Welwitschias head coach Allister Coetzee says his charges went off the boil in their Rugby World Cup dress rehearsal against Uruguay, which they lost 26-18 in Montevideo on Saturday.
After a spirited showing, when losing 34-27 to the Argentina XV in their first South American tour match a week earlier, Namibia were underwhelming this time around against a side they will face at the upcoming World Cup in France.
Coetzee’s men were not just lacking intensity, they were erratic, disjointed and struggled with discipline, he said in his post-match analysis.
“We were really below par. Players were disappointed with their performance and so are the coaches. So, there’s work to do. Knowing that we’re going to get them again, we’ve got a good idea of how we should prepare,” Coetzee said.
The Uruguayans were superior from the onset in general play and at the set-piece, scoring two tries through captain Andrés Vilaseca, who joined a maul to score the first, while No.8 Carlos Deus scored from a pick-and-go.
The second try coincided with Namibia losing fullback Divan Roussouw to a yellow card, but the host failed to capitalise on their one-man advantage.
“Our set piece didn’t function well, we conceded a lot of turnovers at line-outs. I didn’t see the maturity when we were under pressure and silly penalties that we conceded. That allowed them into our 22 and they could convert that into points.
“The disappointing thing is that the things that we really put a focus on this week didn’t come off in the game.
“I’m disappointed in the mentality of the players. We had a hard talk with the leadership and our team about it.”
However, the ex-Springboks coach took heart from some promising moments in the match. He believes the group had an off day and can bounce back in the tour-concluding clash against Chile on Saturday.
“Hopefully, this will be a hard learning curve for us and will help us in our last game of the tour. We’re off to Chile now. It’s our last game and we want to make sure we end off on a good note and make sure we get a win under the belt, which is good for confidence and going into a World Cup,” said Coetzee.
“It was quite challenging in the sense that we see each other again in the Rugby World Cup pool stages. I think, we’re fairly similar at this point. It was a close game and we had lots of opportunities.”
Namibia opened their scoring with a 37th minute penalty, followed by a Roussouw try, as the visitors went into the break trailing 12-8.
An unconverted Wian Conradie try saw Namibia take 13-12 lead just after the restart but Arcos Pérez, who had been yellow-carded before half-time, made amends with a try soon after.
Replacement Diego Ardao extended Uruguay’s lead before Danco Burger crossed the whitewash for Namibia nine minutes before full-time.
“The big thing for us was to really gauge ourselves in terms of where we are as a group. We were looking for an improvement since the last game. We’re not pleased with the result and the performance, but the mere fact that we had a chance to win the game, is a big positive for me,” the coach said.
Namibia will face a Chile side which the Argentina XV rolled over 40-13 in their clash in Antofagasta on Saturday.
The Los Cóndores held their own at times but were no match for the second-string Pumas who ran in three tries to Chile’s one to lead 21-13 at the changeover. The Argentina XV dominated the third quarter, scoring three tries to zero.
