Namibia thrash Russia in first Test
Namibian continued their build-up to the World Cup with an impressive 39-19 win over Russia in Windhoek at the weekend – the first of two Tests.
The hosts produced their best performance in over a year with a comprehensive victory over a side placed three places higher at number 22 on World Rugby's rankings.
Coming off three consecutive defeats at the Nations Cup in Romania last month, Namibia – superbly led by Saracen's loose forward Jacques Burger – put their 2015 World Cup campaign firmly back on track.
Namibia's France-based flyhalf Theuns Kotzè opened the scoring with a fourth-minute penalty.
However, but the visitors then stunned the 3000 strong home crowd with a well worked try from wing Igor Galinovsky. Veteran flyhalf Yuri Kushnarev converted to make it 7-3 after just eight minutes.
The influence of newly appointed backline coach Pieter Rossouw was immediately evident, as the Namibian backs attacked with accuracy and pace not seen by Namibian supporters in a long time.
Man of the Match Russell van Wyk scored after the Namibians won set phase ball and played it wide. Van Wyk, in only his second Test appearance, recorded the first of his two Test tries to restore Namibia's lead. Kotzé converted to take the score to 13-7, but also missed at least four shots of goal which could have given Namibia a comfortable lead at the break.
The Russians, however, managed to hold on to possession and work the ball through a couple of phases – even though at least four try-scoring opportunities were wasted through handling errors.
At the sound of the half-time horn they were finally awarded for their enterprising approach when No.8 Viktor Gresev crashed over the corner for an unconverted try.
The half-time score – 13-12 to Namibia.
The second half started with Kotzè missing yet another attempt at goal and Russia twice getting close to scoring from line-out drives, only too be stopped by a well organised Namibian defence.
The injection of Namibia's replacements took the game out of Russia's reach.
In the 50th minute Exeter Chiefs fullback Chrysander Botha took a quick tap on his own 22 and linked up with Johan Tromp, who had moved to the wing. Tromp sent scrumhalf Eugene Jantjies away for one of the best tries seen in many years at Hage Geingob Stadium. Kotzè converted to take the score to 20-12.
Namibia's third try and Van Wyk's second try, after Namibia won a line-out ball and played it wide, finally broke the visitors resistance.
Trailing by 12-25 and 20 minutes remaining the Russians were starting the feel the effects of only arriving the Thursday evening before the match and the infamous altitude of the Namibian capital.
With 20 minutes remaining Russia launched one attack after the other on the Namibian game, but just could not break through a resilient Namibian defence.
Instead they saw Namibia put the result beyond any doubt when replacement centre JC Greyling intercepted and ran half the length of the field to score under the posts.
At 32-12 it was hard to see the now beaten Russians prevent a first-ever defeat to Namibia, but the visitors continue to fight and were rewarded in the form of a try from replacement Danila Chegadoav.
The Namibians were not done though, with two minutes remaining Tromp put in a superb chase after a high-kick, he gathered to send Leopards centre Johan Deysel away for Namibia's fifth try. Kotzè converted to cap an unforgettable performance by Namibia – the final score 39-19.
Namibian captain, Jacques Burger, playing in his first Test on home soil since 2009, was ecstatic with the win.
"I am massively proud of the team, a victory in any Test match is great," Burger said.
"I am just very proud of the team, how they defended until the end. We stuck to our structures and came away with a win."
Despite the comprehensive victory and big margin Burger said he his team still had a lot to work on and improve.
"It is a whole new squad and certainly a lot of room of improvement needed, but there were a lot of positives out their and we know we can improve on that," said the Namibian captain.
New Namibian head coach Phil Davies was equally satisfied with the team's performance.
"It was a good performance and good first step on the rung of the ladder towards the World Cup, but we know there is still a lot of hard work to do," Davies said.
The second Test between Namibia and Russia in the series will be played this coming Saturday at the same venue.
Scorers:
For Namibia:
Tries: Van Wyk 2, Jantjies, Greyling, Deysel
Cons: Kotzè 3, Jantjies
Pen: Kotzè 2
For Russia:
Tries: Galinovsky, Gresev, Chegadoav
Cons: Kushnarev 2
Teams:
Namibia: 15 Johan Tromp, 14 David Philander, 13 Danie van Wyk, 12 Johan Deysel, 11 Russel van Wyk, 10 Theuns Kotzé, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 8 Thinus du Plessis, 7 Thomasua Forbes, 6 Jacques Burger (captain), 5 Jaco Venter, 4 Tjiuee Uanivi, 3 Casper Viviers, 2 DG Wiese, 1 Jaco Engels.
Replacements: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Raoul Larson, 18 AJ de Klerk, 19 Renaldo Bothma, 20 Rohan Kitshoff, 21 Arthur Bouwer, 22 JC Greyling, 23 Chrysander Botha.
Russia: 15 Anton Ryabov, 14 Igor Galinovsky, 13 Dmitriy Gerasimov, 12 Vladimir Rudenko, 11 Andrey Otrokov, 10 Yury Kushnarev, 9 Alexey Shcherban, 8 Viktor Gresev, 7 Dmitriy Krotov, 6 Andrey Temnov, 5 Pavel Butenko, 4 Andrey Garbuzov, 3 Innokentiy Zykov, 2 Stanislav Selskii, 1 Alexey Volkov.
Replacements: 16 Evgeny Matveev, 17 Vladimir Podrezov, 18 Evgeny Pronenko, 19 Alexey Panasenko, 20 Danila Chegodaev, 21 Rushan Iagudin, 22 Evgeny Kolomiitsev, 23 Alexey Mikhaltsov.
Referee: Lesego Legoete (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Jacky Husselmann (Namibia), Harry van Niekerk (Namibia)
