Tour ended off with a win in Chile
Rugby
One successful conversion made the difference between the two ambitious emerging nations.
Namibia was celebrating in joy and relief on Saturday in the build-up to the upcoming Rugby World Cup, as they concluded their tour of South America with a 28-26 win over Chile in Valparaiso.Johan Deysel’s men clawed their way back from falling behind 7-26 after 55 minutes, to win the historic first encounter between the two qualified teams for the upcoming World Cup.
Following tough encounters that resulted in losses against Argentina XV and Uruguay over the previous weekends, the national squad now returns in a positive frame of mind to Windhoek for some recovery before the announcement of Namibia’s final 33-man squad to the World Cup in France.
On Saturday, another sluggish start resulted in coach Allister Coetzee’s men having to play catch-up, as the skillful enterprising play of the Chilean backline runners created opportunities for them. In two of Chile’s tries, the Namibians seemed to claim some obstruction runners interfering with defenders.
Both sides eventually scored four tries, with JC Greyling providing Namibia’s only highlight of the first half when, in his 42nd test, he equaled the national career record of 28 tries held that current backline coach Chrysander Botha had set in 55 tests from 2008 to 2018.
As fly-half Tiaan Swanepoel attacked the gain line, the left wing raced in from the blind side to take a short inside pass and cut straight through the Chilean defence.
Divan Rossouw’s vital intercept try from the halfway line after 59 minutes provided the vital spark to Namibia’s comeback effort, while hooker Louis van der Westhuizen four minutes later scored off a maul from a lineout won by debutant Tiaan de Klerk.
Patient and disciplined build-up was often required to make inroads into the Chilean zone, such as in the determined forward effort that resulted in lock Adriaan Ludick barging over for the 67th minute try that levelled the scores. Swanepoel’s fourth out of four conversions provided the winning edge.
With props Aranos Coetzee and Desiderius Sethie playing 49 minutes before being replaced by Casper Viviers and Jason Benade, the scrums were mostly solid against a heavy unit.
The lineouts were a productive base for Namibian attacks, with jumpers like Ruan Ludick, Adriaan Ludick, Max Katjijeko and later the highly mobile Tiaan de Klerk all providing good possession to launch attacks from.
Ater the announcement of the World Cup travellers, the Namibians will play the Vodacom Bulls in Windhoek on 26 August in their final warm-up match before their departure to France.