Namibia halt Chile in u20 Trophy tilt

Namibia took one step closer to earning a spot in the World Rugby u20 Trophy Final after stopping Chile by a score of 33-19 in Montevideo on Saturday. A very close first half left only two points in it at the break but the second half was dominated by the African representatives to come away with the convincing win.

The Chileans got off to an ideal start as Thomas Orchard scored only two minutes into the game. In fact that would be the only score in the opening quarter, with the 5-0 lead holding until Rodrigo Manzano was shown a yellow card in the 23rd minute.

With the man advantage Namibia went on the offensive and eventually it was scrumhalf Wihan von Wielligh who found the game, slipping over from close range. Cliven Loubser’s conversion was on target to take the lead.

Back at full strength it was Chile who first back with a second try, this time from prop Piero Zunino, and Salas adding the extras. It would be short-lived however as a superb individual score from Brandon Groenewald gave Loubser the chance to restore the Namibian lead, and again the flyhalf split the uprights just on the stroke of halftime.

PW Steenkamp was the next to cross for Namibia but his score was erased by a fine effort from Tomás Salas. Chile began rolling out the reserves but their opponents were taking control. Patrick Schickerling was barely on the field when the big prop crashed over for a disheartening score and the final blow came soon after from Marco Beukes.

The tournament now takes a brief detour to Punta del Este where Chile will play Canada in the first of four matches at the Estadio Domingo Burgueño on Wednesday. Namibia takes on Japan with the winner moving on to the Trophy Final.

 

SCORING

NAMIBIA 33
Tries – W. von Wielligh (27′), B. Groenewald (40′), P. Steenkamp (47′), P. Schickerling (57′), M. Beukes (63′)
Cons – C. Loubser 4/5 (28′, 40′, 48′, 58′)

CHILE 19
Tries – T. Orchard (2′), P. Zunino (35′), T. Salas (51′)
Cons – T. Salas 2/3 (36′, 52′)
Yellow cards – R. Manzano (23′)

 

TEAMS

NAMIBIA
1 Andre Rademeyer, 2 Obert Nortje, 3 Nelius Theron, 4 Adriaan Ludick, 5 LeBeau du Preez, 6 Tjingairi Katjivi, 7 Prince Gaoseb (capt.), 8 Riaan de Klerk, 9 Wihan von Wielligh, 10 Cliven Loubser, 11 Marco Beukes, 12 Alastair Miller, 13 Brandon Groenewald, 14 Collins Omalu, 15 PW Steenkamp

Replacements: 16 JT Basson, 17 Patrick Schickerling, 18 Rheinhardt Carelse, 19 Oderich Mouton, 20 JC Olivier, 21 Tristan Mouton, 22 Andre van der Berg

CHILE
1 Piero Zunino, 2 Augusto Böhme, 3 Marcelo Huerta, 4 Javier Meneses, 5 Thomas Orchard, 6 Benjamín Soto Besamat, 7 Vicente Contreras, 8 Alfonso Escobar (capt.), 9 Domingo Saavedra, 10 Martín De Oto, 11 Santiago Gana, 12 Santiago Videla, 13 Lucca Avelli, 14 Rodrigo Manzano, 15 Tomás Salas

Replacements: 16 Carlos Oyarzún, 17 Benjamín Jeria, 18 Vicente Huete, 19 Clemente Saavedra, 20 José Escobedo, 21 Pedro Sotomayor, 22 Diego Salas

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Andrea Piardi (FIR)
Assistants: Tornike Gvirjishvili (GRU) & Ionut Bodea (FRR)