Match Centre: Rugby World Cup Pool A: Uruguay 36-26 Namibia

Uruguay 36-26 Namibia, Pool A, OL Stadium

Uruguay fought back from a 14-point deficit as they went on to beat Namibia 36-26 in their Pool A encounter of the Rugby World Cup in OL Stadium on Wednesday.

Namibia now have lost all their four games of the competition while Uruguay managed to end their losing streak with the bonus point victory.

Namibia had a promising start to the game as they scored the first try in the opening minute after intercepting a sloppy pass from Uruguay allowing Gerswin Mouton to dive under the posts. They managed to double their tally by the 11th minute as Richard Hardwick sent a ball wide for JC Greyling to touchdown.

Tiaan Swanepoel kicked both the conversions as Namibia raced to a 0-14 lead before Uruguay responded in the 20th minute as Felipe Etcheverry offloaded to Baltazar Amaya as he crossed the whitewash but the conversion drifted wide.

As Uruguay were penalised for an offside, Swanepoel kicked a three-pointer to extend Namibia's lead but Uruguay fought their way back after Germán Kessler powered his way over at the back of a rumbling maul. Etcheverry kicked the conversion as the scoreline became 12-17.

As both the teams were desperate for finishing the opening half strongly, Namibia back row Prince Gaoseb received treatment for a knock on his eye socket. Swanepoel landed his second penalty goal in the 36th minute after Uruguay were penalised for an obstruction guiding Namibia to a 12-20 lead at the end of the opening half.

Namibia extended their momentum into the second half after another handling error from Uruguay allowed Swanepoel to kick his third three-pointer making it 12-23 before they lost Aranos Coetzee to sin-bin for repeated infringements.

Uruguay made full use of the numerical advantage as Amaya completed his second try with a dive in the corner before Santiago Arata scored a brilliant solo try. Etcheverry kicked both the conversions as Uruguay went into the lead for the first time in the game.

Namibia's indiscipline costed them dearly as skipper Tjiuee Uanivi was sin-binned in the 62nd minute for a high tackle and Desiderius Sethie followed the suit for a similar offence leaving them down to 13 players temporarily. Uruguay made use of the two-man advantage with Bautista Basso collecting a cross-field kick to go over and Felipe Berchesi kicked the conversion to make it 33-23.

Meanwhile, Sethie's offence was upgraded to red card, as Swanepoel and Berches traded penalties to make it 36-26 before before Uruguay replacement Eric Dosantos was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle.

Points Table: Pool A

Position	Team	Played	Won	Lost	Points
1	France	3	3	0	13
2	Italy	2	2	0	10
3	New Zealand	2	1	1	5
4	Uruguay	3	1	2	5
5	Namibia	4	0	4	0

What's Next:

Uruguay will be facing New Zealand in their final game of the tournament to be played in Lyon on 5th October while Namibia's competition ends with four defeats from as many games as they finish at the bottom of Pool A.

Team line up:

Uruguay: Amaya, Basso, Pérez, Vilaseca (c), Freitas, Etcheverry, Arata; Sanguinetti, Kessler, Arbelo, Aliaga, Leindekar, Ardao, Civetta, Deus.

Reserves: Pujadas, Gattas, Piussi, Rodríguez, Dosantos, Ormaechea, Berchesi, Alonso.

Namibia: Loubser, Mouton, Izaacs, Burger, Greyling, Swanepoel, Stevens; Benade, Van Jaarsveld, Coetzee, Ludick, De Klerk, Gaoseb, Uanivi (c), Hardwick.

Reserves: Van der Westhuizen, Sethie, Shifuka, Van Lill, Katjijeko, Booysen, Theron, Van der Bergh.