GOSFORD, Australia, 15 October 2003 — Argentina are back in the quarterfinal hunt at the Rugby World Cup after smashing African minnows Namibia 67-14 in a Pool A match here yesterday.
The Pumas, who fielded their second-string team after a dismal first-up loss to Australia last Friday, were far too powerful for the mismatched Namibian amateurs to rack up by far their biggest win at a World Cup.
Argentina, who monopolized 60 percent of possession and spent a total of nine minutes camped in their opponents’ quarter, locked up a scoring bonus point in the 35th minute, led 27-7 at half-time and powered away in the second half to finish with 10 tries.
Such was their forward supremacy that they scored two push-over tries to No. 8 Pablo Bouza and were awarded two penalty tries as the Namibians tried everything in their means to stop the relentless forward drives. “The win was expected and we could play who we wanted,” Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda said.
“In the history of the World Cup, Argentina has never posted such a big point and I believe after this win Argentina is back on track.” Fly-half Gonzalo Quesada, passed over for Felipe Contepomi in last week’s tournament opener, finished with 17 points from seven conversions and a penalty and was an assured link with the backs. Center Martin Gaitan had a picnic scoring a hat trick of tries as the backs capitalized on the forwards’ dominance.
“I can’t knock my guys,” Namibia coach Dave Waterston said. “We tried to take them on up front and you can see by the score that they gave us a hiding.
“If you can’t dominate up front you are going to expose your team ... we’ve got no complaints, they gave us a lesson and we have to absorb it.”
Cheered on by the supportive 18,000 crowd, Namibia kept plugging away but on the evidence of yesterday’s game looked well out of their depth at World Cup level.
Argentina have Romania next in their pool on Oct. 22 in Sydney, while the Namibians have a daunting challenge against Ireland in Sydney on Sunday.
The Pumas controlled large chunks of the opening half through their imposing forwards. Veteran hooker Federico Mendez caught the Namibians off-guard in only the fourth minute when charged down the blindside to score the opening try.
The Pumas were dominating territory and they came up with their first pushover try to No.8 Bouza midway through the halfway for a 10-0 lead.
The Namibians were under immense pressure from the Argentine forwards and they had three players sent to the blood bin in the first half-hour — winger Melrick Africa, fly-half Emile Wessels and lock Eben Isaacs. All returned to the field.
Quesada showed great skill to get his arms free in a tackle and send center Juan Fernandez Miranda over in the 31st minute.
The Pumas were proving relentless and another attempt at a push-over try resulted in a penalty try awarded by Welsh referee Nigel Williams after the Namibians collapsed the rolling scrum.
That gave Argentina a bonus point five minutes before halftime, but the Namibians had the sympathetic crowd roaring when centre Dupreez Grobler scored his team’s first points right on half-time. Emile Wessels converted to trail 27-7. The Argentines tightened the screws in the second half and Gaitan scored his first of three tries in the 45th minute followed by their second penalty try. Gaitan picked up his second try in the 54th minute, with Quesada landing a great conversion from the sideline under immense barracking from the pro-Namibian supporters. Nicolas Fernandez Miranda scored on the hour for a burgeoning 55-7 lead before Namibian scrumhalf Hakkies Husselman scored his team’s second try with 12 minutes left. But there was still time for two more Argentine tries — Bouza from a pushover and Gaitan winning the race after a Quesada grubber-kick in-goal.
