Namibia and Kenya through to final of Barthés U-20 Trophy

WINDHOEK, 29 MAR – The national under-20 (U-20) rugby team will face Kenya in the final of the Barthés U-20 Trophy which takes place in Namibia from 28 to 31 April 2018.
The competition was renamed in 2016 in honour of the late Jean-Luc Barthés, who worked as Rugby Service Manager for Africa at World Rugby for 14 years.
The winner of the Barthés U-20 Trophy qualifies for the Junior World Trophy, whose winner in turn qualifies for the World U-20 Championship.
In the opening matches here on Wednesday, Kenya became the first team to qualify for the final of the four nations competition after they thrashed Madagascar 51-13 in the opening match.
Host nation Namibia played the second match of the day, which was not a walk in the park as a resilient Zimbabwe pulled out all the stops.
Namibia dug deep into their arsenal and managed to win the match 27-17 for another appearance in the final.
The Namibian boys had a tough first half, which saw two Zimbabwean players get yellow cards just two minutes apart from each other. Despite all Zimbabwe’s hard work, Namibia managed to lead 13-10 at halftime.
In the second half, Namibia added more points to the score board with two more tries, while Zimbabwe only managed to score one try.
With 12 minutes to go before the end of the match, Namibia’s lock Adriaan Ludik was yellow carded after a mass brawl broke out. Despite being a man down, the Namibia team defended well and held on to their 10-point victory.
Namibia’s tries were scored by Elmarco Beukes (two tries) and Ludik (one), while Denzo Bruwer added three conversions and two penalties.
Zimbabwe’s tries were scored by Cleopas Kundiona and Tonderai Chiwambutsa, while Timotenda Mavesere added a penalty and a conversion, and substitute Nigel Tinarwo added another conversion.
Namibia and Kenya will now play for the number one spot on Saturday, while Madagascar and Zimbabwe will clash in the third and fourth place play-off.

NAMPA