Namibia’s hopes of qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup are nonetheless alive after they beat Senegal 55-17 of their opening match on the Africa Cup in Kampala yesterday.
It took some time to interrupt Senegal down, and when Namibia held a slender 24-17 lead with a participant within the sin bin halfway by way of the second half, it regarded like a giant upset was on the playing cards.
Namibia’s superior health and their power off the bench, nonetheless, performed a key function as they ran in 5 tries within the last quarter to clinch a complete win.
Namibia took an early 7-0 lead when lock Johan Retief touched down, with flyhalf Tiaan Swanepoel changing, however they may not convert their early dominance into factors whereas additionally they struggled within the scrums.
Swanepoel added a penalty and when wing Jurgen Meyer went over after a advantageous break by Andre van der Berg, they went 17-0 forward after Swanepoel added an incredible conversion from the touchline. Namibia appeared to be cruising however have been nonetheless struggling within the scrums and suffered a setback when veteran prop Aranos Coetzee went off injured.
Senegal opened their account when eighth man Abdelkarim Fofana went over from a lineout with Saibo Sacko including the conversion, and when their left wing Ousmane Soumah snapped up a unfastened ball to nip over for an unconverted attempt, they have been proper again within the sport with a 17-12 deficit.
Namibia have been additional penalised when lock Oliver Kurz was yellow-carded for foul play, however elevated their lead when Le Roux Malan lower by way of Senegal’s defence to ship Andre van den Berg over for a transformed attempt.
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Senegal as soon as once more struck again with a attempt by their flyhalf, Mamoudou Niang diving over within the right-hand nook to cut back the hole to 24-17, however that was the closest they acquired as Namibia stepped up a gear.
They introduced on a number of replacements who instantly made their presence felt as lock Adriaan Ludick crashed over for a attempt transformed by Cliven Loubser, and when Armand Combrinck went over from a rolling ahead maul, they have been instantly 38-17 forward. One other substitute, scrumhalf AJ Kearns made a big effect scoring two tries in 5 minutes–first nipping over after a ahead maul, after which chopping by way of the defence with a blindside assault to dive over within the nook.
Eighthman Adriaan Booysen accomplished the rout, scoring Namibia’s eighth attempt, after some advantageous interaction with Meyer to finish a powerful win.
Namibia will now tackle Algeria within the semifinals on Sunday after the north Africans earlier beat the Ivory Coast 41-6.
Zimbabwe are additionally by way of to the semis after beating Morocco 43-8 and can meet Kenya, who beat Uganda 32-24.
