The Welwitchias defeated Germany by 58 points to 20 in the Windhoek Draught International Challenge played at Trustco United in Windhoek on Wednesday evening. The hosts led 36-6 at the break.
Watched by 3000 spectators the match produced 11 tries, nine of which were scored by Namibia.
Centre Johan Deysel opened the scoring as early as the third minute after Namibia won a line-out on Germany’s 22 and went through a number of phases before Deysel crossed.
Two penalties from Germany’s flyhalf Christopher Hilsenbeck put the visitors into a 6-5 lead on the 10 minute mark, but that was the last time Germany looked like winning the match.
Led by a brilliant Rohan Kitshoff the Namibian forward pack dominated and secured quality possession for their back line that had too much pace for their opponents to cope with.
In the 11th minute try scorer Deysel turned provider for left wing Johan Tromp who crossed for the second try of the evening. This was pretty much the trend for the remaining 25 minutes of the first half, with Namibia’s forwards in complete control as Germany found the pace too hot to handle.
Namibia added three more first half tries through their captain Kitshoff who scored back to back tries and Ryan de La Harpe.
The England-based scrumhalf dealt Germany a hammer blow just before the break when Germany were on the attack but De le Harpe intercepted and ran 70 meters for the try. Namibia were full value for their 36-6 lead at the break.
Namibia started the second half in the same fashion as they did the first and when loose forward Thomasua Forbes and full back Danie Dames both scored inside the first 8 minutes of the second half, a record score looked a strong possibility.
The handy lead allowed Namibian coach Danie Vermeulen the opportunity to give his replacement bench a run. This led to a loss of momentum and the rest of the second half was pretty much uneventful.
Namibia reached the half century mark when left wing Tromp scored his second try of the evening.
The next 20 minutes saw the German team playing with more composure and they were rewarded with two tries, the first by loose forward Kehoma Brenner after an impressive line-out drive and the second by their captain and scrum half Sean Armstrong.
New cap JC Greyling scored Namibia’s ninth try of the match 4 minutes before the end.
The match was refereed by South Africa’s Marius Jonker who after the final whistle confirmed that he had retired from first class refereeing and that this was his last match in charge.
Windhoek Draught International Scorers:
Namibia 58 (20) – Tries: Johan Deysel, Johan Tromp (2), Rohan Kitshoff (2), Thomasua Forbes, Ryan de la Harpe, Danie Dames, JC Greyling. Conversions: Shawn Kaizemi (5) Penalty: Shawn Kaizemi
Germany 20 (6) – Tries: Kehoma Brenner, Sean Armstrong. Conversions: Christoper Hilsenbeck (2), Penalties: Christopher Hilsenbeck (2)
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