Uruguay comeback deprives Namibia of first ever World Cup win
Uruguay secured their first win at this year’s Rugby World Cup by beating Namibia 36-26 in Lyon.
Namibia, playing their fourth and final Group A game in 18 days, led 20-12 at half-time but were punished for ill-discipline as their winless run at six World Cups was extended to 26 matches.
The Africans’ prop Johan Coetzee, captain Tjiuee Uanivi and replacement Desiderius Sethie were all yellow carded for high tackles, with the latter’s upgraded to red, and Uruguay cruised to their fourth World Cup win.
Namibia had lost heavily in all three of their previous group games, against Italy, New Zealand and France – but they made a flying start.
Wingers Gerswin Mouton and JC Greyling both went over in the corner for early converted tries to give the Africans a 14-0 lead.
Uruguay, who had given France a tough test in a 27-12 opening defeat and led Italy 17-7 at half-time before losing 38-17, responded through Baltazar Amaya’s close-range try.
After Tiaan Swanepoel’s penalty, Uruguay cut the deficit to 17-12 in the 28th minute as hooker German Kessler touched down after a driving maul from a line-out.
Swanepoel landed his second penalty to extend Namibia’s lead to 20-12 at half-time and a third at the start of the second period made it 23-12.
But Uruguay poured on the pressure and after Namibia prop Coetzee had been shown a yellow card, Amaya produced a brilliant finish in the corner for his second try.
Felipe Etcheverry converted and the gap was closed to four points at 23-19 and Uruguay took the lead for the first time in the match in the 54th minute through scrum-half Santiago Arata’s superb solo effort, which was also converted.
Namibia skipper Uanivi was shown a yellow card for a high tackle with 18 minutes left and within a minute his side were down to 13 men when replacement prop Sethie was sin-binned for the same offence.
The latter’s was later confirmed as a red card and Uruguay punished them further as another converted try from winger Bautista Basso put them 33-23 ahead.
Swanepoel and Felipe Berchesi swapped penalties to make it 36-26 before Uruguay replacement Eric Dosantos was sin-binned for a high tackle in the closing stages.
Uruguay will play New Zealand in their final group match at the same venue on October 5.
Comments on RugbyPass
Should have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
3 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
3 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
3 Go to commentsNow if they could just fire the Crusaders ground PA guy who likes to play his dance music and just loves the sound of his own voice the entire game, even when play is going on. And I thought their brass band thing of a few years ago was bad.
5 Go to commentsUnfortunately when you lose by far the two form players this season in Roigard and Aumua, you're left replacing two game changing Tanks with a couple of pea-shooters. Which is also about the speed of TJs pass.
4 Go to commentsBit rich coming from the guy with zero loyalty to anyone or any team, including happily taking a players place in a league world cup squad because well, SBW wanted to play in it and thus an already named player got told he was no longer going. And airing stuff like this, which may or may not be true, doesn't exactly say you're a stand up guy either SBW. Just looking to keep his name in lights as usual.
38 Go to commentsTamati Tua. …the Taniwha NPC midfielder. Ollie Sapsford, Hawkes Bay NPC midfielder…doing well
4 Go to commentsFiji deserve to be in the rugby championship, fans love seeing the Fijian national team play, the Fijian Drua is a wonderful idea but the players can still be stolen to play for NZ and AUS…
2 Go to commentsThe first concern for this afternoon are wheather forecast…
1 Go to commentsWhy cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
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