Kenya U20s hopes of defending the Rugby Africa Barthes Trophy were dent following a 32-22 loss Namibia in the second match played on Wednesday at the Old Hararians Club.
The win for Namibia put them in position to reclaim the title that has been elusive in the recent past having beaten Zimbabwe 41-22 in the opener and have 10 points. Chipu on their part sit second with four points having defeated Tunisia on Day one.
Kenya u20 concede
Four second half tries to Kenya’s three would assure the South African nation their second win of the tournament and Kenya’s first loss in this year’s edition.
Chipu invited pressure early on, needing spirited effort to thwart three attacks from the maul as Namibia who had played most of their ball in Kenya’s 22 struggled to get past the green defence.
Namibia would continue their onslaught, their search for a five pointer remaining elusive as a kick for touch found the dead end to turnover possesion just as the center referee called for a water break around the quarter hour mark.
Both teams would trade turns at making errors in the middle of the pitch before Namibia who were looking more potent in attack managed an offload in the tackle to break into Chipu’s 22, only for Kenya to force turnover in the tackle as the first half strolled past its halfway mark without a point on the board yet.
Namibia would finally opt to go for goal, half back J Rossouw’s attempt succesful to give Namibia a 3-0 lead with 25 minutes of play gone by, as handling errors and errors in the breakdown continued to impede any try scoring chances, both teams missing attempts at goal before a knock on from Kenya marked half time, scores 3-0 in favour of Namibia.
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Chipu were quicker out of the blocks, exchanging kicks straight off the restart before countering from a box kick, Daniel Kipchirchir releasing Javan Odhiambo receiving the ball on the inside support line just inside the 22 to race away for the game’s first try as Kenya took a 7-3 lead.
Namibia retook their lead minutes later, first a five metre maul to keep the Kenyan forwards occupied before catching an outnumbered Chipu on the outside to score their first try of the afternoon, scores now 8-7.
Kenya would reply straight of the restart, flyhalf Farren Juma finding the 50-22 before Javan Odhiambo latched onto a Dennis Ndayala grabber kick from the resulting play to score in the corner to give Kenya an 8-12 lead with under ten minutes of the second half played at this point.
Namibia scored next as Kenya were punished for not releasing in the tackle allowing Namibia to find touch on the five meter line before launching an attack from the back of the maul to get back on the lead, scores now 15-12.
Kenya would be caught napping moments later, Namibia crashing hard in the middle from the lineout before finding acres of grass to run into as the Namibian scrumhalf caught the Chipu backline out of place to allow his backs to run in an easy one to extend the lead to 22-12, the biggest gap in the game this far.
Kenya would strike back through Kipchirchir, who had to fend off the attention of two markers to dot down, Juma missing the extra twos to make it a five point game, scores now 22-17.
It would be Namibia affecting the score board next, attracting a penalty in their attempt to score through the middle, finding touch on the five mater mark before hitting from the back of the efficient mauling machine to make for a 12 point difference, scores now 29-17.
Namibian dominance at the set piece would continue showing, turning over possesion in the scrum to take the scores to 32-17 from the resulting goal attempt with slightly under five minutes of play left.
Kenya despite being out of comeback range continued ploughing at the white defence for Kipchirchir to release Brian Kiptanui who scored on the left wing on the death for a 32-22 full time score.
