Namibia were left licking their wounds and counting the cost of battle after being mauled 71-3 by the All Blacks on Friday night.
Namibia centre Le Roux Malan’s World Cup campaign came to a shuddering end after only 17 minutes when he broke his ankle, and had to be taken to hospital, while replacement forward Adriaan Booysen dislocated his shoulder.
Kudus utility back LloydJacobs will now be flown in to replace Malan, although Booysen could still be available for Namibia’s final match against Uruguay, according to reports.
According to Coetzee, Malan underwent successful surgery after the match, while the All Blacks displayed their sportsmanship and compassion by sending Malan an All Blacks jersey signed by all their players.
“It says a lot about the sportsmanship of this world cup, it’s a good gesture by the All Blacks,” Coetzee said.
“That is not just saying the ethos and the culture and the values of rugby, but actually living and feeling it. That to me is unbelievable of the All Blacks to do something like that,” he added.
Namibia had to play catch up from the start, with New Zealand scrumhalf Cam Roigard scoring their first try after barely two minutes and when Damian McKenzie sent him over for his second five minutes later the result was a foregone conclusion.
With the unpredictable McKenzie causing havoc in the backline, the attacks continued unabated and they eventually ran in 11 tries in a sparkling display of running rugby.
McKenzie led the way with a haul of 26 points, including two tries, while the livewire Roigard won the man of the match award.
Namibia’s only points came via a penalty by flyhalf Tiaan Swanepoel.
Nambia had very little possession and few chances of note, but at least they made a game of it, going for tries instead of penalties, and with a bit of luck could have scored a try or two had it not been for handling errors in the wet and slippery conditions.
New Zealand dominated possession – 64 percent to 36 percent – while they also had the upper hand in all aspects, according to the official statistics of the match.
In attack, they won the carries over the gain line by 80-27 and the rucks by 62 to 39; while their defence was also better, with only 10 tackles missed compared to Namibia’s 45. Namibian eighthman Richard Hardwick, however, was the top individual defender with 11 tackles made.
New Zealand dominated the setpieces, winning all their lineouts and stealing two of Namibia’s throw-ins, while Namibia’s line-outs were below par as they only won 13 of their 18 throw-ins.
Namibia fared better in the scrums, winning four out of five, while they matched New Zealand in the turn-overs, with five each.
It was Namibia’s heaviest defeat against the All Blacks, following scorelines of 71-9 in 2019 and 58-14 in 2015, but Coetzee praised his players on a gutsy performance.
“I can’t compliment enough the fight of the team, even when we brought on our substitutes in the second half. There was some fight there.
“We were up against a classy All Blacks side and with the pace they play at, it was quite tough for our boys. But against a world-class team like that, we can take a lot of pride from this.
Looking ahead to Namibia’s remaining matches against France on 21 September and Uruguay on 27 September, Coetzee acknowledged that they have to improve their setpieces.
“We have got France next and our World Cup is about our last game [against Uruguay]. We have to do better at set-piece and we have to get better at looking after the ball,” he said.
Namibia captain Johan Deysel congratulated NewZealand as well as his own team.
“New Zealand were incredible tonight, especially in the first half. We couldn’t stop them but in the second half we fought back and chased that try, but couldn’t get it. We had a few chances but they stopped us. But I am still proud of the boys,” he said.
“The crowd were incredible. I saw a lot of All Blacks jerseys out there but they really supported us and the atmosphere was amazing. It has been an unbelievable World Cup so far,” he added.
Looking ahead to their next match against France, Deysel said they would give it their all.
“It is an unbelievable opportunity for us to play the host nation. It will be an awesome experience to play at such an amazing stadium like the Velodrome [Stade de Marseille]. We will give it our all.”
Attached is the NRU press release about Lloyd Jacobs being called up to replace Malan.
