Namibia began their defence of the Africa Cup that they won in Madagascar last year with a 22-14 victory against Tunisia in Nabeul.
Shorn of overseas-based stars such as English Premiership-based duo Jacques Burger and Chrysander Botha, Namibia will be looking to take another step forward when they play in the World Rugby Nations Cup over the next two weeks.
The Welwitschias did have five French-based players available and two of them combined for the first score, fly-half Theuns Kotze putting number eight JP van Lill away for a try after only four minutes.
When wing David Philander raced away for an intercept try five minutes later, converted by Kotze, it looked as if Namibia would get their three-week tour to Tunisia and Romania off to a flying start.
However, a malfunctioning lineout stymied their ability to turn pressure into further points, and it was Tunisia who scored next through tight-head Auoadi Chahir. Fly-half Chamss Kalifa failed to add the conversion but was successful with a penalty to leave the hosts trailing Namibia 12-8 at the break.
Surprise lead
Two more Kalifa penalties handed Tunisia a surprise 14-12 lead early in the second half, before the Welwitschias hit back with a three-pointer from Kotze and a second try from Philander.
Namibia’s pre-RWC 2015 preparations continue in Bucharest where they will play the Argentina Jaguars, Romania and Spain in the World Rugby Nations Cup from 12-21 June.
While Namibia’s error-strewn victory over Tunisia had no effect on their World Rugby Ranking of 22nd, for Tunisia it caused a three-place fall from 36th to 39th after the loss of 0.46 of a ranking point.
Guam leapfrog Denmark, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Austria in the rankings to move up to 79th place after a 17-6 win over Indonesia in Asia Rugby Championship 2015 Division 3 East earned them 0.81 of a ranking point. Indonesia fall one place to 92nd with Finland the beneficiaries.
