NAMIBIA got their first win at the Nations Cup on Sunday night after an injury time penalty by Cliven Loubser gave them a last gasp 30-28 victory against the home side, Uruguay.
Russia, meanwhile, got their campaign back on track with a 48-40 victory against Argentina A, to leave the competition wide open with one round of matches to go.
Namibia were full value for their win and led for most of the match, but Uruguay pushed them hard and nearly snatched victory at the end.
Uruguay outscored Namibia by four tries to three, but Loubser’s accurate boot was the difference as he contributed 15 points.
Namibia’s victory was quite an upset, since Uruguay are ranked 16th in the world and Namibia 23rd, and Namibia coach Phil Davies was understandably delighted.
“I’m very proud of the players’ performance – we’ve played well to date and today’s win was just rewards for the boys’ efforts.
“We are delighted with the win as Uruguay are seven places above us on the world rankings, and to win away from home is very satisfying,” he said.
Davies said that the players were showing consistent improvement.
“Over the last two matches, our ball in play has been 39 and 40 minutes, while the work rate of the players is consistently improving.”
“The players have been excellent both on and off the field and along with the staff are working extremely hard and I hope the country is proud of them – we are moving in the right direction,” he added.
Namibian eighthman Janco Venter had a great match and scored two early tries as Namibia went 17-0 ahead.
In the 21st minute he picked up from the base of a scrum and powered over, and for the second five minutes later, he ran 30 metres to dive over in the corner.
Centre Vilaseca Hontou opened Uruguay’s account with a try when he finished off a counterattack by fullback Felipe Etcheverry and then added a second early in the second half when he ran onto a cross kick by fly half Juan Manuel Cat to dive over.
With right wing Frederico Favaro adding the conversion they were right back into the game with a 20-14 deficit.
Both sides bashed away at each other as they tried to take the initiative and Favaro missed a great chance when he was wide with an easy penalty on 53 minutes.
Uruguay’s chances were further boosted when Namibian wing Oderich Mouton was sin-binned for a high tackle, but Namibia struck with a great try to go 27-14 ahead midway through the second half.
Right wing JC Greyling started a swift counter-attack linking with TC Kisting and Darryl de la Harpe to take play to Uruguay’s try line, and when they couldn’t clear under pressure, Greyling pounced to dot a loose ball down for the try.
Uruguay made a determined comeback with two tries by replacement back Manuel Ardao and hooker German Kessler, and with Favaro converting both, they took a 28-27 lead.
Namibia, however, had the final say when they won a penalty for a high tackle deep into injury time and Loubser secured the victory with a great kick from 45 metres out.
With one round of matches to go, the competition is still wide open with Uruguay leading the log on seven points, followed by Argentina A and Russia on six, and Namibia on four.
Namibia’s final match is next Saturday against Russia, who are coached by former Welwitschias coach Lyn Davies, and Davies said they are looking forward to the encounter.
“Russia will be an interesting game for us and all the focus will be on trying to back up the Uruguay performance along with further improving our game,” he said.
