Tonga defeat Namibia in Exeter

Tonga came away winners over Namibia by a 35-21 score in a very entertaining match at Sandy Park in Exeter on Tuesday. The Tongans outscored their opponents by five tries to two, but some wayward kicking and discipline issues kept the Namibians in the match.

Telusa Veainu was a late entrant into the Tongan lineup after Fetu’u Vainikolo was withdrawn before kickoff with a hamstring complaint. The flying winger struck first after a nifty set move from a lineout put him into space, and pure octane put him away and over the line. A second score came just a few minutes later as Jack Ram peeled off the back of a driving maul to blast over and give his team a commanding lead with only a dozen minutes on the clock.

Namibia got one back when a great step and offload from towering lock Tjiuee Uanivi found Johann Tromp in close support, with the winger speeding away for the try. Not to be outdone, Tongan lighthouse Joe Tu’ineau returned the favour with his own offload landing in the hands of Latiume Fosita to restore their 12 point lead. Vunga Lilo added a penalty kick to his previous two conversions so stretch the lead a little further before the break.

Veainu almost had a second on the stroke of halftime, seemingly diving over in the corner, only to be ruled in touch by the width of a finger. He kept the pace up coming out after the intermission, racing away once again, and this time finding Ram to his left to finish another runaway score and bring up the bonus point for Tonga.

Theuns Kotzé fired a missile down into the corner from a penalty, putting the Welwitschias in perfect position to score from the lineout. As the maul surged forward, skipper Jacques Burger dove under the pile and reached through to score his team’s second try.

As if on cue, it was the Ram and Veainu show yet again. This time the flanker threw a huge double cut-out pass to hit the winger in full stride, and Veainu crossed for his second. Burger replied with his own double, almost a carbon copy of his first try from another rolling maul close to the line. Kotzé slotted a picture-perfect sideline conversion to bring the team to within 11 points.

Kurt Morath came on as a replacement for Siale Piutau, and dutifully knocked over a penalty goal, giving his side the lead by two converted tries and in doing so overtaking Pierre Hola as Tonga’s all-time leading points scorer. Namibia would threaten the line again witht he forwards, but the scoring was complete and the Ikale Tahi had their win.

Tonga move north to Leicester where they face Argentina on Sunday, while Namibia stay in Exeter and enjoy a seven day rest before taking on Georgia on October 7.

TONGA
Tries – T. Veainu 2 (5, 55), J. Ram 2 (12, 45), L. Fosita (25)
Cons – V. Lilo 2 (6, 26)
Pens – V. Lilo (35)

NAMIBIA
Tries – J. Tromp (18), J. Burger 2 (48, 67)
Cons – T. Kotzé 3 (19, 49, 68)

TONGA
1 S. Tonga’uiha (T. Mailau 60) 2 A. Lutui (P. Ngauamo 46) 3 S. Puafisi (H. Aulika 60) 4 H. T-Pole (L. Lokotui 43) 5 J. Tu’ineau 6 S. Kalamafoni (O. Fonua 32) 7 J. Ram 8 V. Ma’afu 9 T. Takulua (S. Fisilau 57) 10 L. Fosita 11 T. Veainu 12 S. Piukala 13 S. Piutau (capt.) (K. Morath 57) 14 T. Halaifonua 15 V. Lilo (V. Helu 60)

NAMIBIA
1 C. Viviers (J. Redelinghuys HT) 2 T. van Jaarsveld (L. van der Westhuizen 73) 3 A. Coetzee (A. de Klerk 72) 4 J. Venter (P. van Lill HT) 5 T. Uanivi 6 J. Burger (capt.) 7 R. Kitshoff 8 R. Bothma (T. du Plessis 69) 9 E. Buitendag (D. Stevens 71) 10 T. Kotzé 11 R. van Wyk 12 J. Deysel (D. de la Harpe 72) 13 D. van Wyk 14 J. Tromp (D. Philander 65) 15 C. Botha