Wales 81 - 7 Namibia: Harangued by Howley, Wales romp to record win

Wales continued their march towards the World Cup knockout phase in record-breaking fashion at Stadium Taranaki – but only after a verbal roasting from assistant coach Rob Howley.

Former Wales captain Howley vented his feelings at half-time following a sluggish opening 40 minutes against Pool D minnows Namibia. And it had the desired effect as Wales transformed a 22-0 interval advantage into an 81-7 victory, smashing their previous best World Cup win of 72-18 against Japan four years ago.

Wales also ran in 12 tries – another tournament-best – while 19-year-old wing George North became the youngest player to claim a World Cup touchdown. A quarter-final place will be confirmed if Wales see off Fiji in Hamilton next Sunday, setting them up for a potential Clash of the Celts against Ireland on 8 October. “We had to get a bonus point but we got a bit complacent,” Wales coach Warren Gatland said. “Rob [Howley] was quite ferocious at half-time and we were a lot more effective in the second-half.”

Wales full-back Lee Byrne, who claimed one of his team’s dozen tries, added: “The first-half wasn’t good enough, but we didn’t press any panic button like maybe we would have done at certain times in the past. Coming in 22 points up, we probably expected to have had more than that. It gave us a bit of a wake up in the second-half.”

Centre Scott Williams claimed a hat-trick on his full debut, while North scored twice and there were also tries for Byrne, Jonathan Davies, Aled Brew, Alun-Wyn Jones, Toby Faletau, Gethin Jenkins and Lloyd Williams. Fly-half Stephen Jones marked his record 101st cap with 15 points, while Rhys Priestland chipped in with three late conversions as Namibia bowed out with four successive defeats and 266 points conceded.

Scorers: Wales – Tries: S. Williams 3, Brew, Faletau, Jenkins, North 2, J. Davies, L. Williams, Byrne, A. Jones. Cons: S. Jones 6, Priestland 3. Pens: S. Jones. Namibia – Tries: Koll. Cons: Kotze.

Wales: Byrne, Halfpenny, J. Davies, S. Williams, Brew, S. Jones, Knoyle, Jenkins, Burns, Mitchell, B. Davies, A. Jones, R. Jones, Warburton, Faletau. Replacements: North for Brew (55), Priestland for S. Jones (63), L. Williams for Knoyle (58), Owens for Burns (61).

Namibia: Botha, D. van Wyk, van Zyl, D. de la Harpe, Dames, Kotze, Jantjies, Redelinghuys, Horn, du Toit, Koll, Esterhuyse, Du Plessis, Burger, Nieuwenhuis. Replacements: Philander for D. de la Harpe (32), Larson for Redelinghuys (21), O’Callaghan for Horn (64), Kitshoff for Du Plessis (71).

Referee: S Walsh (Aus)