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Namibia’s fighting spirit never wavered

Namibia’s fighting spirit never wavered

Niël Terblanché

NAMIBIAN fighting spirit and bravery was praised by international commentators even after the Welwitchias went down 47 – 22 in their opening match of the 2019 rugby World Cup at the Hanazono Rugby Stadium in Osaka, Japan.
The Namibians, who mostly competes at semi-professional level, never wavered and managed their final try in the dying seconds of the match against the Italians, who compete in the European Six Nations level.
As the match in Osaka got underway Namibia’s hopes grew when Damian Stevens scored the first try of the match six minutes into the game. The try was converted by Cliven Loubser.

Pictured: Damian Stevens Scoring Namibia’s first try at the 2019 Rugby World Cup. – Photo: Contributed

However the Italians were awarded a penalty try 11 minutes into the first half, which broke the momentum of the Namibians and after that, Italians scored two more tries that were all converted leaving the Namibians trailing 21 – 7 when the half time whistle blew.
When the second half got under way the Italians scored two more tries in quick succession, but their momentum was broken when Cliven Loubser capitalized on a penalty.
Six minutes later JC Greyling scored Namibia’s Second try near the Italian corner flag.
The Italians managed to score two more tries in the last ten minutes of the match but was taken aback when Chad Plato broke away and scored a try next to the uprights. Loubser converted the try leaving the Welwitchias with a respectable final score of 22 points against the 47 of the Italians.

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