Maqonda Ndlovu
The Welwitschias on Saturday suffered a morally sapping 52-8 defeat at the hands of Italy in their first match of the 2023 Rugby World Cup at the Geoffroy-Guchard Stadium in Saint-Éttienne, France.
In the match, which was played in blistering heat, Namibia started off brightly and scored the first points of the match via a penalty in the third minute through Tiaan Swanepoel.
Italy restored parity via a penalty to make it three-all, with six minutes played.
The Welwitschias were reduced to 14 men in the 10th minute when vice captain Namibia and hooker Torsten van Jaarsveld were sin-binned.
Italy took advantage of that to score the first try of the match through Lorenzo Cannone in the 11th minute, following a roving maul that caused problems for Namibia throughout the game.
With the absence of van Torsten, Namibia could not match the Italians at set pieces, as new boy Richard Hardwick took the throw-in during a lineout, launching the ball way over the lineout and into the hands of the Italian backs, allowing Paolo Garbisi to sprint away and score to extend the Italian lead to 17-3.
Not all was gloom for Namibia during the sin-bin period, as Gerswin Mouton scored a try after receiving a long pass from Swanepoel to catch the Italian defence napping to make it 17-8.
Swanepoel could have seen Namibia go to halftime with a three-point deficit had his kicking been perfect on the day; however, he missed two penalties to leave the scoreline at 17-8 at halftime.
The second half was a disaster for Namibia, as the Italians scored four unanswered tries, all of which were converted, and they emerged victorious with a bonus point.
They were much stronger after the break, and the quality off the bench was all too evident.
Speaking after the match, Namibia coach Allister Coetzee said while his boys gave it their all, the gap between tier one and tier two rugby-playing nations is evident.
“The boys never gave up; they hung in there. We were up against a tier-one country, and it is always important to have parity at set pieces. The Italians are good at set pieces; we struggled a bit at lineouts and scrums. Towards the end, it ballooned out a bit, but that is the difference in conditioning,” Coetzee said.
He added that Namibia should have taken their opportunities in the first half and made it difficult for their opponents.
The former Springbok coach said the loss of his vice captain for 10 minutes saw the Italians score 14 points, but set pieces were Namibia’s undoing.
“The boys tried hard; we were good at the kicking game as we put them under pressure every time we kicked. However, at 50 minutes, we faded,” he said.
The defeat means Namibia’s wait for a first World Cup win extends to a record 23 games.
Namibia plays wounded New Zealand, which suffered a 27-13 defeat to the hosts France on Friday evening in the opening match of the tournament at the Stade de France.
That match is scheduled for Friday 15 September.