The Welwitschias' final RWC 2015 warm-up game could not have gone any better, as they ran in 12 tries to post their highest ever total against the Sables, who'd run them so close in last season's competition.
Stand-in skipper Rohan Kitshoff led from the front with a hat-trick of tries as Namibia stretched Phil Davies' winning run since he took charge of the team to four matches.
That will surely come to an end when they take on New Zealand in their next fixture and their first at RWC 2015, at the Olympic Stadium on 24 September.
However, for now, Namibia will celebrate an impressive campaign which saw them account for Tunisia, Kenya and Zimbabwe with relative ease, chalking up 148 points with only 22 conceded in the process.
Burger looks ahead to All Blacks test
Fearless flanker and long-term skipper Jacques Burger missed Saturday’s winner-takes-all clash against Zimbabwe because he was temporarily back in the UK with his club Saracens, meaning his next opponent is likely to be RWC 2011-winning skipper Richie McCaw.
Burger, as has always been the case, won't give anything less than 100 per cent, and neither, he says, will his team-mates when they face down the world champions.
“We are maybe not as skilful and maybe not as fast as the All Blacks are but we’ve spoken about how we are going to make up for that with our work-rate,” Burger told World Rugby TV.
“A lot of the players in our team idolise some of their players and I respect all of them because they are incredible rugby players and they are number one in the world for a reason.
“It will definitely be one of the greatest days in the careers of most of the players in the team.
“Personally I’m going to make sure I enjoy my last World Cup, I promise everyone that I will give 100 per cent and hopefully we can make this a special tournament.”
Burger has been impressed by the impact made by new head coach Phil Davies since he stepped up from his technical advisor role.
“I think Phil and Pieter (Rossouw, backs coach) have done a great job since coming in and making sure everyone is going in the right direction. Everyone is working hard and I think there are exciting times ahead for Namibian rugby,” said Burger of the World Rugby-funded coaching staff.
Oaks settle for draw
Romania began their RWC 2015 warm-up fixtures with a 10-10 draw against English Championship side Yorkshire Carnegie in Leeds on Friday night.
Lynn Howells used all 31 of his players on show in a largely scrappy game which ended with Carnegie earning a deserved share of the spoils following James Fitzpatrick’s converted try - the first try conceded by Romania in nearly 400 minutes of rugby. Randall Morrison was driven over for Romania's only try of the game just before the break.
The rain-sodden conditions in Headingley and lack of preparation time meant Romania struggled to get any fluency into their attacking game although full-back Catalin Fercu (pictured) managed a couple of trademark runs from deep.
“For me there was no shape to the game, everyone was going at 100 miles an hour and really it looked like two sides that hadn’t played any rugby. 10-10 was a fair result," reflected Romania head coach Lynn Howells.
“The pleasing thing for me was that we managed to play 31 players, and they all had an opportunity to show what they can do.
“We only flew in last night (Thursday) so we’d had no preparation for this game. It was just off the plane and play.”
Romania will now travel to Scotland to take on Howells’ former side Edinburgh before returning home to play Tonga in Bucharest in their final warm-up fixture.
Japan, meanwhile, were over-powered by a strong World XV in Tokyo, where Taqele Naiyaravoro underlined his potential as a future Australia star with three tries in 45-20 victory.
