Namibia vs Georgia match report: Namibians make a point despite defeat to Mamuka Gorgodze-inspired Georgians

Namibia 16 Georgia 17

Georgia captain Mamuka Gorgodze scored a try against Namibia (Getty Images)

Conventional wisdom has it that when Namibia lose their captain and chief force of nature Jacques Burger, they also lose the game. So it turned out in Exeter on Wednesday night, but they put up a hell of a fight before being edged out and sealing their first ever World Cup point in the form of a losing bonus point. The day Burger packs it in for good, the No 8 Renaldo Bothma will be just the man to fill the crater. He has the spirit, as well as the size.

Burger left the field after just nine minutes with what looked like concussion, having done himself a mischief tackling the highly-rated inside centre Merab Sharikadze. Yet with Bothma to the fore, Namibia made a mighty fist of it despite being overwhelmed up front. They even bagged a late try through their excellent outside-half Theuns Kotze to out the Georgians in a panic.

The underdogs, still without a win at a World Cup tournament, were desperate to avoid scrummaging against the Eastern European manhandlers at all costs, but there was bound to be a first set-piece at some point and when it duly arrived in the ninth minute, it almost brought Namibian forward play to a full and final conclusion. They went backwards quicker than an Olympic rowing eight yet somehow dragged themselves off the floor.

In fact, the only points of the opening period went to Namibia, for whom Kotze nailed a couple of penalties with that educated right boot of his. Mind you, the lack of scoring was not for the want of time. The Irish referee George Clancy, supremely indecisive to the last, contrived to preside over a 64-minute first half. The day he makes a quick call on anything, hell will freeze over.

Suffice to say that Namibia were a little less contemplative and a whole lot livelier whenever they had the merest sniff of possession. It did not happen often, but their line-out functioned well through the lock Tijuee Uanivi and they had a wrecking-ball in Bothma, whose industry with and without the ball was off the scale.

There were more sin-binnings than scores in that endless first stanza: the Georgian hooker Jaba Bregvadze hit Heinrich Smit with what amounted to a forearm smash – no fun, given the size of arm involved – while the Namibian props Raoul Larson and Johannes Coetzee saw yellow for contrasting misdemeanours. This led to uncontested set-pieces, which was precisely the outcome the African side craved. There’s justice for you.

They were still having their feet held to the fire, however, and the Georgian captain Mamuka Gorgodze eventually burnt them badly with a close-range try nine minutes into the second half. In the build-up, Bothma went high in tackling Lasha Malaguradze and was packed off to the cooler as a consequence.

And that was just about where the resistance ended: without Bothma as well as Burger, the Namibians were bereft. Five minutes after Gorgodze’s finish, Malaguradze crossed from a strong break by the flanker Giorgi Tkhilaishvili. Bothma returned to the fray a short while later, but the wounds had been inflicted.

Teams:

Georgia: M Kvirikashvili; T Mchedlidze (G Aptsiaru 42), D Kacharava, M Sharikadze, A Todua; L Malaguradze, V Lobzhanidze (G Begadze 65); M Nariashvili (K Asieshvili 35), J Bregvadze (S Mamukashvili 56), D Zirakashvili, G Nemsadze, K Mikautadze (L Datunashvili 56), G Tkhilaishvili, V Kolelishvili (L Lomidze h-t), M Gorgodze (capt).

Namibia: C Botha; D Philander (J Coetzee 40-51), D Van Wyk (H Smit 27), D De la Harpe, R Van Wyk; T Kotze, E Jantjies (D Stevens 67); J Redelinghuys (J Engels 59), T Van Jaarsfeld, R Larson (Coetzee 59, L Van der Westhuizen 70), P J Van Lill (Du Plessis 67), T Uanivi, J Burger (capt, R Kitshoff 9), T Du Plessis (W Conradie 59), R Bothma.

Referee: G Clancy (Ireland).