THE Namibian under-20 rugby side are on the brink of reaching the final of the Junior World Rugby Trophy in Kenya, provided they beat the United States in their last Pool A match today.
Even a draw will be good enough, as it will take them to 11 points, and should they tie with Kenya on points, then they will go through on head-to-head basis after beating them 22-17.
The Namibian side are the current Under-20 Africa Cup champions and landing a place in the final will be a phenomenal achievement for coach Johan Diergaardt.
Namibia will take on the US at 14h00 today, while tournament favourites Chile tackle Romania at 16h15 CAT.
Both matches will be televised live on SuperSport select (DStv channel 209), MultiChoice Namibia announced yesterday.
Having suffered a shock defeat against the rampant Kenyans last Saturday, the US go into today’s first match knowing that nothing short of a win will be sufficient.
The Junior Eagles will have to win by four or more tries to move to 12 points and get through to the final regardless of the outcome of the Kenya-Cayman Islands match.
To achieve this, they will have to play better than they did against the hosts, where they let a huge 32-14 lead slip as the altitude took its toll.
Namibia ran in 17 tries to win their last match with wing Nathan Ockhuizen the pick of the side with a hat trick of tries. He will again be the man to watch.
Hosts Kenya will be watching the match with keen interest, as a win for the Namibians will be enough for them to sneak through.
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