African 'amateurs' frustrate All Blacks

The team from the south-western tip of Africa relies on farmers,  engineers and even a currency trader for their brawn.  

The African minnows – roared on by a packed London Olympic stadium – were delighted just to see Johan Deysel score a try in their first match against the world's No.1 team.

The All Blacks crashed over nine tries, but their coach Steve Hansen left frustrated.

The Pool C game was always going to be lop-sided affair. Namibia are the lowest rank team at the 20-nation World Cup.

But Hansen was hoping to give his players who missed their opening win against Argentina, a chance to settle into the World Cup.

Instead he saw a side play fluid rugby at times and then fall apart and let Namibia, a team with as many amateurs as professionals, win periods of the match.

"It's very hard to play rugby when you get a stop-start game like that so you get frustrated," Hansen said.

The All Blacks led 34-6 at half-time before a fractured second half in which they scored only two tries.

"We've got to deal with it better than we dealt with it in this match," Hansen said of the multiple stoppages.

"It is difficult. Every time you had a scrum, I think at one stage we spent about four minutes [with no play] and that's not what the game wants.

"I don't know how to fix it, but that's what happens sometimes when you get an opposition that's struggling to stay up."

Sam Cane, skippering the All Blacks for the first time with Richie McCaw on the bench, said he felt powerless as a loose forward to speed the game up when the problems appeared to be in the front rows.

"You speak to the ref to hurry things up as best he can but some of those dark arts in the scrum I don't know a lot about myself so it was a little frustrating."

Agence France-Presse