‘Room for improvement’ – Kitshoff

Welwitschias captain Rohan Kitshoff feels there is room for a lot of improvement following Namibia’s 58-20 victory against Germany in a rugby test match on Wednesday evening.

Namibia dominated from the start, taking a 36-6 lead at halftime and eventually ran in nine tries to complete a comfortable victory, but Kitshoff said the side needs to improve a lot for its upcoming European tour.

“We started off well and we had a good first half, but we let it slip a bit in the second half. We can definitely take positives out of this game, but there is still a lot of work that needs to be done going forward into the European tour. On a tour it’s a whole different ball game with different opponents and circumstances, so there is still a lot of work to be done,” he said.

Playing in front of about 3 000 fans at a poorly-lit Trustco United field, Namibia got off to a great start when Johan Deysel scored the first try after only three minutes.

Germany edged 6-5 ahead after two penalties by Christopher Hilsenbeck but Namibia continued to attack and it wasn’t long before they regained the lead.

Wing Johan Tromp touched down on 14 minutes, before two great tries by captain Kitshoff stretched their lead to 29-6.

Namibia’s English-based scrum half Ryan de la Harpe pounced onto a loose ball and ran 70 metres to touch down just before halftime and with Kaizemi adding the conversion they took a comfortable 36-6 lead at the break.

Flanker Thomasau Forbes touched down early in the second half and with fullback Danie Dames and Tromp scoring further tries after swift back line attacks, Namibia stretched their lead to 53-6 midway through the second half.

Germany did not give up and came back with two converted tries in the final quarter.

Flanker Kehoma Brenner went over after a fine driving maul by the forwards, while scrum half Sean Armstrong touched down when he broke blindside from a scrum.

Namibia however had the final say when substitute centre JC Greyling touched down on his national debut.

For Namibia, captain Kitshoff was the standout player, with his powerful runs and spectacular tries, while Kaizemi had a fine debut, giving a fast service to his back line and adding 13 points with the boot.

The other newcomers to the squad also impressed with Ryan de la Harpe, Danie Dames and JC Greyling all scoring tries while Thorsten van Jaarsveld, Tjiuee Uanivi and Nico Esterhuyzen all gave fine performances.

Kitshoff played down his own performance and in stead praised his forwards for creating a platform for their victory.

“I think my performance was all right, but loose forwards can only stand out when the tight five do their work so hats off to them, they played well and gave us a good base to play off,” he said.

Kitshoff also credited the new players in the squad, saying they did very well considering their limited preparation.

“The new caps slotted in very well, seeing that some of the guys only pitched up late after delayed flights, while they didn’t even have a captains run, but as I said there is still a lot of work to be done and I think we can only get better from here.”

Namibia will now leave on their European tour this weekend with three matches coming up against Canada on 7 November, the French Barbarians on 14 November and Portugal on 21 November, and Kitshoff said they needed to lift their game if they hoped to emerge victorious.

“We definitely have to pitch up and play much better than we did tonight if we want to get a result over there. But as I said, for two days of practise, to pull off a result like this, it’s well done and hats off to the boys.”

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