Namibia win Stellenbosch Challenge

NAMIBIA won the Stellenbosch Challenge after an impressive 41-10 victory over Zimbabwe in the final on Saturday.

Namibia once again got off to a slow start, trailing 7-5 at half-time, but stepped up the tempo in the second half to eventually run out comfortable winners.

Namibia ran in a total of seven tries, with loose-forward Adriaan Booysen scoring two, and left wing JC Greyling, lock Max Katjijeko, replacement back Lorenzo Louis, fullback Johan Tromp and flanker Wian Conradie scoring one each, while replacement back Hilarius Kisting added three conversions.

Namibias forwards asserted their dominance early on with their driving mauls and lock PJ van Lill nearly scored but lost the ball going over the line after a try-saving tackle.

Zimbabwe flanker Biselele Tshamala was sin-binned for disrupting the maul and Namibia finally took the lead when Greyling went over in the left hand corner, after fine build-up play by Cliven Loubser and Johan Deysel.

Zimbabwe, however, defended well and soon after Tshamala returned he went over for a try, converted by flyhalf Dudlee White-Sharpley as Zimbabwe took a 7-5 lead at the half-time break.

White-Sharpley stretched their lead to 10-5 with a penalty early in the second half, but from then on there was only one team in it as Namibia took control of the game.

Adriaan Booysen crashed over for a try shortly after replacing Renaldo Bothma, and when Katjijeko went over after another driving maul, Namibia took a 15-10 lead.

Lorenzo Louis replaced right wing Oderich Mouton and soon scored, after a fine run by centre Danco Burger, and when fullback Tromp cut through the backline to dive over under the posts, Namibia went 27-10 ahead.

Namibias forwards and backs continued to combine well and Wian Conradie went over after a fine run by Janco Venter, while Booysen completed the route after being put clear by Conradie.

Namibias forwards once again impressed, as they did in their 60-24 victory against Kenya a week ago, while the backs were creative in attack, with Loubser, Deysel and Burger prominent, although their place kicking was once again poor.

Still, it was a confidence boost for Namibia ahead of the World Cup qualifiers, where Zimbabwe and Kenya are once again expected to provide their toughest opposition.

Coach Allister Coetzee said Namibia made a lot of mistakes in the first half.

“Namibia were once again their own worst enemy in the first-half, making a lot of mistakes and couldnt convert lots of opportunities into points, but I think its due to not playing together for such a long time.

“But then we clicked in the second half and started getting it right. Our set pieces and line-out mauls were really good, and there were also some good scrummage performances by the youngsters,” he said, adding that the match had provided an important opportunity for some of the newcomers in the front row.

“Especially in the front row where the injured Aranos Coetzee was replaced, and the young front rowers Herschelle van Wyk and Gerhard Opperman stood their ground and did well.”

Coetzee said the tournament had provided much needed game time ahead of the World Cup qualifiers next year.

All in all it was very pleasing to have had these two test matches, and for a lot of the local boys to get some test matches, and also gel and play together with the overseas based players. Now we can build on this for the World Cup qualifying matches in July next year. So well done to the coaching staff and everyone involved, we got two wins from two, which is going in the right direction,” he said.