WINDHOEK – Namibia’s Sevens rugby team trounced Uganda by 19-5 to win the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Plate final during the CAR Sevens Tournament in Harare, Zimbabwe on Sunday.
During the two-day highly competitive tourney, which featured 12 countries, Namibia was pitted against Zimbabwe, Uganda, Kenya, Nigeria and Ivory Coast in Pool B.
In the opening encounter, Namibia stumbled to a 7-14 defeat against Kenya but dusted themselves off with a 26-21 victory against Uganda.
Going into the last two games of the day, the Namibian youngsters were unstoppable when they went on to demolish Ivory Coast by 45-0 and Nigeria by 49-0 to finish the day on a high note.
On Sunday, Namibia commenced the day’s proceedings on a low note when they lost 14-7 to Zimbabwe to finish 3rd overall in Pool B.
Having finished in 3rd place, Namibia advanced to the competition’s Plate semifinal where they met and defeated Senegal by 34-0 to book a place in the final. In the other Plate semi, Uganda performed brilliantly to beat Madagascar by 19-12 on their way to the final.
In the final, the Namibian youngsters knew very well what to expect from the Ugandans but the Namibians were not to be caught off guard as they made sure in keeping the physical Ugandans at bay with their speed and good ball-handling skills, which handed the Namibian young brigades a resounding 19-5 victory and in the process finishing 5th overall out of the 12 countries.
Chief Executive Officer of the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) Sybrand de Beer hailed the youngsters for a job well done, saying although their target was to finish at least 3rd overall, the union was happy with the team’s overall performance.
“With this kind of result, at least it will boost our chances of qualifying for the 2016 Olympics. Besides that, the competition also offered great exposure to the youngsters and the team will obviously now be much more confident going into next year,” said De Beer.
By Otniel Hembapu