By Chris Thau
When Namibia coach Johan Diergaardt proclaimed on his birthday last Friday that Namibia had the potential to win the IRB Nations Cup tournament, some questioned whether or not he was joking after his country's first ever win in the IRB Nations Cup. Three days on and a second victory, this time over Scotland A, has reminded everybody that the Namibians mean business.
It was the exciting Namibian back division that did most of the damage - outside half Jacky Bock, the de la Harpe brothers Sergio and Darryl, Piet van Zyl and Llewellyn Winkler all ably orchestrated by the talented scrumhalf Eugene Jantjies - based on a solid forward effort led by Saracens wing forward and skipper Jacques Burger.
Scotland started strongly as Bryan Rennie went over for their first try some 15 minutes into the game. With David Blair and Chrysander Botha exchanging penalties, it was the outstanding Jantjies who struck back to cut the deficit to five points. Tries by hooker Shaun Esterhuizen and replacement forward Tinus du Plessis left the Scots trailing by 10 points but led by their never-say-die skipper Ally Hogg they bounced back with a vengeance.
Replacement Greig Laidlaw scored a try, which he converted himself to cut the deficit to three points with 10 minutes to go and the Scots spent the rest of the game massed in the Namibian 22 but for a variety of reasons, from sheer bad luck to poor options they failed to score enabling Namibia to add a second scalp to their growing collection. - www.irb.com