THE Namibian XV gave the shadow Springboks a fright when the scoreline stood at 8-7 at halftime in a practice match at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Friday night.
Despite winning 36-7 in the end, the Springboks, who had over 60 per cent of top Springbok players, were give a run for their money after a miserable struggle to break through the Namibian defence in most of the first half.
In what was expected to be a complete whitewash, the Springboks only managed to dot over the try-line once in the first half through Odwa Ndungane, while the other tries were all scored after the break.
Namibia got a try through their captain Kees Lensing, while Derick Hougaard converted for their only points on the night.
Other tries by the Springbok side, which could not find its momentum compounded by a barrage of handling errors, came from second-half subs Juan Smith and Jean de Villiers, while Johann Muller also dived over.
Peter Grant and Earl Rose were the two men in each half who booted through points for the visitors.
Boks coach Peter De Villiers said after the game: ‘It was a first game together and we had a lot of new guys who knew they were getting their one opportunity to stake a claim and they wanted to make the most of it.
‘As a result of that we were perhaps too individualistic, and the players tried too much on their own. This prevented us from getting cohesion and momentum as a team.’
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