Windhoek
After losing both their opening matches against Canada and Tonga, Namibia’s U-20 rugby side on Wednesday dusted themselves off with an emphatic 36-12 victory over Hong Kong in their World Rugby Trophy clash in Lisbon, Portugal.
A hat trick of tries from full-back Divan Rossouw helped Namibia to a 36-12 win against Hong Kong at the University Stadium in Lisbon.
Rossouw crossed twice early on, Henrique Olivier converting the second for a 12-0 lead but with less than 15 minutes to go in the first half, Hong Kong reacted, took control of the match and were rewarded with a try, scored by Tomos Howells.
Hong Kong drew level when the second half was only five minutes old. Second-row Calvin Hunter crossed the line and Liam Owens added the conversion.
But Namibia turned on the gas in the final quarter to score four more tries of their own, one from second-row Johan Retief and two by captain Christo van der Merwe before man of the match Roussow saved the best for last by completing his treble with a sensational 50-metre effort.
With the victory, the Namibian youngsters will now on Sunday challenge the wounded Fijians for a 5th place finish.
Fiji had earlier in the day suffered a narrow 26-28 defeat against Uruguay.
The final will see Georgia taking on Canada, while the 3rd place playoff will be between Uruguay and Tonga. The 7th place will be contested between Portugal and Hong Kong.