U20 team concedes stunning loss to Kenya
A disappointing lack of tactical accuracy, ambition and commitment saw Namibia suffer a humiliating 14-33 loss to a very average Kenya side in the final of the Rugby Africa Under-20 Barthes Cup tournament in Kampala, Uganda yesterday afternoon.
The loss means that Namibia’s absence from qualifying for the World Rugby U20 Trophy tournament – a vital stepping stone to expose upcoming talent to a high standard of international competition – will extend to almost a decade since their last appearance in Romania in 2018.
Instead, it was Kenya who celebrated the victory and qualification for the world tournament to be held in Chili later this year.
The Namibian juniors’ poor performance on the opening day – when they trailed 0-6 at halftime to Tunisia before scraping through an 11-6 win – already set the alarm bells ringing.
Yesterday anxious Namibian fans were made to watch in even more frustration as the team failed to rise to the occasion, despite more than enough opportunities during the 80 minutes.
Some inexplicable selections and a questionable approach to substitutions contributed to the toothless performance.
Supporters will certainly have questions to coaches Johan Zaayman and Jood Opperman on how the desperately out-of-form fly-half William Beukes remained on the field for the full duration of the match.
Instead, Mc-Rein van Wyk may well have been able to spark a snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, as he did in the second half against Tunisia, but yesterday the result was already settled by the time he was sent on, with Tunisia leading 26-7 with less than 20 minutes to go.
Also, Benjamin Mostert, a flank who was outstanding for the OK Foods Bere in last year’s historic NSSU U19 premier league win against Windhoek High School, and who is now with the University of Stellenbosch, was given almost no game time during the tour. He was not in the match squad against Tunisia and was only sent on with five minutes left against Kenya.
Inaccuracies
Playing against the wind in the first half, the Namibians responded with a much more intense defensive work-rate than they did against Tunisia. The sluggish performance by Beukes took much of the venom out the attack,
Kenya first exploited some poor defence between Beukes and flank Pieter-Jan Strydom for their first try after 26 minutes (0-7).
The East Africans benefited their next seven points from Zimbabwean referee Precious Pazani’s call to award a pushover try from a ruck, despite the Kenyans being obviously short of the goal-line and not even claiming to have scored (halftime 0-14).
The Namibians aided in their own downfall with poor decision making. They gave away many turnovers by running straight into defenders and being held up. Defensive frailties were also exposed as Kenya eventually ran in a total of five tries to bury the last hopes of a comeback.
Just before halftime, Namibia was awarded a penalty right in front of the posts, but elected to play off a quick tap which went nowhere. Instead, William Beukes then missed two penalty kicks from closer to the halfway line as more scoring opportunities went begging.
Namibia’s only reward for the day were tries by flank Nzola-Menza Nkunku and right wing Ethan Sinden, although the latter also knocked on a final pass five minutes later for what should have been his second try. Beukes and Mc-Rein van Wyk each slotted one conversion.
