Madagascar 57 - 54 Namibia / 35,000 attendance

http://www.namibian.com.na/sport/local/full-story/archive/2012/july/article/madagascar-beat-namibia-57-54/

MADAGASCAR beat Namibia 57-54 after extra time to win the Africa Rugby Cup Division 1B tournament in Madagascar yesterday afternoon.
In a thrilling match that went into extra time with the teams level at 43-all at the end of normal time, Namibia held a 54-51 lead with two minutes to go. But the home side scored the winning try in the final minute of the game to send their 35 000 fans into ecstasy.
As the winners of Division B1 of the Africa Cup competition, Madagascar are now promoted to Division A1, while Namibia remain in Division 1B. Namibia will still participate in the 2015 Rugby World Cup qualifiers which get underway next year, although their path to the top will be much more difficult now.
Namibia applied the early pressure but Madagascar pounced on their mistakes, to score three early tries against the run of play, that put them 19-0 ahead after only 20 minutes. According to Namibian team manager William Steenkamp, Namibia was rattled by the fanatical Madagascan support and they took a while to find their feet.
“The supporters were fanatical and there was so much noise, you could not hear yourself think. I think that affected our team and the pressure got to them,” he said.
Namibia opened their account with tries by Lean Stoop and Johnny Redelinghuys but at halftime, Madagascar held a comfortable 29-14 lead.
Namibia came back strongly in the second half and they seemed to be set for victory when they led 43-29 with 10 minutes remaining. Urged on by their fanatical supporters, Madagascar scored two late tries to draw level at 43-all to force the match into extra time.
Namibia took the initiative with a try and a penalty to take a 51-43 lead, but Madagascar reduced the gap to 51-50 with a converted try.
A penalty by flyhalf Theuns Kotze put Namibia 54-50 ahead but Madagascar had the final say as they scored a converted try in the final minute to win the match 57-54.
Both teams scored eight tries apiece. Namibia’s scorers were Stoop, Redelinghuys, Morné Blom, Chrysander Botha, Shaun Esterhuizen, Arthur Bouwer, Justin Nel and Petrus Human.
Theuns Kotze had a bad day with the boot and could only convert one try while he also added a drop goal and three penalties.
Steenkamp said the match was played at a high tempo and Namibia made too many basic errors.
“Madagascar played at a very high tempo and we made too many basic errors. I must say, Madagascar played excellent rugby,” he said. – namibiasport.com.na

Namibian player answers journalists questions after the game.

Journalist: "What is your problems"?

Namibian player: "we made mistakes, thats it"

Journalist: Thanks

player: thanks

short and sweet!


*see the full 37 seconds interview here!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZhYAzYwsMs

Oooooh and finally, the Madagasgar haka!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSQM5ZzoAQI


Nicked all this info off another rugby forum, but thought i'd share it here

1) Great to see Madagascar do well

2) Great to see 35k go to a rugby game featuring minnow teams

3) that score!!!

4) that Madagascan war dance needs to be banned. it's intimadory and gives them an unfair advantage. it's just so wrong to expect the other team to just stand there and be threatened by it

Always like to hear a shake up - should make the qualifiers very interesting for the African spot !

I don't know if this has any more information but...

http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/qualifying/news/newsid=2063205.html#watch+madagascar+namibia+match

I know I should be pleased about this but all I can think about is 35000 people and the effect that has on Madagascar's fragile ecosystem.

Poor Namibia - if only their best player by a huge margin wasn't injured......

Good for Madagascar though - didn't know they had a rugby team!

Sounds like a great game, fair play to Madagascar, some crowd too!

Christ their IRB ranking leaped from 56th, behind the Cook Islands, to 42nd.

Senegal took a shock win over Morocco as well

I think Namibia will slowly fall down the pecking order in Africa as more and more teams take up the game...most will have bigger populations than Namibia...

That haka is brilliant, would love to see it on the world stage ie a world cup at some point soon!

Brilliant crowd, well and truly putting Madagascar on the map

Seeing this makes you love a sport more than you thought you ever could!

I watched Zimbabwe against Tunisia yesterday on the African rugby website. For all the problems in Zimbabwe it was great to see a bunch of White and Black guys playing together and being a team.

We hear so many bad things about that country, and the racism that exists there yet on the rugby field that doesnt appear to be the case.

I heard that clubs in madagascar get an average of 8000 per game

dallym wrote:1) Great to see Madagascar do well..............that Madagascan war dance needs to be banned. it's intimadory and gives them an unfair advantage. it's just so wrong to expect the other team to just stand there and be threatened by it

Watching that video reminds me of the comments on the thread about Gavin Henson's repetitive motion wrist injury.

But is great to see 35K out for a match in Madagascar.

I heard that clubs in madagascar get an average of 8000 per game

Really? Are the semi-pro or fully professional. Good to see another hotbed of rugby taking shape nicely. I've always fancied a visit to Madagascar, best suggest it to the Leicester Tigers management for a pre season tour next year...

8000 was the number quoted on total rugby last night, it didnt say if they were pro, but you would expect them to be semi pro?

Great to see so many fans attending games, lets hope they can really build on this.

I wonder if as they get better, french clubs are likely to come sniffing around given the previous colonial/ language history? That could be mixed blessings for Madagascar, great to have players exposed to a higher level of rugby, but it would mean they might not be able to play in these sort of qualifying games.

Saw the highlights on Total Rugby. Looks like an amazing game with some stunning rugby played and incredible tries scored, especially by Madagascar.

I've known about the fervour for rugby there for a while. Good to see results improving but there will be a limit to how far they go due to financial issues and the natural size of the players.

The Bushwhackers haka. Love it. They look like Lego action figures. Seen that done before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJlcoTd93j8

Good to see that crowd and a new face to rugby (at least for me). I thought the movie was Madagascar's claim to fame. If Africa can continue to promote the game then there is a big population base to exploit. Great to see.

According to total rugby they are rugby mad over there. Only a matter of time before we see their players in the top 14

the madagascar haka. haha. genuine lol.

they nicked my go to drunken dance move.

Their country is one of the poorest in the World, the chances of them being even semi pro is very remote.

Looking at this again (i appreciate its against namibia) their 10-12-13 axis looked impressive...pacy, good lines and footwork and handling skills.

Thomond put a video to this game on a thread of mine. Don't know how to put the link here but the vid is well worth seeing. Unbelievable the Moroccan kicker missed 2 sitters to win the preliminary game and get World Cup entry.

https://www.606v2.com/t32729-top-tries-for-the-summer-tours (it's the second post)

Kia

I agree how did he miss those kicks....even at this level i would expect my kickers to nail those.

The 10 certainly looks a burly fella...but was not afraid to run it...and the 13 scored a few off some great support lines.

We'll ignore the fact the defence coaches probably need shooting....

Its encouraging to see teams lower down the rankings are still trying to play good rugby.
Their 10-12-13 axis showed more intent to attack than England did in the summer regardless of opposition levels.

And 40000 fans singing and chanting...just great to see.

Look up the Cyprus v Bulgaria game on youtube aswell....and they also showed some sublime handling and running skills...albeit against a poor Bulgaria team.

GF he hit the same spot each time. He has a bigger left hook than me in golf.

The Madagascar 10 reminds me of a fatter version of Caucau. He needs to hump the air to generate pace he normally had to burn when he was a slimmed down version.

Haha great vid GF. I love how a Cyprus forward bangs down his elbow in full view of the ref and he does nothing but just glance over when play continues to check a fight doesn't break out. Those Bulgarian backs seem so slow. Love how the right wing kicks away the ball in a strop. I agree some very nice handling and running lines from Cyprus. Good to see.