Namibia get a leg up

Solid victory in Windhoek

In the first leg of their World Cup qualifier against Morocco, Namibia gave themselves a great chance of going to France next year when they beat Morocco 25-7 in Windhoek.

The victory means that the Lions of the Atlas will have to win by at least 19 points when the two teams meet in Casablanca on 11 November.

The winner of this two-legged qualifier, will go to France.  The loser goes into répechage and plays the loser of the two-legged qualifier between Georgia and Portugal for the right to play Uruguay and qualify that way.

From the start it was a game of contrasting styles.  The Moroccans wanted to play through their forward while the Namibians wanted to get the ball wide to their speedsters.

After the Lions of the Atlas had started in fiery fashion, the Biltongboere got on top and after Emile Wessels had missed with a penalty attempt the Stellenbosch flyhalf goaled to give his side a 3-0 lead after 14 minutes.

The Moroccan forwards continued to dominate the line-outs and the loose where Namibia lost several turn-overs.  It was a physical battle.

Just before the break centre Lu-Wayne Botes grabbed a dropped pass and fed wing Guillaume Nel who raced ahead, drew the defence and gave to fullback Heini Bock who came dashing up on the outside.  Bock scored under the posts.

After the Lions had missed a second penalty attempt, Wessels goaled his second when the visitors were penalised for stamping.

Leading 13-0 the Biltongboere became their worst enemies when Irish referee Simon McDowell sent first scrumhalf Pieter Rossouw to the sin bin for a late tackle and then captain Kees Lensing joined him for stamping.  The latter decision incensed the home crowd.

Against 13 men the Lions drove hard at the Namibian line but the Namibians withstood attack after attack till the referee awarded a penalty try against them.  Thomas Garçia converted this time to make the score 13-7, and the home side was under pressure.  13 brave men withstood the onslaught and the big boot of Wessels drove the attackers back time and again, till at last the errant duo returned to the fray.

Namibia welcomed them back and it was the visitors' turn to defend, possibly dispirited by their failed attacks.

Quick ball from the loose enabled experienced Corné Powell to feed No.8 Jacques Burger who scored a try which Wessels converted.  20-7.

Just before the final whistle Botes chipped.  Replacement Rodger Thompson gathered, sidestepped and scored in the corner.

Scorers:

For Namibia:
Tries:  Bock, Burger, Thompson
Cons:  Wessels 2
Pens:  Wessels 2

For Morocco:
Try:  penalty
Con:  Garçia

Teams:

Namibia:  15 Heini Bock, 14 Guillaume Nel, 13 Lu-Wayne Botes, 12 Corné Powell, 11 Melrick Africa, 10 Emile Wessels, 9 Pieter Rossouw, 8 Jacques Burger, 7 Herman Lintvelt, 6 Tinus du Plessis, 5 Uakazuvaka Kazombiaze, 4 Heino Senekal, 3 Johannes Redelinghuys, 2 Johannes Meyer, 1 Kees Lensing (captain)
Replacements:  16 Morné Louw, 17 Gideon van der Berg, 18 Nico Genis, 19 Schalk van der Merwe, 20 Eugene Jantjies, 21 Rodger Thompson, 22 Adriaan du Plessis
Coaches:  Johannes Venter, Eden Meyer, Michael

Morocco:  15 Aziz Chahid, 14 Mounir Elhajji, 13 Eziyar Jawad, 12 Derraz Younès, 11 Boujouala Boubker, 10 Thomas Garçia, 9 Aissaoui Kamal, 8 Abdellatif Boutaty, 7 Mathias Garcia, 6 Hicham Housni, 5 Arif Hamid, 4 Hicham Laoni, 3 Samir Amechtane, 2 Jalil Narjissi (captain), 1 Mohamed Gouasmia.
Replacements:  Abdelkafi Abachri, Mounir El Hamzaoui, Mounir Jaoui, Karim Benherrou, Mohamed Loukrassi, Eziyar Hicham, Arif Nassim.
Coaches:  Bruno Barrero, Francis Was, Youssef Sridi

Referee:  Simon McDowell (Ireland)

Important win for Georgia

Lelos defeat Leones

In a vital World Cup qualifier in Tblissi Georgia beat Spain 37-23 on Saturday, thus keeping the Lelos' hopes alive of qualifying for the World Cup in France

The defeat has dashed Spanish hopes of repeating their 1999 success when they went to the World Cup.

There were some 10 000 spectators in the Lokomotivi Stadium, vocal in their support of the home side.

Spain actually scored first.  Two penalty goals by flyhalf Esteban Roqué gave the visitors a 6-0 lead after just ten minutes, but two tries in five minutes, both converted, put Georgia 14-6 ahead after 25 minutes.  For the first the forwards, expected to be the Georgian strong point, mauled over the line for a try by No.8 Besarioni Udesiani and the second was scored by prop David Zirakashvili, both converted by fullback Malkhaz Urjukashvili.

Roqué and Urjukashvili exchanged penalties to make the score 17-9 at half-time.  Two mistakes had cost Spain dearly, but there had been enough in the first half to give Spain hope.

Hopes were dashed early in the second half when Urjukashvili added another penalty when Óscar Astarloa was sent to the sin bin.  In his absence Georgia added a third try, by replacement prop Avtandil Kopaliani, to take the score to 27-9 and two minutes later added a fourth, by fullback Urjukashvili who had a good afternoon.  34-9.  Spain was buried.

Still the Lions fought back with two tries - the first by fullback César Sempere, the second by Juan González, the first converted by Sempere, the second by replacement flyhalf Andrei Kovalenco.  Inside centre Irakli Giorgadze completed the scoring with a dropped goal five minutes before the final whistle.

Scorers:

For Georgia:
Tries:  Udesiani, Zirakashvili, Kopaliani, Urjukashvili
Cons:  Urjukashvili 4
Pens:  Urjukashvili 2
Drop:  Giorgadze

For Spain:
Tries:  Sempere, González
Cons:  Sempere 2
Pens:  Roque 3

Teams:

Georgia:  15 Malkhaz Urjukashvili, 14 Besiki Khamashuridze, 13 Rezo Gigauri, 12 Irakli Giorgadze, 11 Giorgi Shkinin, 10 Otar Barkalaia, 9 Bidzina Samkharadze, 8 Besarioni Udesiani, 7 Zviad Maisuradze, 6 Rati Urushadze, 5 Mamuka Gorgodze, 4 Ilia Zedginidze, 3 David Zirakashvili, 2 Akvsenti Giorgadze, 1 Goderdzi Shvelidze.
Replacements:  16 David Khinchagashvili, 17 Avtandil Kopaliani, 18 Giorgi Nemsadze, 19 Shalva Sutiashvili, 20 Irakli Abuseridze, 21 David Kacharava, 22 Giorgi Elizbarashvili

Spain:  15 César Sempere, 14 David Mota, 13 Alvar Enciso, 12 Javier Canosa, 11 Rafael Álvarez, 10 Esteban Roqué, 9 Pablo Feijóo, 8 Oscar Astarloa, 7 ,Alfonso Mata 6 Rafael Camacho, 5 César Bernasconi, 4 Andrew Ebbet, 3 Javier Salazar, 2 Mathieu Cidre, 1 Miguel Burgaleta.
Replacements:  16 José Maria Bohorquez, 17 Ion Insausti, 18 Sergio Souto, 19 Juan González, 20 Facundo Lavino, 21 Andrei Kovalenco, 22 Ignacio Martín

Referee:  Peter Allan (Scotland)
Touch judges:  Graeme Hannah, Jim Yuille (both Scotland)

Portugal sneak in

Last-gasp victory in Lisbon

Portugal's hopes of going to France next year are still alive, thanks to a last-minute try over Russia in Lisbon.

Portugal now face Georgia who beat Spain.  If Portugal win that they will head straight for France.  If they lose that they have to go into répechage.  There they will play the loser of the two-legged qualifier between Namibia and Morocco and then, if they win that, Uruguay.

Russia can no longer qualify.

Russia went 23-16 up with 15 minutes to go but, as time ran out, Portugal scored the try which may yet send them to France next year.  The try came with Portugal trailing 23-19.  Lock Marcelo D'Orey broke brilliantly to send inside cengtre Diogo Mateus in for the try.

Russia started off in splendid fashion when they grabbed a dropped pass and centre Andrey Kuzin scored the try.  5-0 after just two minutes.

Gonçalo Malheiro, whose error had led to the try, then goaled a penalty.  5-3, which Viktor Motorin cancelled out with a penalty goal.

From the kick-off, Portugal got on top and good teamwork brought a try for right wing António Aguilar, converted by Malheiro to give Portugal a 10-8 lead at half-time.

The lead did not last long in the second half for near the beginning No.8 Vyacheslav Grachev burst through to score.  Two penalties by Malheiro and one by Motorin were followed by Grachev's second try and Russia led 23-16 with 15 minutes to play.

Those 15 minutes belonged to Portugal.  First replacement Duarte Pinto reduced the lead to 23-19, to be followed then by all the drama of the finish.

Scorers:

For Portugal:
Tries:  Aguilar, Mateus
Cons:  Malheiro, Pinto
Pens:  Malheiro 3, Pinto

For Russia:
Tries:  Kuzin, Grachev 2
Con:  Motorin
Pens:  Motorin 2

Teams:

Portugal:  15 Pedro Leal, 14 António Aguilar, 13 Miguel Portela, 12 Diogo Mateus, 11 Pedro Carvalho, 10 Gonçalo Malheiro,8 Vasco Uva, 9 José Pinto, 7 Paulo Murinello, 6 Diogo Coutinho, 5 Marcelo D’Orey, 4 Gonçalo Uva, 3 Joaquim Ferreira, 2 João Correia, 1 Cristian Spachuk or Rui Corderio
Replacements:  16 Cristian Spachuk or Rui Cordeiro, 17 Juan Severino, 18 Sebastião Cunha, 19 João Uva, 20 Luís Píssara, 21 Duarte Pinto, 22 João Diogo Mota or Gustavo Duarte

Russia:  15 Dmitriy Zubarev, 14 Mikhail Babaev, 13 Andrey Kuzin, 12 Konstantin Rachkov, 11 Vladimir Ostroushko, 10 Alexey Korobeynikov, 9 Viktor Motorin, 8 Vyacheslav Grachev, 7 Artem Fatahov, 6 Aleksey Sarychev, 5 Kiril Kulemin, 4 Sergey Sergeev, 3 Victor Zdanovich, 2 Roman Romak, 1 Alexander Khrokin,
Replacements (from):  Oleg Shukaylov, Vladimir Marchenko, Valery Fedchenko, Vladislav Korshunov, Aleksandr Shakirov, Yury Kushnarev, Sergey Belousov, Ivan Prishchepenko, Victor Gresev

Referee:  Peter Fitzgibbon (Ireland)