Barthes Trophy: Kenya Chipu falls to Namibia ahead of Sunday's finale

Kenya Chipu in action against Tunisia during the Rugby Africa Barthes Trophy in Zimbabwe. [Rugby Afrique]

The Kenya national Under-20 rugby team's chances of defending their Barthes Trophy title hang in the balance after they went down 32-22 to Namibia in a crucial round two match played at the Old Hararians Sports Club in Harare.

Commonly referred to as Chipu, Kenya had kicked off their title defence last Saturday with a 29-21 victory over a resilient Tunisia as Simon Jawichre’s new look outfit looked to defend the title they won last year.

However, a defeat to rivals Namibia hangs Chipu’s chances by a thread since they now bank their hopes on Tunisia beating Namibia on Sunday for a chance at the title. Chipu will play hosts Zimbabwe on the same day.

In the match, Johannes Rossouw gave the Namibians the perfect start, drilling home a 25-yard penalty from the left wing for a 3-0 lead, a narrow advantage the South Africans defended until the halftime break.

In the final half, Chipu came out from the break more aggressively and took the lead when Daniel Kipchirchir sprinted past the Namibian defense to score near the posts for a 7-3 lead after Faran Juma added the extras.

However, Kenya’s perfect start and building momentum was quickly shut down when a poor restart by Juma granted Namibia a scrum battle in the middle of the pitch, a scrum that resulted in a penalty for the South Africans who opted for a line out.

John Peter Campbell proceeded to score from the resultant line out after a powerful maul run shattered the Kenyan defense as Namibia regained their lead. Rossouw booted in the conversion for a 10-7 lead.

With the match now poised for the taking by either of the team, Chipu responded again when Erick Juma raced past the Namibian backline to ground a kick and chase the ball from Dennis Ndayala for a 12-10 lead after Juma missed the conversion.

The restart drama continued again after another poor start saw Namibia regain possession and earn a penalty that caused another line out that Campbell finished off again for his second try as they took a 15-12 lead.

Matters went from bad to worse for Kenya when Alfred Vercuil broke from the midfield to score for Namibia, a try that Rossouw converted for a 22-12 lead.

Kipchirchir returned to haunt Namibia again with another unconverted try that cut the South African lead to 22-17.

Sending danger, Namibia intensified their offence and were rewarded when John Connor Nel grounded a try from a five-meter scrum off the Kenyan try box to push the scores to 29-17 after Xavier Mouton's conversion.

Mouton added a penalty to stretch the scores to 32-17 before Terrence Ogutu came off the bench to score Kenya’s consolation try as Chipu lost 32-22.

Namibia now lead the round robin standings with six points following their opening victory over Zimbabwe (41-22) and Kenya.