Rugby World UK – August 2019

Front Row

I

T’S STARTLING what little
things you take away from
a hefty loss. Some clam up.
Some seethe. Some scheme.
But after representing
Namibia on the wrong side of a record
defeat in the World Cup, losing 142-0 to
the Wallabies in Adelaide in 2003, Kees
Lensing learnt to turn the radio off.
“To this day, if I hear Thunderstruck
by AC/DC, I hate it,” says the former
loosehead, who coached the forwards
for Rugby United New York in MLR last
season. “It’s nothing against the band,
but that was the last song the boys
played as we got off the bus for that
game. Every time I hear the song now

I think ‘s***!’ A lot of kids think ‘Oh, that

song will get me up and going’ but for

me it has a totally different meaning.”

To this day he will only open up about

the record result if someone asks for his

thoughts, saying: “I’m not going to go to

a barbecue and start talking about it.”

He remembers much of the game vividly

but understandably tries not to relive

what was a brutal experience.

Even now, building towards the 2019

World Cup in Japan, Namibia are one of

A cricket score

The scoreboard at

the Adelaide Oval

Namibian Kees Lensing recalls a record loss in 2003

Words Alan Dymock// Pictures Getty Images

WHAT IT’S LIKE TO...

LOSE 142-0 AT

A WORLD CUP

Downbeat

Namibia after

conceding again