Namibia wins 2013 Windhoek Draught Tri-Nations series

The Namibian national rugby team won the 2013 Windhoek Draught Tri-Nations Trophy after beating Kenya 55-35 on Saturday. Namibia also beat Zimbabwe, the other participant in the Tri-Nations competition, a week ago by 35 points to 26. Zimbabwe, in turn, beat current African champions Kenya 29-14 on Tuesday last week. Namibia’s victory over Kenya did not come easy, because the Kenyans wanted to avenge two earlier defeats in the competition. Namibia’s Theuns Kotze opened the scoreboard with a penalty kick, but Kenya equalised soon after, also with a penalty kick. Kenya then took the lead through a try and a conversion. Namibia was then dealt a blow when its Sergio de la Harpe was sent off for 10 minutes for foul play. Kenya took advantage of the situation and scored another try through Kenny Andola, increasing their lead to 15-3. It seemed the score dampened the mood of the estimated 4 000 Namibian supporters, but they were soon back on their feet and in better spirits when Rohan Kitshoff scored a try and Kotze made good of the conversion, taking the score to 15-10. However, Andola increased his team’s lead again to 18-10. Namibian captain PJ van Lill then scored a try, but the Kenyans also managed another try and a conversion to end the first half 25-15. The Welwitschias, as the Namibian rugby team is known, came back from the dressing room rejuvenated, and soon Jaco Engels scored a try and Kotze a conversion, among many other tries and conversions, which saw the hosts took over the lead, and eventually winning the match 55-35.