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NAMIBIA started their European rugby tour on a losing note after going down 34-15 to Spain in Madrid on Saturday.

Namibia initially provided stiff opposition, and after trailing 12-8 at half time were still in the game when they trailed 15-13 with 20 minutes to go, but indiscipline, coupled by some yellow cards saw Spain pulling away to complete a comfortable win.

Spain took an early lead when their hooker barged over for a converted try from a line-out maul, but Namibia struck back when fullback Cliven Loubser dotted down after a counter-attack.

Spain went 12-7 ahead with their prop dotting down after another forward maul, but Loubser reduced the deficit to 12-8 with a penalty shortly before half time.

Spain went 15-8 ahead through a penalty early in the second half, but Namibia struck back with a great rolling maul try with lock Johan Retief dotting down to reduce the deficit to 15-13.

That’s the closest they got though as Spain pulled away with three more tries in the final quarter, when several Namibian players were sin-binned for indiscipline.

Namibian coach Allister Coetzee said they had learnt a lot of lessons.

“It was a proper test match and I have to give credit to Spain, for the way they performed. They are really an experienced side and they are not 16th in the world rankings for nothing, so there were a lot of lessons that we learnt from the match,” he said.

“I think the biggest one was discipline – we conceded 19 penalties and in the process four yellow cards which didn’t help at all. We had one for a tip-tackle, one for collapsing the maul, one for a slap down in the tackle and one for repeated infringements and most of the second half we had to play with 13 or 14 men,” he added.

“But on a positive side we were behind by only two points up until the final quarter, when we got yellow carded and that is where Spain really got hold of the game late in the second half. It was actually a good experience for us and the players have to learn from this how crucial discipline is and how much pressure it puts the team under to concede a yellow card,” he said.

“Having said that, I’m really pleased with our performance, it’s a big step up from last weekend’s game against the Griquas, our set-pieces were really good, we scrummed well and our line-outs were much better. Our line-out mauls were really good – we scored a try from one maul and I think we could have been rewarded more for the maul pressure that we put on the Spanish,” he added.

Coetzee said they will now start preparing for their final test match against Canada in Amsterdam next Saturday, but added that the team will be without several players due to injuries.

They are Janco Venter (knee), Danco Burger (knee) and Ruan Ludick (elbow), while Divan Rossouw is still recovering from concussion and might not be available.

Coetzee, however, said they were optimistic of finishing the tour on a high.

“I’m confident that we can field a team that will be very competitive against Canada – we would like to end the tour on a high note and at least come back with a win under the belt,” he said.

“The spirit in the group is really good and we are looking forward to the next game. In the bigger picture of things this is really putting building blocks in place going forward,” he added.