Namibia cage Kenya Simbas in CAR duel

Dan Sikuta of Kenyas Moran Team is tackled by Ustin Lickington of South Africa as Oscar Ouma provides support in the finals of the 2012 Safaricom sevens rugby Tournament at the Nyayo national Stadium

Kenya Simbas’ hopes of reclaiming the CAR Africa Cup Division1A title went up in smoke after the national 15s team suffered a humiliating 56-21 defeat to champions Namibia, in their second continental encounter at the Geingob Stadium in Windhoek.

This was the second loss for Kenya against Namibia in the same competition after they fell 46-13 at the same venue last year.

The victory saw Namibia leapfrog Kenya at the top of the table with two wins after stunning Uganda 40-31 a fortnight ago. Kenya had thrashed Zimbabwe 61-15 in their opening match.

The hosts were in a class of their own on Saturday, producing a dominant first-half display with Theuns Kotze, who was celebrating his 29th birthday, converting all the six tries to hand the hosts a comfortable 42-7 half-time lead. Kenya tried to come back into the game in the second half, grounding two converted tries, but that could not stop Namibia from claiming their second victory in the tournament.

Substitutes James Kang’ethe and Dan Sikuta together with Isaac Adimo grounded a try apiece for, converted by Darwin Mukidzwa, Sikuta and Fabian Olando.

While for Namibia, it was Tinus du Plessis who produced a Man of the match performance, touching down twice, as captain Tjiuee Uanivi, Chrysander Botha, Rohan Kitshoff, Gino Wilson, Russell van Wyk and Johan Deysel scored one try each, all converted by birthday boy Kotze to end Kenya’s three away-game winning streak.

Namibia took an early lead through Uanivi’s third minute try after he rounded off a forward maul.

Kenya were then reduced to 14 men after Simon Muniafu was sin-binned for foul play. Namibia immediately capitalised on the numerical advantage with Botha, Kitshoff and Wilson grounding three quick tries for Namibia to take a 28-0 lead after only 18 minutes.

Tinus du Plessis put the game beyond Kenya’s reach with two more tries in quick succession for a 42-0 lead.

However, Adimo pulled a try back for the Simbas when he danced through Namibia tackles with Mukidza converting the extras to make the score line 42-7 at half-time.