ν Maqonda Ndlovu
The Welwitschias suffered a 30-43 defeat at the hands of South African franchise side the Vodacom Blue Bulls at the Vegkop Stadium in Windhoek on Saturday.
The match was played in front of a sell-out crowd as Namibians turned out to bid farewell to the national team ahead of the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
The Bulls got off to a great start as they scored the first try of the match within five minutes through Deon Slabbert, with Jaco van der Walt converting to make it 0-7 for the visitors.
Four minutes later, Andre van der Berg scored Namibia’s first points via a penalty before Alcino Izaacs showed great awareness and intercepted a pass to score Namibia’s first try.
Van der Berg converted as Namibia took a 10-7 lead, which was short-lived when the man of the match and newly-acquired Bulls player Mpilo Gumede scored another converted try to see the visitors lead 10-14. Van der Berg scored another penalty before Stravin Jacobs scored an unconverted try to see the Bulls take a 13-19 lead into halftime.
The Welwitschias made a raft of changes after the break, but it was the Bulls who scored the first points in the second half through former Springboks player Cornal Hendricks as van der Walt converted two minutes after the break (13-26).
Malan le Roux touched down for Namibia seven minutes later, and van der Berg converted to close the gap to 20-26.
Replacement hooker Obert Nortjie, who surprised many by reversing his retirement, scored Namibia’s next try, but van der Berg failed to convert, leaving the home team trailing 25-26 with 56 minutes played.
Three minutes later, Bernard van Linde stretched the Bulls lead to 25-30, while Hillian Beukas made it a one-point gap in the 65th minute. However, the Bulls scored two more tries to seal a well-deserved 30-43 victory over the error-laden Welwitschias. With the preparations now complete, the first batch of Namibian players are leaving today for France, while the second batch will leave tomorrow.