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BORDEAUX - Ireland stuttered to an unconvincing 32-17 victory over a spirited Namibia at the World Cup here on Monday (NZ time), but did at least earn a crucial Pool D bonus point after scoring five tries.
It was far from vintage Ireland against a team that only a month ago conceded more than 100 points against South Africa in a World Cup warm-up.
Although Ireland went to the top of the pool ahead of Argentina, who defeated France on Saturday, coach Eddie O'Sullivan was furious with his team.
"That was our worst performance for a long time. It was very disappointing all round and we have to take a long, hard look at ourselves," said O'Sullivan.
"We started well but we lost our shape and there were too many errors. Namibia played very well but if we play that way again against Georgia (next Saturday) we'll be in trouble."
Namibia, who have only six professional players, proved tough to break down despite Ireland opening the scoring after just four minutes.
After a great break by Denis Hickie, captain Brian O'Driscoll chipped ahead and out-paced Tertius Losper to score, with Ronan O'Gara converting.
That try moved O'Driscoll clear of team-mate Denis Hickie as Ireland's all-time leading try-scorer, with 30.
The expected domination did not materialise, however, with Namibia proving solid in defence, heeding coach Hakkies Husselman's advice to keep their defensive discipline.
O'Gara cleverly orchestrated the next try, taking a tap penalty and lofting a high crossfield ball that left Andrew Trimble needing only to catch it and ground it for a 15-0 lead on 19 minutes.
On the half-hour, Simon Easterby finished off a big heave from the forwards by touching down but the biggest cheer came five minutes from the break when Namibia moved to within a yard of the Irish try-line, having opted to kick for touch rather than for goal when in the Irish 22.
A knock-on scuppered their hopes but Emile Wessels then landed a penalty to make the score 20-3 at the break.
Ireland opened the second period with a penalty try, crucially giving them a bonus point for their fourth try of the game, which O'Gara converted.
Namibia refused to kick for goal when handed a penalty and their enterprise was rewarded on the hour when Jacques Burger rounded off a lightning break from Ryan Witbooi to touch down.
Four minutes later, Piet Van Zyl kicked-on and out-sprinted Girvan Dempsey for Namibia's second try.
They were even hard done by with Ireland's final try five minutes from time as a video replay clearly showed Jerry Flannery grounding the ball before the tryline.
- AFP
