Davies starts Namibia role with Russian victory

WINDHOEK (Reuters) - Fullback Russell van Wyk scored two tries as Namibia began life under new head coach Phil Davies with a 39-19 victory over Russia in a friendly in Windhoek on Saturday.





Namibia ran in five tries with scrumhalf Eugene Jantjies, and centres JC Greyling and Johan Deysel the other scorers. Flyhalf Theuns Kotze kicked three conversions and a penalty, while Jantjies converted the fifth try.

"It's a whole new squad and certainly there is a lot of room for improvement but there were a lot of positives out their today and we know we can improve on that," captain Jacques Burger was quoted in a statement from the Namibia Rugby Union.

Russia scored their points via tries from wing Igor Galinovsky, number eight Victor Gresev and flank Danila Chegodaev, while experienced flyhalf Yuri Kushnarev landed two conversions.

The match was the first in charge for Welshman Davies after he replaced Danie Vermeulen last month with the latter having resigned citing a lack of support from the NRU.

Namibia will meet Russia again at the same venue in the final match of the two-game series on Saturday.

They have been drawn in Group C at the World Cup, which runs from Sept. 18-Oct. 31, along with New Zealand, Argentina, Georgia and Tonga.





(Reporting by Nick Said; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)


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