“I was very happy with our defence,” O’Sullivan said. “It went very well today. We scrummaged better and stopped their rolling maul, which were the two parts of the game that we needed to improve from last week. I feel happy with the way we finished, although Uruguay made us work for it.
“It’s tough to hit the ground running after not being together since July, and although we qualified, which was our ultimate goal, they were a little rusty early on. I can’t be too hard on them, though, they got the job done and you can’t forget that we scored eight tries in the last two games.”
Namibia then became the fourth team to confirm their place at New Zealand 2011. Tunisia stood between them and a World Cup place but over two legs the Welwitschias proved the stronger and emerged 40-23 aggregate winners.
A tight 18-13 triumph for Namibia in Tunis in the first leg left the outcome hanging in the balance, but a fortnight later they proved too strong for their visitors as they battled their way to a crucial 22-10 victory in Windhoek.
Tunisia began the encounter the more confident looking side and scored the first try through wing Abbes Kherfani, while Namibia had to rely on the boot of fly half Emile Wessels to keep them in contention.
The critical score for the hosts, however, came on the hour when number 8 Tinus du Plessis crashed over in the Hage Geingob Rugby Stadium, and when the final whistle sounded, the Welwitschias were through and could look forward to a match with defending champions South Africa in Pool D.
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