NAMIBIA beat Kenya 39-11 at the Confederation of African Rugby (CAR) U19 Championships in Harare yesterday, to remain on track for a place at the 2013 Junior World Trophy in Chile next year.
Namibia dominated the match against Kenya from the start, scoring a total of six tries to complete an emphatic victory. Flyhalf Deslee Beukes had a great game, scoring a try, four conversions and two penalties for a personal haul of 14 points. He opened Namibia’s account with the first try of the match after 10 minutes, and further tries by scrumhalf Ascher Coetzee, centre Handre Bezuidenhout and fullback Denver Murorua gave Namibia a commanding 24-3 lead at halftime. Namibia continued to pile on the pressure in the second half, scoring two more tries through right wing Leon Feris and flank Emmo Dresselhaus, before Kenya got a late consolation try to make the final score 39-11. It was Namibia’s second successive victory after they beat Tunisia 44-7 in their first match on Saturday. On that occasion, centre Ethan Beukes was Namibia’s star performer, scoring two tries, two penalties and four conversions for a personal tally of 24 points. Namibia’s other try scorers were locks Janco Venter and Mahepisa Tjeriko, fullback Donovan Kandjii and centre Handre Bezuidenhout. Namibia will now have to beat Zimbabwe in their final match on Saturday to ensure that they qualify for next year’s Junior World Trophy. In recent years, Zimbabwe has taken over the mantle from Namibia as Africa’s best junior team (after South Africa), after they qualified for the Junior World Trophy for the past three years. But judging by performances at the current CAR U19 Championships in Harare, that could well change. While Namibia have looked assured and confident thus far, Zimbabwe have had a less than convincing start to the championships as they struggled to beat Kenya 13-10 in their opening match. Yesterday, however, they gave a much better performance when they beat Tunisia 42-0. Judging by current performances, Saturday’s match against Namibia should be a close affair that could go either way. Victory on Saturday might also convince local firms to financially support the young Namibian side, said head coach, Jood Opperman. ‘This team is most certainly a talented side, and could feature in Namibia’s World Cup dreams at senior level,’ he said.
