Kenya U2o put in a valiant performance but still fell to a 37-18 loss to Namibia U20 in the Barthes U20 Trophy South final at Windhoek’s Hage Geingob Stadium on Saturday 31 March 2018.
The result sees the side miss out on the final round of qualification for the Junior World Rugby Trophy while Namibia proceed to meet Tunisia who beat Senegal 11-8 in Monastir, Tunisia.
Chipu soaked in early Namibian pressure and soon took the lead when Joshua Macharia raced down the left flank to see his team go 5-0 up after eight minutes of play.
This seemed to stun the Namibians into action as they sought a response but had to contend with defensive resistance from the Kenyans who were giving as good as they got.
Pieter Diergaardt’s converted try finally gave Namibia the lead after seventeen minutes of play but Kenya refused to go away despite falling 12-5 down when Chrischen Oliver went over five minutes later.
Michele Brighetti started a flowing counter attack for the Kenyans, Jeff Mutuku and Edmund Anya combining to gain crucial meters. The Kenyan pressure soon paid off when Mark Mutuku barged over with captain Xavier Bett converting to tie the scores with just six of the half left. Oderich Mouton went over the chalk to see Namiba take a 17-12 lead into the interval.
Kenya were still in this one after the restart, Bett’s penalty bringing them to within two points of Namiba, the scores 17-15 after fifty minutes of play.
The Namibians would two successive tries, Gershwin Mouton touching down eight minutes later with Diergaardt landing his brace on sixty four minutes to go 27-15. Both sides would trade penalties, Kenya’s penalty coming from Macharia, before the Namibians killed off the tie with a converted try at the death to confirm the result.
