WINDHOEK – Namibia’s Rugby XV, the Welwitschias, got their Windhoek Draught tri-nations rugby campaign off to a good start when they defeated a stubborn Zimbabwe by 35 points to 26 in a hard fought encounter at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek on Friday night.
The hosts firmly stood their ground right from the outset and played some intriguing rugby but the Sables of Zimbabwe were in an uncompromising mood, proving they meant serious business as they matched a formidable Namibian team pound-for-pound in most departments of the game, going into halftime leading 17-13.
In the 2nd half, the Namibians started to move out of their blocks with some classic attacks that created plenty of chances upfront and saw the two teams leveling the score at 20-20 midway into the 2nd half. Namibia aggressively continued taking the game to the Zimbabweans and soon extended their slender lead to 27-20 but the Sables refused to waver as they kept coming forward with some heavy onslaughts but the Welwitschias were constantly on their toes as they managed to handle whatever the visitors threw at them.
The Welwitschias, although failing to show their killer instincts on many occasions, played well as a unit and showed good organisation in most aspects of the tightly contested match, as they courageously held on to clinch a well deserved late victory of 35-26.
Welwitschias captain PJ van Lill, who was very much instrumental in his team’s triumph described the match as very tough. “We let the Zimbabweans take control of the game for too long, because they played from our mistakes during the first half,” said Van Lill after the match.
Asked about the upcoming match against Kenya on Saturday (November 16), Van Lill said his team knows very little about the Kenyans but will first have to see how Kenya play against Zimbabwe tomorrow and only then will they determine their game plan for Kenya. Zimbabwe will confront Kenya tomorrow in their second match of the Windhoek Draught tri-nations tournament, also at the Hage Geingob Stadium. – Additional reporting by Nampa
By Otniel Hembapu