Pumitas run riot

Namibia were beaten 64-8 by a youthful Argentina side yesterday in the under-20 rugby international series in South Africa, as they prepare for the upcoming SuperSport Rugby Challenge as well as the 2019 World Cup in Japan.

Namibia did not have a good start to the match with the youthful, well-coached and trained Argentineans controlling the first half. In the second half Namibia tried to catch up but the Argentines had other ideas, outclassing the Namibians every chance they got.

Prior to the match Namibia Rugby Limited's chief executive officer Mervin Green said they are playing the 'big boys' in the series, referring to the Argentina side, as well as the Junior Springboks and Georgia.

“These are professional players and the series is competitive. We also have junior players in our squad and want to give them an opportunity to play and possibly be selected for Japan in September,” he said.

“We also want the series to serve as preparation for the SuperSport Challenge, which will start on 27 June,” Green said.

“Even though every team wants to win when they play, our focus is not on winning or losing but the coaches want to see how much work lies ahead before the World Cup.”

The country has four months to put together a formidable team to play in Japan.

Green also emphasised the importance of the series, as the yesterday's clash against the Pumitas was Namibia's first match for the year, as they have not competed since November last year.

This puts them on the back foot as other countries have been playing friendlies in preparation for the World Cup. Green thus thanked the South Africa Rugby Union (Saru) for inviting and including the Namibian team in the series. Namibia will face the Junior Springboks on Saturday and Georgia's u-20 team this coming Wednesday. The competition is also good for the juniors, as they are preparing for the World Rugby U-20 Championship, which Brazil will host. In South Africa, each team will face one another once over three rounds of matches, in a similar format to the pool stages of the World Rugby U-20 Championship, where the Junior Springboks and Georgia will play matches every four days.

Namibia secured their place at the 2019 World Cup with a comfortable 53-28 win over Kenya in Windhoek last year.

The match was a straight shootout for the Africa Gold Cup title, which determined World Cup qualification.

The side coached by former Wales lock Phil Davies scored seven tries to ensure they topped the table with a perfect 25 points from five matches, picking up try bonuses in all of their matches.

Namibia will play in Pool B alongside New Zealand, South Africa, Italy and Canada at Japan 2019. They have played in every Rugby World Cup since 1999 but are yet to win a game at the tournament, losing all 19 of their matches, hence the critical needed for proper preparations this time around.

Meanwhile, Namibia's dominance in the U-20 Barthés Rugby Africa Trophy came to an end this week when they lost to hosts Kenya in a tightly contested final.

With the in 18-21 defeat Namibia missed out on qualification to the 2019 World Junior Rugby Trophy tournament in Brazil, which will now see Kenya competing at the tournament in July.