The scoreboard showed a 37-22 victory for Portugal, but it was more a case of a Namibian win slipping away due to numerous unforced errors and conceding unnecessary tries.
It was still anyone’s game when Portugal led 27-22 midway through the second half, but with 15 minutes to go, Portugal fullback Manuel Pinto sealed their win with an opportunistic try when he danced his way through a static defence to go over unopposed.
Till then flyhalf Tiaan Swanepoel had kept Namibia in the game with his booming boot, while their forwards secured more than enough possession from the set-pieces, but the backs regularly squandered their opportunities due to unforced errors, as Portugal held on for a scrappy win.
Portugal won the try count 4-1, while their flyhalf Domingos Cabral added 14 points with the boot, and Namibian flyhalf Swanepoel, 17 points.
Namibia took an early 6-0 lead after two penalties by Cabral but Portugal struck back with a fine try by left wing Rodrigo Marta who collected Cabral’s pinpoint crosskick to dot down.
Portugal’s forwards continued to bash away at Namibia’s line, but Namibia’s defence stood firm and they regained the lead through a fine try by the hardworking flanker Max Katjijeko who touched down after collecting an inside pass from winger Lloyd Jacobs. With Swanepoel adding the conversion, Namibia went 13-7 ahead, but after squandering a few attacking opportunities, the momentum swung to Portugal who gained a psychological blow just before halftime when flanker Nicolas Martins went over from a maul to put them 17-13 ahead.
A Swanepoel penalty reduced the deficit to 17-16, but Portugal went 24-16 ahead when right wing Jose dos Santos collected a loose ball from broken play and broke right through Namibia’s defence to go over for a converted try.
Cabral added another penalty, but two penalties by Swanepoel brought Namibia back in the game at 27-22 to leave the match wide open with 20 minutes to go.
Pinto, however, pounced with his opportunistic try, going over without a hand being laid on him, before substitute back Manuel Vareiro sealed a 37-22 win with a late penalty.
It was a disappointing defeat especially after a fine performance by Namibia’s forwards where Ruan Ludick excelled in the lineouts and Max Katjijeko and Adriaan Booysen in the loose and supportive play.
Namibia captain Danco Burger said there were some positives to take out of the match as they continue to prepare for the Africa Cup in Uganda at the end of this month.
“We started very well and our objective was to get a fast start and I think we led for the first 20 minutes so that objective was ticked. With the eye on the Africa Cup there’s a lot of positives to take out of this game and a lot of things to learn from and I’m very proud of the boys. We did some very good stuff on defence but there were just some small minor mistakes, keeping the ball, losing patience, so for us it’s those key small things to focus on, in order to keep on building momentum,” he said.
“The bigger picture is the Africa Cup and to qualify for the World Cup, so on Monday we’ll go back to the drawing board and make sure we take the good things from this match so that we can go and win the African Cup,” he added.
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