Namibia power past Germany

Namibia's national team, the Welwitchias, secured a convincing 58-20 victory over Germany in Windhoek on Wednesday.

The Welwitchias led 36-6 at the break.  Watched by 3000 spectators the match produced 11 tries, nine of which were scored by Namibia.

The hosts' centre Johan Deysel opened the scoring as early as the third minute after Namibia won a line-out on Germany's 22 and went through a number of phases before Deysel crossed.

Two penalties from Germany's fly-half Christopher Hilsenbeck gave the visitors a 6-5 lead on the 10 minute mark, but that was the last time Germany looked like winning the match.

Led by Western Province Currie Cup flanker Rohan Kitshoff, the Namibian pack dominated and secured quality possession for their backline and had too much pace for their opponents to cope with.

In the 11th minute try-scorer Deysel turned provider for left wing Johan Tromp who crossed for the second try of the match.

This was pretty much the trend for the remaining 25 minutes of the first half.  Namibia's forwards were in complete control with Germany finding the pace too hot to handle.

The Welwitchias added three more first half tries through their captain Kitshoff who scored back to back tries and Ryan de La Harpe.

The England based scrum-half dealt Germany a hammer blow just before the break when the visitors were on the attack but de le Harpe intercepted and ran 70 meters for the try.

Namibia started the second half in the same fashion as they did the first and when loose forward Thomasua Forbes and full-back Danie Dames both scored inside the first eight minutes of the second half, a record score looked a strong possibility.

The handy lead allowed Namibian coach Danie Vermeulen the opportunity to give his replacements bench a run.  This lead to the inevitable loss of momentum and the rest of the second half was pretty much uneventful.

Namibia reached the half century mark when left wing Tromp scored his second of the evening.

The next 20 minutes saw the German team playing with more composure and they were rewarded with two tries, the first by loose forward Kehoma Brenner after an impressive line-out drive and the second by their captain Sean Armstrong.

New cap JC Greyling scored Namibia's ninth try of the match four minutes before the end.  Germany were on the attack when the final whistle went, victory to Namibia and an important confidence booster before they leave for their three-match northern hemisphere tour this weekend.

The match was refereed by South Africa's Marius Jonker who after the final whistle confirmed that he had retired from first class refereeing and that this was his last match in charge.

The Scorers:

For Namibia:
Tries:  Johan Tromp 2, Rohan Kitshoff 2, Thomasua Forbes, Ryan de la Harpe, Danie Dames, JC Greyling
Cons:  Shawn Kaizemi 5
Pens:  Kaizemi

For Germany:
Tries:  Kehoma Brenner, Sean Armstrong
Cons:  Christoper Hilsenbeck 2
Pens:  Hilsenbeck 2