Argentina run riot over Namibia in preparation for quarter-finals

“The players like to play a more dynamic game and it is something we feel comfortable with”, Hourcade told reporters after the Namibia win.

But it was Namibia who had the final say.

Caetano Mohorade, there with a party of 12 family and friends, including dad, Horacio, said: “We’re all from Buenos Aires and Neuquen and we’ve been to a number of matches, including Tonga and Georgia”.

The Pumas reasserted their authority soon afterwards, Moroni shaking off a series of weak tackles before crossing for his first global try.

Matias Alemanno, Leonardo Senatore, Julian Montoya and Tomas Cubelli joined the fun in the second half as Argentina steamrolled their way to victory.

Juan Martin Hernandez scores the first try for Argentina.

Roared on by a sizeable portion of the 30,198 crowd, Argentina showed a willingness to run the ball at every opportunity and the pace of their attack often left Namibia clutching at air.

Namibia: Chrysander Botha; Johan Tromp, JC Greyling, Johan Deysel, Conrad Marais; Theuns Kotze, Eneill Buitendag; Jaco Engels, Torsten Van Jaarsveld, Johan Coetzee, Janco Venter, Tijuee Uanivi, Rohan Kitshoff (captain), Wian Conradie, Leneve Damens.

But the Pumas’ adventurous play had its pitfalls and Namibia were celebrating a second try six minutes after the break, Greyling breaking away with a smile on his face having profited from a spilled pass. In the last match of their group stage, prop forward Johnny Redelinghuys took one of their conversions. Not surprisingly, he missed from out wide.

“If we go out with that guts, character, determination, anything can happen in a game of rugby”, coach Phil Davies said.

On the upside, they scored against the reigning world champions (probably something even England couldn’t do), and gained their first ever World Cup point – a losing point to Georgia. The 32-year-old backrower, who plays for Saracens as a day job, was to retire at the end of this World Cup regardless.

“There’s been lots of progress made by the team, and the players take huge credit for that”.

Namibia’s outside centre JC Grayling was sent to the sin bin for a high tackle on 11 minutes and their South American opponents punished them further when Santiago Gonzalez bisected the posts with the consequent penalty.