Namibia loses to Spears

THE Southern Spears from South Africa beat a Namibian Invitation team 32-13 in a highly charged rugby match at the Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium on Saturday.

After beating a Namibian XV 59-31 on March 25, the Spears were stung by criticism from Namibia’s coach Johan Venter, who said the Eastern Province franchise would struggle in the Super 14 competition since it was basically a Namibian third team that they had beaten. Spears’ management held a crisis meeting on Thursday and were considering cutting short their Namibian tour, but in the end they decided to honour their commitment and compete in the second match against Namibia.The Spears came out firing and from the first scrum it was clear that both sets of forwards were intent on scrumming each other into the ground.But it was the visitors’ quicksilver backline that did the initial damage.Flyhalf Ismael Dollie put them ahead with a drop goal, but Namibian flyhalf Morne Schreuder soon equalised with a penalty.The Spears regained the lead in the ninth minute when left wing Luvo Sogadishe cut through Namibia’s defence after a quick backline move to score in the corner.Dollie missed the conversion but four minutes later the Spears scored again.The Spears’ forwards drove up to Namibia’s line and from the second-phase possession Dollie sidestepped Namibia’s backline to go over for the try, which was converted by centre Reinhard Gerber.Schreuder added his second penalty in the 16th minute, but six minutes later the Spears went further ahead when centre Gerber cut through Namibia’s defence to score in the corner.Dollie once again missed the conversion, but the Spears’ onslaught continued.In the 25th minute, centre Basil de Donker fed the flying fullback Daniel Philander, who burst through Namibia’s defence to score in the corner.The tempo of the match dropped considerably in the second half as both sides tried to tighten up the game.With most of the play taking place amongst the forwards, the fans did not have much to cheer about.Namibian prop Deon van den Berg however raised a few gasps in awe when he crash-tackled the Spears’ captain Ashley Johnson and threw him into the ground, which resulted in the Spears captain having to receive medical attention.The Spears went further ahead when Sogadishe cut through the defence to score his second try, converted by Dollie.Tempers flared over sporadically and a Spears’ substitute forward and Namibian prop Fanna Lambert both received yellow cards for fighting midway through the second half.With time running out, Namibia finally scored a try when replacement scrumhalf Elrich Jansen broke through the Spears’ defence, with Schreuder adding the conversion.The game ended on a low when both sets of forwards got involved in a fight, which resulted in the referee blowing the final whistle with about two minutes of play left.- Namibia SportSpears’ management held a crisis meeting on Thursday and were considering cutting short their Namibian tour, but in the end they decided to honour their commitment and compete in the second match against Namibia.The Spears came out firing and from the first scrum it was clear that both sets of forwards were intent on scrumming each other into the ground.But it was the visitors’ quicksilver backline that did the initial damage.Flyhalf Ismael Dollie put them ahead with a drop goal, but Namibian flyhalf Morne Schreuder soon equalised with a penalty.The Spears regained the lead in the ninth minute when left wing Luvo Sogadishe cut through Namibia’s defence after a quick backline move to score in the corner.Dollie missed the conversion but four minutes later the Spears scored again.The Spears’ forwards drove up to Namibia’s line and from the second-phase possession Dollie sidestepped Namibia’s backline to go over for the try, which was converted by centre Reinhard Gerber.Schreuder added his second penalty in the 16th minute, but six minutes later the Spears went further ahead when centre Gerber cut through Namibia’s defence to score in the corner.Dollie once again missed the conversion, but the Spears’ onslaught continued.In the 25th minute, centre Basil de Donker fed the flying fullback Daniel Philander, who burst through Namibia’s defence to score in the corner.The tempo of the match dropped considerably in the second half as both sides tried to tighten up the game.With most of the play taking place amongst the forwards, the fans did not have much to cheer about.Namibian prop Deon van den Berg however raised a few gasps in awe when he crash-tackled the Spears’ captain Ashley Johnson and threw him into the ground, which resulted in the Spears captain having to receive medical attention.The Spears went further ahead when Sogadishe cut through the defence to score his second try, converted by Dollie.Tempers flared over sporadically and a Spears’ substitute forward and Namibian prop Fanna Lambert both received yellow cards for fighting midway through the second half.With time running out, Namibia finally scored a try when replacement scrumhalf Elrich Jansen broke through the Spears’ defence, with Schreuder adding the conversion.The game ended on a low when both sets of forwards got involved in a fight, which resulted in the referee blowing the final whistle with about two minutes of play left.- Namibia Sport