Georgia’s victory over Namibia which will likely ensure automatic qualification for the 2019 World Cup was likened by their coach Milton Haig to having scaled Mount Everest.
Georgia came back from a 6-0 half-time deficit to stop Namibia from winning their first ever World Cup game. Namibia fought back with a converted try of their own with five minutes to play to set Georgian alarm bells ringing as they only won 17-16.
Namibia did get their first World Cup point however.And New Zealand must beat Tonga on Friday to confirm Georgia’s third place in Pool C, which would mean the east Europeans miss the arduous qualifying process for the World Cup in Japan.
“I don’t meant to be trite about this, it was a bit like Sir Edmund (Hilary) knocking off Everest, we’d finally done it, so that was quite neat,” Haig said after the match at Exeter’s Sandy Park.
It was nail-biting stuff that left Haig, a New Zealander, and his coaching staff drained before joining what he promised would be “celebrations to the maximum”.
“It was pretty surreal,” he said.
“We were all pretty disappointed about how we played the game because we made it very hard for ourselves.
“We didn’t quite adapt to the slippery ball as well as we could have and we made a couple of silly decisions at the end there that just about cost us the game.
“We were sitting there thinking ‘golly gosh we’ve won this’ but it wasn’t the elation you’d normally expect.”
Haig was adamant, however, that the victory was all that counted. “It was just one of those really ugly games, but we still managed to win it,” he said.
“In the long run, whether you create history with a one-point win or a 20-point win it doesn’t really matter because you’ve created history and that’s what we’ve done today for Georgian rugby.”
First point joy
Georgia will now be nervously watching Pacific minnows Tonga take on world number one New Zealand.
“When you look at the numbers and the stats, they’re probably going to say Tonga have a very hard task on their hands,” said Haig.
“We’ll be watching with avid interest, but we’d be pretty bloody disappointed if Tonga turned it around and knocked over the All Blacks!”
Namibia coach Phil Davies said he had been left “immensely proud” by his team’s performance, especially after losing inspirational skipper Jacques Burger after 10 minutes with a head knock and the scrum under intense pressure.
“We said before the game that we wanted the players to play with emotion, a real performance from the heart and I thought they were magnificent,” the former Llanelli and Wales forward said.
“It was tough at times when discipline cost us in terms of three yellow cards, but we kept going, trying to play, and to come back like we did towards the end and nearly snatch a victory was amazing.”
Namibia have now lost 18 straight games over five World Cups, although the lowest ranked team in the tournament did get their first ever point — a bonus for coming within seven of Georgia’s score.
“It’s a first world Cup point. This campaign has kept improving for us and we’re very proud,” Davies said.
“It was a good night for us although we’re disappointed we didn’t get the result in the end.”
Burger added that he had been taken off as a precaution.
“I made a tackle and got a little knock to the head,” the Saracens flanker said, with Namibia wrapping up their World Cup against Argentina on Sunday.
“They said it was a clear knock to the head so it would be better if I came off, so hopefully I can pass all my tests and do all my protocol stuff and be ready for the next match.
