Clinical Namibia soar over Griquas
Namibia ran in four first half tries to race to a 35-3 lead at the break, before grabbing two quick tries after the restart. However, Griquas fought back as the match wound to a close to score five tries of their own, the last being with the final play of the match.
Griquas made a fast start and got onto the board within three minutes of kick-off when Cameron Hufke slotted a 41 metre penalty, after Namibia infringed at the breakdown, to hand take an early 3-0 lead.
Namibia enjoyed possession from that point and were determined to run the ball at their opponents, however, the boys from the Northern Cape stood strong in defence to thwart any attack. Namibia would not be stopped though and got their names on the scoreboard in the 11th minute.
A neat team effort saw numerous passes and offloads eventually find the hands of Darius von Solms, who cantered over for the score. Denzo Bruwer had an easy conversion to hand Namibia a 7-3 lead.
Boosted by the try, Namibia continued to run the ball at will and camped inside Griquas' 22. With a passionate crowd getting in on the action, Namibia extended their lead to 10-3 after 20 when Bruwer slotted a penalty.
The tries came in thick and fast for the Namibians as first Rudi Pretorius rounded off a free flowing effort before Oderich Mouton added his name to the scoresheet. Bruwer managed to convert just one of those tries to extend their lead to 22-3 after 28 minutes.
Things went from bad to worse for Griquas as they were reduced to 14-men when Cameron Hufke was shown yellow for an intentional knock-on. Chad Plato slotted the resulting penalty to make it 22-point game. Plato was at it again two minutes from half-time when he slotted his second penalty of the match. 28-3 to Namibia.
Namibia were not done though and rounded off the half with a fourth try through André van der Berg. Plato converted to hand them a commanding 35-3 lead at the break.
There was no let-up by Namibia at the resumption of play as they added two quick tries through Plato and Andre Rademeyer. Plato added one conversion to extend their lead to 47-3 after 44 minutes.
Griquas found their groove soon after as they ran in two tries of their own through Chadd Adams and Hufke, with the latter managing to slot just one of the conversions to leave them trailing 15-47 after 58 minutes.
The Northern Cape side continued to glad away and grabbed a further two tries through Dean Ackerman and Gladwin Nieuwenhuizen to significantly reduce the deficit. Hufke converted both scores to see them trail 29-47 with five minutes remaining in the contest.
However, the comeback came to an abrupt end a minute later as Namibia grabbed their seventh try through Elmarco Beukes. Plato added the extras to take their tally past the 50-point mark. Griquas had the last say though as Jody Schmidt claimed the final try of the match, albeit a consolation score.
Hufke added the conversion to end the game.
Scorers:
For Griqualand West:
Tries: Chadd Adams, Cameron Hufke, Dean Ackerman, Gladwin Nieuwenhuizen, Jody Schmidt
Con: Cameron Hufke 4
Pen: Cameron Hufke
For Namibia:
Tries: Darius von Solms, Rudi Pretorius, Oderich Mouton, André van der Berg, Chad Plato, Andre Rademeyer, Elmarco Beukes
Cons: Denzo Bruwer 2, Chad Plato 3
Pens: Denzo Bruwer, Chad Plato 2
Yellow card: Cameron Hufke (Griquas, 26)
Teams:
Griqualand West: Chadwyn November, Gladwin Nieuwenhuizen, Dean Ackerman, Ruan Scholtz, Cameron Hufke, Petri du Plessis, Chadd Adams, Jacques Ackerman, Rian Kotze, Jeffrey Muzaza, Bernard Jansen, Heirick Klopper, Byron du Plooy, Anton van Romburg, André du Toit, Justin Murphy, WS Coetzer, Edwill Speelman, Jody Schmidt, Niel Coetzee, Dehan du Plessis, Ashwill Botha, Edmund Brandt.
Namibia: André van der Berg (captain), Darius von Solms, Elmarco Beukes, Wynand Breytenbach, Denzo Bruwer, JT Basson, Luandro Erasmus, Prince Goaseb, Peter Diergaardt, Jano Rieckert, Armand Kotze, Oderich Mouton, Handre Klazinga, Chrischen Olivier, Chad Plato, Rudi Pretorius, Andries Jacobs, Patrick Schickerling, Dylan Farmer, Tertius Lambrechts, Gershwin Mouton, Nico Horn, André Rademeyer.
Referee: Lourens van der Merwe
Assistant referees: Pieter Maritz, Vusi Msibi
TMO: Joey Klaaste-Salmans