Africa: Ivory Coast gains victory on home turf against Namibia

Ivory Coast dominated Namibia in the inaugural match of the “Rugby Africa Cup”  Pool A Qualifiers at the Alassane Ouattara High School Stadium in Grand Bassam.

In front of his audience, the Ivory Coast managed to tame the Namibian ogre. The Elephants defeated the Welwitschias of Namibia by a score of 24-13.

With three converted tries and a penalty, Côte d’Ivoire thwarted the predictions of this match where Namibia was given favourite.

This first success of Edgar Babbou’s men came at the 5^th minute in the beginning of the game, with the try of captain Meïté Baky. The ensuing penalty is converted by Ezer Kosse. 5min later, Paul Diallo scored the second try of the Ivorians, which will be converted again by Ezer Kosse. The same player will convert another penalty. Before the break, the Ivorians scored a third converted try.

The Welwitschias, dominated in the game, managed to reduce the score gap with a penalty kick at the 20^th minute signed by Helaruis Kisting. Shortly before the break, Gino Wilson scored the first try for the Namibians, which was not converted. At half time, the scoreboard was 24-08.

Returning from the change room, Namibia scored a second try which will again was not converted. Re-motivated by this try, the Namibians tried to reverse the trend but were unable to destabilize the Defense of the Pachyderms. The final score will remain 24-13 in favour of Côte d’Ivoire.

The Namibians will have the opportunity to redeem themselves in this pool on Wednesday July 7, 2021 where they will face the Malagasy in the 2nd day of the Rugby Africa Cup pool A.