The national Under-20 Rugby team lost 14-19 against Zimbabwe in the final of the 2022 Barthes Trophy at the Nyayo National Stadium in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday.
On Sunday, Namibia went into the final as favourite after defeating the defending champion and host nation Kenya in the semi-finals on Thursday.
The South African neighbours produced brilliant play in a contest that was too close to call and will leave long in the memories of rugby lovers across the continent.
Namibia as favourite began the match on a bright note, earning an early penalty that was converted by Oela Blaauw for a 3-0 lead.
But Zimbabwe could not take the Namibian’s attack lying down and responded with their penalty which was converted by Brendan Marume to level the scores.
Minutes later the Zimbabwean boys earned their first try of the game through Takudzwa Musingwini but the conversion was missed and their lead was stretched to 8-3.
Marume also scored another penalty for Zimbabwe to extend their lead to 11-3.
Before the halftime break, an infringement by Zimbabwe allowed Namibia to score yet another penalty through Blaauw and the halftime break ended with Zimbabwe leading 11-6.
Zimbabwe continued in the second half where they ended off in the first half with a brilliant interchange down the left flank releasing Panashe Zuze who scored their second try, which proved too vital in the game as the score was extended to 16-6.
Namibia score their only try of the match which was not converted through Bernd Beddies who managed to get some space in the Zimbabwean defence and his trickery was enough to hand Namibia their first and only try of the game.
With that try, the score was reduced to 16-11 and another penalty kick in the second half by Blaauw reduced the arrears to two points.
With the scores at 16-14, the game witnessed a nervy end as a penalty by Takudzwa Musingwini for Zimbabwe eased pressure on the Zimbabweans and a late surge by the Namibians, saw a disciplined defensive play by Zimbabwe.
When the final whistle blew, the boys in white and green jumped in jubilation as they were now crowned new champions of the 2022 Barthes Trophy
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
