Scott Williams: Hard to stop with the line in sight
Wales recovered from an indifferent second quarter to dispose of Namibia 81-7 in their Pool D encounter in New Plymouth.
The writing was on the wall when the Welsh notched up three tries inside the first twenty minutes, but the Namibians stood firm and it took another opening of the floodgates in the final quarter to see Wales really run away with it.
The early stages where marred by numerous handling errors from the Namibians, who put pressure on themselves as they failed to execute the basics.
Stephen Jones, playing in a Welsh record 101st Test, opened the scoring with a penalty before Scott Williams charged over for the first of his three tries in the seventh minute.
The score was set up by Leigh Halfpenny who came off his left wing to enter the line at pace, passing outside to Williams who outstripped the defence.
It was another mistake from the Namibians whilst on attack that gifted Wales their second try. An errand pass on their opposition's 22m line, allowed Wales to counter-attack and Aled Brew was the man to round off the move.
Some clever work from Ryan Jones, taking a quick tap-penalty from 10m out, put number eight Toby Faletau over in the 17th minute. But with Wales in a commanding 22-0, Namibia sprung to life.
Africa's minnows began to dominate at the breakdown, forcing the Welsh into conceding penalties as they struggled to adjust to the increased tempo from the men in blue.
A change in the front row, with prop Raoul Larson coming on for Johnny Redelinghuys at the end of the first quarter, gave Namibia renewed impetus in the scrums and in the loose.
Such was the effort of the Namibians, that they managed to keep the Welsh at bay for the remainder of the first half.
Williams added his second shortly after the break and three minutes later Gethin Jenkins scored a try to remember as the prop went on a 40m run, brushing off defender after defender before diving over for the score.
However, the Namibians refused to go down quietly and got on the scoreboard in fantastic fashion.
Lock Nico Esterhuyse intercepted the ball on halfway and burst through before offloading to his second-row partner Heinz Koll who gave a lovely little show of the ball on the inside only to sprint around the outside and dive over in the corner.
The scrums were a problem area throughout the night and in the 59th minute, referee Steve Walsh eventually lost his patience and sent Larson to the sin-bin.
Down to 14 men and with a flood of Welsh substitutes making their way to the field, the Namibian resistance was at last crushed for good.
Replacement winger George North made his presence known with a flurry of strong runs, and the youngster was rewarded for his efforts with two tries.
As was the case four days earlier against South Africa, Namibia had nothing left in the tank in the closing stages and near on all the Welsh backs got their name on the score sheet in the final throngs as they ran in seven tries in the final twenty minutes.
Man of the match: The Namibian flankers Jacques Burger and Tinus Du Plessis were massive throughout despite having their backs up against it for 80 minutes.
Moment of the match: Wales had all the running and as a result Heinz Koll's breakaway try brought a smile to the face and was a well-deserved reward for the Namibians. A special mention to Stephen Jones who set a new record of appearances for Wales with a near-flawless kicking display.
Villain of the match: Raoul Larson was carded after persistent infringements at scrum-time but in truth it could have been any member of either front rows to get sent to the bin. It was a hard fought, but clean game.
The scorers:
For Wales:
Tries: S Williams 3, Brew, Faletau, Jenkins, North 2, Davies, L Williams, Byrne, Wyn Jones
Cons: S Jones 6, Preistland 3
Pens: S Jones
For Namibia:
Tries: Koll
Cons: Kotze
Yellow cards: Larson (Namibia)
Wales: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Leigh Halfpenny, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Scott Williams, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Stephen Jones, 9 Tavis Knoyle, 8 Toby Faletau. 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Ryan Jones, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Bradley Davies, 3 Craig Mitchell, 2 Lloyd Burns, 1 Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Ryan Bevington, 18 Luke Charteris, 19 Andy Powell, 20 Lloyd Williams, 21 Rhys Preistland, 22 George North.
Namibia: 15 Chrysander Botha, 14 Danie Van Wyk, 13 Piet Van Zyl, 12 Darryl De La Harpe, 11 Danie Dames, 10 Theuns Kotze, 9 Eugene Jantjies, 8 Jacques Nieuwenhuis, 7 Jacques Burger (c), 6 Tinus Du Plessis, 5 Nico Esterhuyse, 4 Heinz Koll, 3 Jané Du Toit, 2 Hugo Horn, 1 Johnnie Redelinghuys.
Replacements: 16 Bertus O'Callaghan, 17 Raoul Larson, 18 Wacca Kazombiaze, 19 Rohan Kitshoff, 20 Ryan De La Harpe, 21 TC Losper, 22 David Philander.
Referee: Steve Walsh
Comments
GCP_JONES says...
@pierredelot1
You have hit the nail on the head, Leinstergoy is one of the old boys club you is happy to maintain the status quo,your points about Irelands rise is a very valid one which you could also apply to Samoa and Argentina to-day. I await his answer. I think most rugby fans realise that the game has got to grow out of its cosy cartel, to flourish. I for one believe that every team regardless of their position should play one mid-week game at the next world cup.
Posted 11:42 27th September 2011
pierredelot1 says...
Getting a bit chippy aren't we Garmor, if you read what I said at the start of the discussion instead of jumping in half way through, you'd see there was praise for Wales not critisism. Not blaming Wales at all, just the unfairness of the tournament, it has to change and wouldn't be that difficult to do. I even think it's unfair that international Rugby is conducted is always conducted in English, but thats another subject. A bientot
Posted 17:32 26th September 2011
RealRugby says...
Maybe next world cup all countries could play Namibia, the winner would be the team that racks up the most points against them...
Posted 15:14 26th September 2011
leinster_goy says...
@melkdave
this is their postal address: 11, IRB House, IRB Road, IRB-land
Posted 13:56 26th September 2011
melkdave says...
OK PEOPLE INSTEAD OF COMPLAINING ABOUT THE SHORT TURNAROUNDS FOR THE SMALLER TEAMS DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT
IVE JUST E-MAILED THE IRB AT
irb@irb.com
ABOUT PLEASE DO THE SAME
Posted 12:47 26th September 2011
pierredelot1 says...
Well Coronach the fact that they didn't go probably explains why the crowd were so sporting. Yes my remarks were tongue in cheek, because I can't stand this nationalistic narrow minded support of rugby. At Cardiff they request silence during kicks, at Toulouse they do the same,but it doesn't always work, but should they really have to. We all want our teams to win, but you only have to go to one top level football match nowadays to see how low the behaviour and attitude of many fans has sunk. I want to go to a rugby match, talk to the guy or girl (Provided they understand whats going on) next to me whether they are for my club or the other and appreciate whats going on. I don't want to be lectured about how good they are and how bad we are, just a non biased conversation. Some support is edging on racist and needs to be cut out. But leinster_goy you've just shown the unfairness of it all. A World Cup should be equal and fair to all, this one isn't. Frankly its only since the arrival of a great bunch of Irish players over the last decade and Irelands intelligent development of their regional teams thay they have
been able to rise from being semi minnows themselves, despite your obvious work ethic you would have been pretty hacked off if you had to play Fiji, South Africa, Samoa and Wales in 17 days. In fact I'd pretty well bet that your squad would have suffered severe reductions under that programme. Hope you get back home in time for the next one. Nice cup of cocoa might go down well, got to stay in cozy corner ay.
Posted 12:41 26th September 2011
rugbylover11 says...
Thanks Namibians,,thanks for playing and finishing your pool games. I really had no idea what was left there in terms of team morale after 3 heavy defeats and an unfair schedule. It is sad.
I was expecting wales to win by 100 points after all, the Namibians had given all in their 3 previous outings. They didn't, credit to the Namibian defense in the last 20mins of the first half. Wales should do their homework or the fijians who are now looking for some respect would make a joke of them.
Posted 12:37 26th September 2011
coronach says...
pierredelot1 - who were the crowd - a few locals and the rest tourists? have friends in New Plymouth not one was interested in this match, one was trying to give away 2 $77 tickets, and couldn't; locals went to USA-Russia and USA-Ireland as 1st/2nd choice games as NP was the USA 'home', a Monday night thrashing of Namibia was never going to be worth going out for.
Posted 11:58 26th September 2011
coronach says...
Improves the Welsh try scoring average: just the fourth time in the 44 tests Warren Gatland has been in charge that Wales have scored more than four tries. Hope they keep it up, a good confidence booster.
Posted 11:47 26th September 2011
leinster_goy says...
@pierredelot
if we are indeed going to stick with this 20-team format (as much as I loathe it) then it seems to me to be perfectly fair to schedule the tier 1 team matches at the weekends, giving those teams a 6/7 day breaks. people need to get over the fact that the vast majority of the world's rugby audiences are in Western Europe, SA, NZ and Australia. in most of the tier 2 nations, rugby is marginally popular is likely to remain so (again, get over it). are you seriously suggesting that some big group games should be scheduled on tuesday/wednesday mornings? for your information, i work monday to friday 10 hours each day so i only get the chance to watch rugby at the weekend. i dont see why i should miss a big game in the middle of the week just so about 4 russians or 5 americans can watch a much less important game at the weekend. it's logical that rugby lovers like myself, other irish/english/welsh/french/aussies/boks/kiwis etc should be given priority here. this is the economic reality of it all.
of course, i would have my own solution to the scheduling problem, although given the hostile reaction to it in recent weeks, let's notpull at that thread for the moment
Posted 11:36 26th September 2011
sirjona says...
@ pierredelot1 I really hope that your comments about the crowd were tongue in cheek if not you deserve a yellow card yourself. As I have stated before there are announcements on matchday in Cardiff requesting silence for the kick but then again thats civilised for you.
Posted 11:07 26th September 2011
Roddyo says...
Smart performance by Wales except the second quarter,but the ref could have kept it going much better. Wales were bound to give penalties away in the scrum as Nam couldn`t hold them. Looking forward to playing ireland, Fiji permitting ,and agree, compared to Wales they look old. We won`t be favourites though
Posted 10:47 26th September 2011
pierredelot1 says...
Well apart from that sloppy second quarter, Wales played a pretty good game today and should be proud of their performance. A number of new faces put their hands up and at last they look as if they will have better strength in depth than has been the case over the ten years or so. Looking at the ages of many of their players it really illustrates how much the development of young players is key. Somewhat disappointed with the crowd though, very unprofessional. No booing at conversion kicks, no nationalistic chanting (Unless Delilah counts), and clapping the opposition is a definate nono in this tournament. Don't they realise that a professional game requires a professional crowd, just like football. Hopefully thats the last we'll see of good sportmanship and we get can back to the example that has been set by some of the other nations throughout the tournament.
Sadly this game also highlighted the influence of money over the tournament. Namibia were playing their last game, in 17 days, one of the minnows of the tournament, had to play, Fiji mm OK, Samoa now there's a challenge, Wales oh dear another thumping and South Africa, well thanks very much. Why, well the reason can be only be one, MONEY TV revenues, The Board of the World Cup should be totally ashamed of themselves. All the minnows without exception have been treated shamefully, lets face it you wonder if it's worth their while turning up. The top nations who have 30 top quality players are given a week between each game, it should have been the other way round to even things up. But lets not be silly that was never going to happen we need the money for the development of Rugby and a few sacrifices of pride and body of people and nations who don't count is a small price to pay. PDL
Posted 10:15 26th September 2011
melkdave says...
Well a better than expected performance by Wales and left a few points behind thru missed conversions.Namiba made it hard in the 1st half but they definatly ran out of steam in the 4th quarter .Theve had a hard RWCand credit to them have played to their ability and shown things can improve for them..Still looking odds on the play Ireland in the QFs so all well
Posted 09:45 26th September 2011
sirjona says...
Well done Namibia they can hold their heads high after giving 110%, we wont go into the scheduling as that has been done to death. One thing I was delighted to see as a Welshman was how young a team was fielded today which will worry the NH teams. Hopefully this will give the team a boost and put things right next week against Fiji then line up a cracker against the old men of Ireland.
Posted 09:40 26th September 2011
PontySurrey says...
Gutsy performance by the Namibians.
Posted 09:32 26th September 2011
minkusbc says...
Could have kicked the last ball out after winning the scrum instead of working to run in another try. Maybe point differential is important???
Posted 09:28 26th September 2011
amc1986 says...
Quality 2nd half performance, but seriously its time for Stephen Jones to retire, hes been outclassed by Rhys Priestland all tournament, sure Jones has been injured, but just in a handful of games, Priestland has shown hes a far better option for the future, and why not start now...The only reason Namibia scored is because of Jones, simple as that...
Suggestion for front page Poll, Jones or Priestland?
Posted 09:26 26th September 2011