Windhoek
All the trauma of the last few days that saw Namibian rugby engulfed in boardroom wrangles was temporarily put aside, at least for the time being, as the Namibian senior rugby 15 outgunned an out of sorts Russia by an astonishing score line of 45 points to 5 in the final of a two-match test series.
Going into the tie with tails up following their convincing performance in the first test of the Windhoek Draught Friendship series a week earlier (39-19, the IRB World Cup-bound hosts were in a mean mood, firing all cylinders on their way to record arguably their best performance against such formidable opponents on home soil in as many years.
The match, played on a chilly Saturday afternoon in front of a decent crowd at the Hage Geingob stadium in Windhoek, provided high expectations for the enthusiastic spectators as the Namibians showed their intent ahead of their fifth consecutive assault on the International rugby showpiece in England in less than two months’ time.
Namibia’s triumph clearly underpinned what a massive difference both head coach, Phil Davies and backline coach Pieter Rossouw’s tactical and technical acumen, have made within a space of seven days – given the limited time they had with the squad.
As opposed to the first test, Saturday’s win was almost flawless, aided by a more controlled and clinical approach by the clearly confident hosts. The visitors gave their best, but could unfortunately not match the strength of their opponents, who appeared to have improved significantly since the opening test.
Enterprising flyhalf, Theuns Kotzè, put the hosts ahead when he neatly dispatched a penalty kick in the third minute of play, before winger Russel van Wyk, dotted a five-pointer, which was duly converted by Kotze to give the hosts a comfortable nerve-settling 10-point cushion.
Kotze’s educated boot added to the tally with two well-taken penalties to stretch the lead to 16-0 before the visitors reduced the deficit with a well-executed try by burly hooker Evgeny Matveev for the visitors’ only points in an otherwise entertaining clash (HT 16-5).
Russia came back strongly in the second half with more energy, but handling errors proved to be their Achilles heel, losing ball possession in crucial areas. Just as the match progressed, the enterprising Kotzè went on a solo run almost the entire length of the field to add Namibia’s second five-pointer of the day (21-5).
With frustration growing in the visitors’ camp, South African referee Marius van der Westhuizen had his hands full with Namibian skipper, Jacques Burger and Russia’s centre, Dmitriy Gerasimov, finding their names on the referee’s crime sheet. Both players were sent packing and had to spend ten minutes in the cooler.
A lack of discipline was to cost the Russians dearly when a try at a crucial stage of the game was correctly chalked off after the assistant referee spotted loose-forward Pavel Butenko unleashing a combination of punches. Butenko was subsequently sin-binned with his team already down to 14 men.
Kotzè had a field day and enjoyed one of his best performances in the national team’s attire, as he barely put a foot wrong during the entire 80 minutes of play.
His well-weighted kick across the field found the path of Conrad Marais, who scored Namibia’s third try of the afternoon. Kotzè obliged when he perfectly goaled the resultant conversion before adding another penalty, his third of the afternoon to give the hosts an insurmountable 31-5 advantage.
With 5 minutes left on the clock, Namibia launched another counter attack from a turn-over deep inside their territory that allowed Burger to produce a clever kick. Marais was on hand to reciprocate the gesture, using his pace to maximum effect for his second try of the match.
However, Marais still had some unfinished business, completing his hat trick of tries when he got to the end of substitute Johan Tromp’s offload to complete the riot for the hosts on the stroke of the final whistle.
Kotzè was deservedly named the Windhoek Draught Man of the Match after a near faultless display with an astonishing contribution of 20 points, that included a try.
Final score: Namibia 45 (21) – Russia 5 (5)
Point Scorers: Namibia-Tries: Russel van Wyk, Theuns Kotzè, Conrad Marais (3), Conversions: Kotzè (4), Penalties : Kotzè (4). Russia -Try: Evgeny Matveev