NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 10 – It was just never Kenya’s night as yet another World Cup dream came crushing down after a humbling 36-0 defeat at the hands of Namibia in the final of the Africa Cup on Sunday night in France.
Wian Conradie dotted down a hattrick of tries with Cliven Loubser adding on a hattrick of penalties as the Southern Africans continued their recent dominance over the Simbas and clinching Africa’s sole automatic ticket to next year’s World Cup.
The Simbas will now have to try their luck out at the Repechage tournament after failing to clinch the title, another World Cup dream slowed down.
Kenya had a good start to the match with the best 15 restored after the return of Collins Injera and Vincent Onyala, but as soon as Namibia scored the first try, Kenya’s crumble started.
Conradie dotted down the first after 17 minutes after Namibia sped off on the counter following a quickly taken setpiece. The conversion was wide as they took a 5-0 lead.
They extended the lead to 8-0 after 23 minutes when Loubser booted the first of his three penalties when skipper Daniel Sikuta was penalized for failing to release on the tackle.
Conradie added his second try of the day with Loubser adding the twos after Namibia won a scrum and used it to open up space on the Kenyan backline, going to the break with a 15-0 lead.
In the second half, Namibia continued with their destructive form and they extended the lead from another penalty after a high tackle, the Namibians choosing to go for the posts and Loubser slicing the posts for an 18-0 score.
He was gifted with two more penalties which he made no mistake from, Namibia going 24-0 up. He tried another from the halfway line but drilled it wide.
Namibia scored two quick tries in the final two minutes, Conradie completing his hattrick after a good line out before skipper Johan Deysel putting the icing on the cake.
