Namibia's chances of qualifying for the 2027 Rugby World Cup are hanging by a thread after they lost 22-15 to Belgium in their opening match at the final World Cup Qualifier in Dubai on Saturday.
With Samoa beating Brazil 48-10 in the early match on Saturday, Belgium and Samoa are now in the pound seats for the final ticket to the 2027 Rugby World Cup in Australia, and Namibia must now hope that other results go their way to have a chance of a comeback.
For starters, they will have to beat Samoa in their next match on Thursday, and then hope that Samoa beat Belgium in their final match on 18 November.
Namibia got off to the worst possible start as Belgium opened the scoring in the first minute with a try by prop Jean Baptiste De Clerq, converted by flyhalf Matias Remue, while a Remue penalty put them 10-0 ahead after 16 minutes.
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With Belgium winning the battle for the loose ball, more chances came their way, and scrumhalf Julien Berger went over for another converted try to put them 17-0 ahead after 26 minutes.
Namibia came close to scoring twice through Torsten van Jaarsveld and JC Nel but Belgium defended resolutely and Namibia could only open their account with a penalty by Andre van der Berg shortly before halftime.
Namibia came out strongly in the second half, and had the edge in the scrums and the forward exchanges, but poor finishing let them down, while they suffered a further blow when workhorse Wian Conradie was sin-binned for a foul tackle.
Belgium were also reduced to 14 men for a foul tackle, but Namibia were once again on the back foot when Max Katjijeko was sin-binned for a tip tackle shortly after Conradie's return.
Belgium immediately struck with captain Jean Maurice Decubber going over from a maul, and with a 22-3 lead midway through the second half they were well in control.
Namibia, however, staged a great fightback but ultimately it came too late.
Their forwards started dominating the set pieces but after several chances went astray due to poor finishing, Johan Luttig finally barged over from a maul for a try converted by Cliven Loubser.
Namibia kept on attacking an in injury time Johan Deysel went over for an unconverted try to give them a small consolation of a bonus point for losing within seven points of Belgium.
After the match Namibia captain Louis van der Westhuizen said they made too many errors.
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"I'm happy to get the bonus point but obviously gutted that it didn't go our way. I think we had a slow start in the first half, we made a lot of errors and that cost us at the end, but well done to the boys for staying in the figtht, for giving everything for their country right up to the end and for getting that losing bonus point for us," he said.
"You could see Belgium got tired at the end - they really went for us in the first half, I think that was their plan, to go all guns blazing in the first half and then fight it out at the end, so well done to them," he added.
Belgium's captain Decubber said it was agreat win.
"I'm really proud of the team - Namibia was a big team, a big rugby nation that participated at the last couple of World Cups so we are really happy with this win," he said.
"We will just take it step by step and our next match against Brazil on Thursday will be like a second final for us," he added.
Namibia, meanwhile, take on Samoa in a must-win match on Thursday, and Van der Westhuizen said they will fight till the end.
"Rugby is a funny old game - you are never out until the final whistle, so I think we must now just go back to the drawing board and fix the mistakes that we made. We Namibians will never stop trying, we will never back down and we will come back strongly again," he added.
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