Namibia claim historic win over Uruguay

History was made this evening as Namibia claimed an historic victory over Uruguay. The 30-28 win was Namibia’s first with Uruguay having been victorious in the three prior test matches between the countries.

Namibia’s celebrations were Uruguay’s heartbreak. They secured the win with the final play of the match. After several minutes of overtime Namibia was awarded a penalty 40 meters out for a high tackle.

The goal-kicking hero was Cliven Loubser who also scored the opening points of the match. The Namibian fly half landed an 11th minute penalty which came as reward for a good start from the Africans.

Uruguay’s opening quarter was nothing short of inept. With Namibia camped in their 22 Los Teros were guilty of giving away repeated penalties. This saw hooker Germán Kessler yellow carded and gave Namibia an attacking scrum.

From the scrum No8 Janco Venter picked-up and darted over. With Loubser’s conversion the visitors were 10-0 ahead. Los Teros needed a wake up call but it would not come until later. Scoring next was Namibia with Venter again touching down but this time he did so down the left flank.

With half time approaching Uruguay opened their account. Strong work from the forwards created go-forward ball for Nicolás Freitas to break the line and link with Andrés Vilaseca. Federico Favaro landed the sideline conversion to make it 17-7 at the interval.

Three minutes into the second half saw Namibia extending their lead. The deadly-accurate Loubser would kick another three pointer.

Uruguay immediately hit-back with Vilaseca scoring for the second time. He did so after an assist from Juan Manuel Cat who put through an angled kick for the Austin Elite center to pounce. With Favaro’s conversion the deficit was cut to 20-14.

Despite being behind Uruguay were playing the better rugby and it appeared that it was just a matter of time before they took the lead and went about completing a victory. Instead Namibia scored from a freak loose ball in goal.

Uruguay were down but they were not out. Moreover patient raids would be rewarded through tries to Manuel Ardao and Kessler. The latter went over in the 80th minute in the right corner. Favaro converted for what appeared to be victory.

But there was still time to play according to the man in charge, Western British referee Ben Whitehouse. It saw Uruguay taking the kick-off and looking to see out the win. Instead a loose ball would end up in Namibian hands and a counter attack would lead to a penalty for the Africans who went to to slot a famous penalty to claim their historic first win over Uruguay.

Both teams will play again next Saturday. Uruguay will play against the Argentina XV while Namibia take-on Russia. With both Namibia, and Russia winning today all teams have a 1-1 record in the 2019 Nations Cup.

 

SCORING

URUGUAY 28
Tries – A. Vilaseca 2 (37′, 45′), M. Ardao (72′), G. Kessler (78′)
Cons – F. Favaro 4/4 (38′, 46′, 73′, 79′)
Pens – F. Favaro 0/1
Yellow cards – G. Kessler (16′)

NAMIBIA 30
Tries – J. Venter 2 (21′, 26′), J. Greyling (63′)
Cons – C. Loubser 3/3 (22′, 27′, 64′)
Pens – C. Loubser 3/4 (10′, 43′, 80′)
Yellow cards – O. Mouton (55′)

 

TEAMS

URUGUAY
1 Mateo Sanguinetti (17 Facundo Gattas 60′), 2 Germán Kessler, 3 Juan Pedro Rombys (18 Juan Echeverría 67′), 4 Diego Magno (19 Ignacio Dotti 50′), 5 Manuel Leindekar, 6 Juan Manuel Gaminara (capt.) (23 Manuel Ardao 67′), 7 Juan Diego Ormaechea (20 Santiago Civetta 50′), 8 Alejandro Nieto (16 Guillermo Pujadas 20′-27′), 9 Santiago Arata (21 Agustín Ormaechea 50′), 10 Juan Manuel Cat, 11 Nicolás Freitas, 12 Andrés Vilaseca, 13 Tomás Inciarte, 14 Federico Favaro, 15 Felipe Etcheverry

Not used: 22 Juan Pablo Costabile

NAMIBIA
1 André Rademeyer (18 Desiderius Sethie 58′), 2 Obert Nortjé (16 Niel van Vuuren 79′), 3 Aranos Coetzee (17 AJ de Klerk 73′), 4 Johan Retief, 5 Tjiuee Uanivi, 6 Wian Conradie (19 Thomasau Forbes 60′), 7 Max Katjijeko, 8 Janco Venter (20 Adriaan Booysen 60′), 9 Damian Stevens (21 Eugene Jantjies 50′), 10 Cliven Loubser, 11 Oderich Mouton, 12 Darryl de la Harpe, 13 Johan Deysel (capt.), 14 JC Greyling, 15 TC Kisting

Not used: 22 Justin Newman, 23 Dumarcho Hartung

 

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

 

Attendance: 2,000