Wales 81 Namibia 7

WALES romped to a record World Cup victory when they overwhelmed hapless Namibia at New Plymouth yesterday, scoring 59 points in a hopelessly one-sided second half.

It puts them right on course for a place in the quarter-finals for at their current rate of progress Fiji shouldn’t present them with too many problems in Hamilton on Sunday.

The large Welsh presence in the near 15,000 crowd were singing Hymns and Arias as early as the eighth minute in a wondrous setting with the snow-capped Mount Taranaki as an imposing backdrop.

The fans were in full voice after the first of Scott Williams’ three tries, Wales scoring 12 tries in all, nine of them in the second half and three in a total of 21 points when Namibia were down to 14 men after prop Raoul Larson was yellow carded for persistent infringing.

It was comfortably Wales’ biggest win in the World Cup, though it fell short of their all time record when they scored 102 points in a World Cup qualifier against Portugal.

But apart from the second part of the first half, when Wales failed to score for 24 minutes, coach Warren Gatland was pretty pleased with the performance.

He wanted players to be challenged, he asked them to give him a selection headache for the Fiji game and beyond, and they obliged him.

Williams was the individual success with his try hat-trick in his first World Cup start as he showed considerable opportunism, one more than replacement George North who looked unstoppable as he swept through the Namibian defence in the second half.

Perhaps best of all, though, was the way three players with 230 caps between them came through after all had been on the injured list for some time but had still been taken to the World Cup.

Ryan and Stephen Jones and Gethin Jenkins were all making their first World Cup starts after being out with calf injuries, Jenkins after a toe operation as well, but they justified the gamble Gatland took in taking them to New Zealand.

Ryan Jones admitted after the game that he thought he was going home ten days ago as his problem persisted, but he played the whole match against Namibia, some of it in the unfamiliar position of openside after skipper Sam Warburton and Toby Faletau were both taken off in the second half.

At that stage Wales paraded a back row of Jones, Andy Powell and Alun Wyn Jones, normally a lock, a trio which will hardly operate as a unit again, but it showed the liberties Wales could afford to take with the group chopping blocks.

Stephen Jones also came through with flying colours after his calf problem, scoring 15 points from six conversions and a penalty as well as directing operations well enough.

That is just one of many selection issues for Gatland as he looks ahead, for his No 1 choice has been Jones’ heir apparent Rhys Priestland, who added three more conversions after he went on.

Prop Jenkins produced the second loudest cheer of the night, and had his non-playing teammates in the stand howling with delight, when he burst through and kept going for a rare try.

But the loudest cheer was reserved for Namibian lock Heinz Koll when he burst away, showing a remarkable turn of speed for a lock, for his side’s only try in the 52nd minute.

Other than that they had very little to offer and for the second time in four days they shipped over 80 points after their thrashing by South Africa, as they faced up to a ridiculous schedule.

But Wales still showed a ruthless edge as they went for the jugular in the second half, though it took a real rocket from attack coach Rob Howley in their dressing room during the interval when he told them they had to be more clinical.

They responded and ran amok in the second 40 minutes, scoring tries almost at will, four of them in the final ten minutes as Namibia completely ran out of steam.

One more player returning to the fray who impressed was full back Lee Byrne, though in his case it was more because of a loss of form rather than injury.

But he stormed back fielding the high ball with a rare certainty and though his touch kicking was occasionally awry he also ran well, especially for his second half try.

Faletau, Jon Davies, Alun Wyn Jones and replacement scrum half Lloyd Williams also got in on the try scoring act, Wyn Jones with the final move of the game to rub salt into Namiibia’s wounds.

Scrum half Eugene Jantjies sensationally accused some of their non-professional players of not giving their all after the game while coach Johan Diergaardt said they need to play more Tests, while pointing out that some of their players would be back at work next Thursday morning 12 hours after arriving home.

Such was the standard of opposition Wales faced yesterday. But they did what they had to, they rattled up a bonus point and despite a blip in the first half they laid done a pretty firm World Cup statement.