senior player to return is Blues prop Gethin Jenkins, who adds his 77 caps to the experience tally, moving from the bench to replace Osprey Paul James. "On the back of two tough and intensely physical matches we have been able to make some changes to the squad, but also bring a lot of experience into the side at the same time," said Gatland. "Stephen, Ryan and Gethin in particular bring a wealth of experience but we have some previously established combinations elsewhere in the side as well, in the second row, the midfield and at halfback, so we are excited and looking for this side to do well against Namibia. "They will be hurting after their loss to South Africa, but we will be concentrating on ourselves and our own performance. "This is the Rugby World Cup and every performance counts, we showed great heart and courage last week to grind out a win and this week we need to do similar, but also improve and take that next step towards qualification from this incredibly tough group."