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| October 31, 2003 | Friday | Ramazan 4, 1424 |
Van Vuuren makes history in defeat
SYDNEY, Oct 30: Namibia ended the World Cup without a win but still made history when Rudi van Vuuren came off the replacements’ bench against Romania to become the first man to play in both cricket and rugby World Cups.
Flyhalf Van Vuuren, who missed his side’s earlier matches through injury, appeared in the last 10 minutes as Romania won the pool A game 37-7. A doctor, he played in the cricket World Cup earlier in the year.
Romania completely dominated the first half, scoring four tries and 32 of their points.
But the Namibians somehow found the energy to fight back after the break, with lock Eben Isaacs crashing over. Romania sealed victory with their fifth try in the final minutes.
They had made a flying start when lock Augustin Petrichei scored in the fourth minute after popping up on the right wing.
They surged 13-0 ahead by the 18th minute after flyhalf Ionut Tofan added two penalties to his successful conversion.
Namibia briefly managed to halt the scoring after flanker Schalk van der Merwe — who tames wild lions as part of his job at a game park — wrestled Romanian scrumhalf Lucian Sirbu to the ground to save a certain try.
But his efforts went to waste when Sirbu took a quick tap minutes later and dived over as the floodgates opened.
Blindside flanker George Chiriac charged over from close-range then winger Ioan Teodorescu went over in the right. Cristian Sauan scored the fifth try.
Namibia, Japan and Georgia have all failed to win a point at the tournament. Namibia made history of a different sort earlier in the tournament by losing 142-0 to Australia, the worst losing margin on record. They conceded 310 points in four matches while scoring 28.
Standings
P W D L F A BP Pts
POOL A
Australia 3 3 0 0 256 16 2 14
Ireland 3 3 0 0 125 39 2 14
Argentina 4 2 0 2 140 57 3 11
Romania 4 1 0 3 65 192 1 5
Namibia 4 0 0 4 28 310 0 0
POOL B
France 3 3 0 0 163 56 3 15
Scotland 3 2 0 1 80 77 2 10
Fiji 3 2 0 1 78 92 1 9
U.S. 3 1 0 2 72 84 2 6
Japan 4 0 0 4 79 163 0 0
POOL C
England 3 3 0 0 144 34 2 14
South Africa 3 2 0 1 124 50 2 10
Samoa 3 2 0 1 128 57 2 10
Uruguay 3 1 0 2 43 144 0 4
Georgia 4 0 0 4 46 200 0 0
POOL D
New Zealand 3 3 0 0 229 20 3 15
Wales 3 3 0 0 95 45 1 13
Italy 4 2 0 2 77 123 0 8
Canada 4 1 0 3 54 135 1 5
Tonga 4 0 0 4 46 178 1 1
—Reuters
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