Namibia bounced back from their disappointing loss to Ivory Coast by beating Madagascar 52-10 in the second match of the Rugby Africa Cup match Pool A Qualifiers on Wednesday at the Alassane Ouattara High School Stadium in Grand Bassam.

In a match monitored online by Nampa, Namibia scored seven tries (four converted) to earn a bonus point and scored three penalties to convincingly win the match.

Namibia lost 24-13 to hosts Ivory Coast at the same venue on Saturday to put their world cup qualification at risk.

Namibia scored their first points in the 10th minute through a penalty by Helarius Kisting to lead by 3-0.

Three minutes later Adriaan Booysen scored the first try of the match which Kisting failed to convert, leaving Namibia leading by 8-0.

Riaan van Zyl joined the try-scoring party and Kisting converted to give Namibia a 15-0 lead, before Johan Tromp added his name to the try score sheet.

Kisting converted to give Namibia 22-0, before he added a penalty conversion to give Namibia a 25-0 lead at halftime.

After the break, Namibia scored three more tries, of which two were converted, and a penalty.

Madagascar scored one converted try and a penalty to register 10 points in a match that Namibia dominated from start to finish.

Speaking after the game, Coach Allister Coetzee said they had taken the match seriously as they are looking to improve after playing their second match after 18 months with a young squad.

“I am very happy with the character of the team and I am happy with the cohesion of the team,” Coetzee said.

Namibia currently tops the log with five points, followed by hosts Ivory Coast who have four and Madagascar on zero.

Madagascar now needs to convincingly beat Ivory Coast in their last match on Sunday in order to stand a chance of qualifying for the next round.

The best two teams of each of the four pools qualify for the Rugby Africa Cup 2022 (Top 8), which will serve as the final Rugby World Cup 2023 qualification event.

Source: Namibia Press Agency