Welwitschias win Tri-Nations opener

The Welwitschias beat Zimbabwe 35-26 during the opening match of the 2013 Windhoek Draught Tri-Nations Series in Windhoek on Friday night. Around 3 500 spectators attended the match, which took place at the Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium. Namibia recorded the first points when winger Sergio de la Harpe scored the first try for his team 10 minutes after the match kicked off. Theuns Kotze could not manage to convert De La Harpe's try, and the tally remained 5-0 in the home team’s favour. Zimbabwe drew level when Hilton Mudariki scored minutes after De La Harpe's try, bringing the score to five points each on the scoreboard. Lenience Tambekwa then put Zimbabwe in the lead with two points with a perfect conversion, making the score 7-5. Zimbabwe increased the pressure when Sean Moen scored his team's second try in the 24th minute of the first half to increase the lead to 17-5. Namibia came back shortly before half-time when Heinrich Smit scored the second try which was converted by Kotze, making the half-time score 17-13 in Zimbabwe's favour. Zimbabwe opened the second half with a penalty kick to increase the difference to 20-13. Only when lock Morne Blom scored the first try for Namibia in the second half did the Welwitschias start upping their game. De la Harpe and Blom both scored two tries with Smit getting the other while Kotze added 10 points with the boot. Welwitschias team captain PJ van Lill described the match as very tough. “I think we let the Zimbabweans in the game too long, as they played from our mistakes during the first half,” he told Nampa shortly after the match. Asked about the match against Kenya this Saturday, Van Lill said they have very little information about the Kenyan team. “We will see how they perform against Zimbabwe on Tuesday and from there we can prepare for next Saturday's match against Kenya,” he said. Zimbabwe and Kenya will face each other this coming Tuesday in the Windhoek Draught Tri-Nations Series, also at the Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium. Interesting facts An interesting facts about the Namibian team is that two players - Johan Deysel and Basie Buitendag - are the sons of former Namibian internationals. By scoring ten points Kotze increased his overall points tally for the national team to 182, meaning he is the second top scorer for Namibia behind Jaco Coetzee, who scored 335 during his playing career. Chrysander Botha, who failed to get on the score sheet on Saturday, remains in fourth spot overall with 127 points. Botha, though, is third in the overall list of tries scored with 13, eight tries behind the second-placed Eden Meyer and 14 behind the record try scorer, Gerhard Mans, who scored 27 tries for Namibia during his career. -Additional reporting by Hector Mawonga WINDHOEK NAMPA