WINDHOEK – Namibia’s Under-19 rugby team qualified for the International Rugby Board (IRB) Junior World Rugby Trophy competition after seeing off a stubborn Kenyan team by 52 points to 17 in an electrifying match at the Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium in Windhoek, on Saturday.
The IRB Junior World Rugby Trophy will be held in Portugal next year and is contested by eight junior national sides with an Under-20 age requirement.
Recently, Namibia hosted the four-nation Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) Under-19 championship last month attracting three African nations led by Kenya, Tunisia, and Zimbabwe.
Hosts Namibia defeated Tunisia 78-3 to qualify to the finals while Kenya narrowly beat Zimbabwe 27-20. In Saturday’s encounter, the young Welwitschias showed their intention very clear to represent Africa at the junior youth tourney, thrashing Kenya.
It took just four minutes of play for the hosts to open the floodgates through enterprising captain Christopher Arries, before flanker Cameron McNab added to the scoreboard with another try. Arries succeeded with most of the conversions.
With half-time approaching, the hosts stretched their point tally – courtesy of a hat trick of tries by Divan Rossouw including a well-taken brace by Milaan van Wyk. The visitors crawled back into contention with quick tries through captain Jeffrey Oluoch and Oscar Nyongesa, to narrow the deficit 35-10 at the changeover.
In the second half, Namibian captain Arries made way for Henrique Olivier after picking up a knee injury towards the end of the first half but his departure did very little to suggest that the hosts will lose their grip on the tie.
The fired up Namibians continued from where they left off as they maintained their dominance crossing the touchline on three more occasions through Breedt Hans Jakob, Divan Russouw and Johannes Retief.
Wildre Smith goaled the resultant conversions but the visitors were not to be outdone that easily and scored a try in stoppage time through Nelson Sangura with Marlin Akoolo converting to take the final score to a more respectable 52-17.
Namibia’s delighted head coach, Roger Thompson, said his team showed true grit but expressed disappointment that the youngsters lost their momentum after the departure of inspirational captain Arries.
“We started very well, but after we lost Chris, the team slightly lost their rhythm. Kenya was too physical but I am glad are through to the finals, this was good preparation for the team,” said Thompson adding the squad will be much stronger and hopes Arries will recover in time to make the squad for the finals.
“The coach prepared the team very well, and I am glad we made it through to the next round, but we need to shape up for the finals in Portugal,” said Arries. Zimbabwe dispatched Tunisia 52-21in the 3rd place play-off. – Nampa