Namibia lose to Romania

Namibia lost 20-8 to Romania in their opening match at the Nations Cup in Bucharest on Thursday. In other first round matches, Argentina XV beat Spain 44-8 while Emerging Italy beat Uruguay 26-24.

Namibia 8-20 Romania

Compared to last year’s one-sided game, when a fired-up Romania dismissed a struggling Namibia 43-3,Thursday’s final match was a battle between equals, which the Oaks won 20-8 after an epic struggle.

It was the Romanian pack that set the tone in the early exchanges and the pressure exerted on the Welwitschias saw flanker Rohan Kitshoff yellow-carded.

His indiscretion was punished further when Nations Cup record points-scorerFlorin Vlaicu put the ball through the posts for the second time in the match, for a 4-0 lead to the host nation. That advantage was trebled when, after 21 minutes, Scottish referee Lloyd Lindonawarded the home pack an eight-point penalty try.

Worse was to come for the Welwitschias when captainand number eightRenaldo Bothma was also dispatched to the sin-bin. Shortly after Bothma returned to the fray, on 35 minutes, Romania extended their lead following a try for left-winger Ionut Dumitru.

The normally reliable Vlaicu missed the conversion and Romania had to settle for an 18-0 lead at the break.

A second missed penalty at the start of the second half saw two points go begging but Vlaicu readjusted his sights and stepped up to slot home his next kickto make the scoreline20-0 after66 minutes.

Credit to Namibia, they kept plugging away, and impressive second-rowTjuee Uanivi capped a fine display by going over for their try in the dying minutes of the game.

“This was far from being an easy match and our performance was perhaps not our best,” said Romania captain Stelian Burcea. “However, It was a hard-fought win, which is normal at the start of a tournament like this. The most important thing is that we do not have any serious injuries and we are aware of our potential.

“Taking into account the number of young players who made their debut for Romania today I am very pleased with the outcome and look forward to start developing the team for the next matches. We know our potential and we hope to improve for the next match.”

Argentina XV 44 Spain 8

Argentina XV opened up their bid for a first World Rugby Nations Cup title in 10 years with a 44-8 win against Spain.

The South Americanswere held to a 6-0 lead at the break after a try fromblindside flanker Luca Maguirebut a second-half onslaught saw them ease to a comfortable victory in the opening match of the 2016 edition.

Maguire, of the University Club of Buenos Aires (CUBA),made rugby history against a never-say-die Spanish team by scoring the first six-point international try in the northern hemisphere at the stadionul NationalArcul de Triumf in Bucharest.

It happened in the dying seconds of the first half, as the Spanish players briefly lost concentration after laying siege to the Argentine 22 for most of the game up until that point.

A combination of sturdy Argentine defence and questionable decision-making by the Spanish, who decided against kicking at goal, in the hope that their dominant scrum would enable them to score a pushover try, kept the South American outfit’sline intact.

However, the Spanish failed to convert their dominant forward effort into points and two inspired changes by head coach Felipe Contepomi in the Argentina XVfront-row restored parity.

Reserve hooker Axel Zapata and tight-head Lucas Martinez came on for Santiago Iglesias and Christian Bartoloni respectively and from that moment on the Argentina XV, led from the front by their outstanding scrum-half Felipe Ezcurra, never looked back.

Ezcurra scored within three minutes of the restart and three further tries followed, from midfield pairing Gabriel Ascarate and JuanCappiello and replacement winger Segundo Tuculet, before the hour mark had been reached. Fly-half Joaquin Diaz Bonilla added a sixth try, and full-back Pedro Mercerat kicked his fourth conversion of the match.

Spain grabbed a late consolation when replacement Daniel Marron crossed the line with two minutes to go. Sergi Aubanell kicked the conversion for a final scoreline of 44-8 to the Argentina XV.

“The first part of the matchwas very toughbut, in the second half, we grew together as a team and we managed to win,” said Argentine try-scorerEzcurra.

Spain captain Jaime Nava saidthe game illustrated how you need to play for a full 80 minutes to compete at this level. “The first half, it was pretty good. I think we did some good things, in defence and in attack,” he said. “I think we maybe just panicked a little bit when we got in their 22, and that’s why we didn’t score the try. But, at this international level, against these teams, if you are not 100 per cent for a full 80 minutes, you will suffer, and that’s what happened.”

Uruguay 24-26 Emerging Italy

An extraordinary match, which saw Emerging Italy race into a 24-0 lead before withstanding a second-half fight-back from Uruguay, was ultimately settled byItalian fly-half Maicol Azzolini’s second-half penalty.

With the Nations Cup adopting the law trial of points scoring with six points awarded for a try and two for a kick at goal, both sides attacked with ball in hand instead of opting to go for goal.

Uruguay resorted to kicking to the corner and using their powerful driving maul to get back in the game, and the tactic paid dividends with tries forflanker Diego Magno and scrum-half Santiago Arata.

With the momentum slipping away from them Azzolini sensibly choose to kick for goal when the Uruguayans infringed within range of the posts. His penalty restored the points buffer to 10, which meant Nicolas Freitas’ converted try for Los Teros on 70 minutes was in vain.

Emerging Italy managed to close out the game for a thrilling victory despite ending the game with 14 men after Guiseppe di Stefano was sent to the sin-bin.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.