EXETER, England -- Namibia scored three tries in a Rugby World Cup game for the first time but its wait for a maiden victory at the tournament goes on after losing 35-21 to Tonga in an entertaining Pool C match on Tuesday.

Lively winger Telusa Veainu and roaming flanker Jack Ram scored two tries each for the Tongans, who ran in five in total as they bounced back from a 17-10 loss to Georgia in their opening pool game.

A Namibian side containing many amateur players held its own, though, with captain Jacques Burger scoring two second-half tries from the base of driving mauls to push the Africans past their previous best single-match haul of two tries.

Late pressure almost brought them a first-ever bonus point at a World Cup, but Tonga held firm at another maul as Burger eyed up a hat trick of tries. The defeat took Namibia's tournament-record run of consecutive losses to 17.

"We are growing slowly," Burger said, "but we haven't got a lot of time left here."

Watched by countryman and former sprint star Frankie Fredericks, Namibia couldn't handle Tonga in the scrum and missed too many tackles, but was threatening in the loose as Sandy Park -- the southern-most venue at the World Cup -- was treated to a fast-and-loose contest.

"We didn't play with our brain and let them back in the game," said Tonga No. 8 Viliami Ma'afu, one of the team's two co-captains for the match. "We showcased our skills but made a lot of mistakes."

The Tongans got caught up in an arm-wrestle against Georgia, but gave the ball some air 10 days on. And in Veainu, they had the most dangerous runner on the field.

The former New Zealand Under-20 international notched the first points by carving through a gap on halfway, slaloming past two Namibians and shrugging through a tackle to ground on the line.

Veainu dived spectacularly for a one-handed finish in the right corner in injury time that was ruled out because his other hand was in touch, and was instrumental in the 45th-minute bonus-point try scored by Ram after a counter-attacking run from deep.

Veainu then garnished his performance with a second try -- and Tonga's fifth -- from Ram's miss-pass.

Not a bad display from a player who discovered he was starting only on the morning of the match after a hamstring injury struck down Fetu'u Vainikolo.

Latiume Fosita was the other try-scorer for Tonga, which scored its highest amount of points in a single World Cup game -- beating 31 from a 2011 match against Japan.

Johan Tromp's try from a smart offload from lock Tjiuee Uanivi was all the Namibians had to show from the first half, but they fed off Tonga's mistakes and captain Burger's unremitting workrate in the second half.

Fredericks waved the Namibian flag proudly after Burger's second try, in the 67th, that made the score 32-21.

Kurt Morath came off the bench, took over kicking duties from the mostly off-target Vungakoto Lilo, and booted a penalty in the 74th that pushed Tonga too far clear. It also made him Tonga's all-time leading scorer.