diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_parser.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_parser.ts
index 2f32a6e57e..af1fe27c08 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_parser.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_parser.ts
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ import {HtmlAst, HtmlAttrAst, HtmlTextAst, HtmlElementAst} from './html_ast';
 import {Injectable} from 'angular2/src/core/di';
 import {HtmlToken, HtmlTokenType, tokenizeHtml} from './html_lexer';
 import {ParseError, ParseLocation, ParseSourceSpan} from './parse_util';
-import {HtmlTagDefinition, getHtmlTagDefinition, getHtmlTagNamespacePrefix} from './html_tags';
+import {HtmlTagDefinition, getHtmlTagDefinition, getNsPrefix} from './html_tags';
 
 export class HtmlTreeError extends ParseError {
   static create(elementName: string, location: ParseLocation, msg: string): HtmlTreeError {
@@ -144,7 +144,7 @@ class TreeBuilder {
     if (this.peek.type === HtmlTokenType.TAG_OPEN_END_VOID) {
       this._advance();
       selfClosing = true;
-      if (getHtmlTagNamespacePrefix(fullName) == null && !getHtmlTagDefinition(fullName).isVoid) {
+      if (getNsPrefix(fullName) == null && !getHtmlTagDefinition(fullName).isVoid) {
         this.errors.push(HtmlTreeError.create(
             fullName, startTagToken.sourceSpan.start,
             `Only void and foreign elements can be self closed "${startTagToken.parts[1]}"`));
@@ -247,7 +247,7 @@ function getElementFullName(prefix: string, localName: string,
   if (isBlank(prefix)) {
     prefix = getHtmlTagDefinition(localName).implicitNamespacePrefix;
     if (isBlank(prefix) && isPresent(parentElement)) {
-      prefix = getHtmlTagNamespacePrefix(parentElement.name);
+      prefix = getNsPrefix(parentElement.name);
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_tags.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_tags.ts
index 6fc4f23fe5..d749cf3844 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_tags.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/html_tags.ts
@@ -409,7 +409,7 @@ export function getHtmlTagDefinition(tagName: string): HtmlTagDefinition {
 
 var NS_PREFIX_RE = /^@([^:]+):(.+)/g;
 
-export function splitHtmlTagNamespace(elementName: string): string[] {
+export function splitNsName(elementName: string): string[] {
   if (elementName[0] != '@') {
     return [null, elementName];
   }
@@ -417,6 +417,6 @@ export function splitHtmlTagNamespace(elementName: string): string[] {
   return [match[1], match[2]];
 }
 
-export function getHtmlTagNamespacePrefix(elementName: string): string {
-  return splitHtmlTagNamespace(elementName)[0];
+export function getNsPrefix(elementName: string): string {
+  return splitNsName(elementName)[0];
 }
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/schema/dom_element_schema_registry.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/schema/dom_element_schema_registry.ts
index 751e420a43..84a9230fe3 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/schema/dom_element_schema_registry.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/schema/dom_element_schema_registry.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import {Injectable} from 'angular2/src/core/di';
 import {isPresent, isBlank, CONST_EXPR} from 'angular2/src/facade/lang';
 import {StringMapWrapper} from 'angular2/src/facade/collection';
 import {DOM} from 'angular2/src/platform/dom/dom_adapter';
-import {splitHtmlTagNamespace} from 'angular2/src/compiler/html_tags';
+import {splitNsName} from 'angular2/src/compiler/html_tags';
 
 import {ElementSchemaRegistry} from './element_schema_registry';
 
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ export class DomElementSchemaRegistry extends ElementSchemaRegistry {
   private _getProtoElement(tagName: string): Element {
     var element = this._protoElements.get(tagName);
     if (isBlank(element)) {
-      var nsAndName = splitHtmlTagNamespace(tagName);
+      var nsAndName = splitNsName(tagName);
       element = isPresent(nsAndName[0]) ?
                     DOM.createElementNS(NAMESPACE_URIS[nsAndName[0]], nsAndName[1]) :
                     DOM.createElement(nsAndName[1]);
diff --git a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts
index dbb26076c7..32a69f58b1 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/src/compiler/template_parser.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ import {Parser, AST, ASTWithSource} from 'angular2/src/core/change_detection/cha
 import {TemplateBinding} from 'angular2/src/core/change_detection/parser/ast';
 import {CompileDirectiveMetadata} from './directive_metadata';
 import {HtmlParser} from './html_parser';
-import {splitHtmlTagNamespace} from './html_tags';
+import {splitNsName} from './html_tags';
 import {ParseSourceSpan, ParseError, ParseLocation} from './parse_util';
 
 
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ class TemplateParseVisitor implements HtmlAstVisitor {
       }
     });
 
-    var lcElName = splitHtmlTagNamespace(nodeName.toLowerCase())[1];
+    var lcElName = splitNsName(nodeName.toLowerCase())[1];
     var isTemplateElement = lcElName == TEMPLATE_ELEMENT;
     var elementCssSelector = createElementCssSelector(nodeName, matchableAttrs);
     var directives = this._createDirectiveAsts(
@@ -687,13 +687,17 @@ class Component {
 
 function createElementCssSelector(elementName: string, matchableAttrs: string[][]): CssSelector {
   var cssSelector = new CssSelector();
+  let elNameNoNs = splitNsName(elementName)[1];
+
+  cssSelector.setElement(elNameNoNs);
 
-  cssSelector.setElement(elementName);
   for (var i = 0; i < matchableAttrs.length; i++) {
-    var attrName = matchableAttrs[i][0];
-    var attrValue = matchableAttrs[i][1];
-    cssSelector.addAttribute(attrName, attrValue);
-    if (attrName == CLASS_ATTR) {
+    let attrName = matchableAttrs[i][0];
+    let attrNameNoNs = splitNsName(attrName)[1];
+    let attrValue = matchableAttrs[i][1];
+
+    cssSelector.addAttribute(attrNameNoNs, attrValue);
+    if (attrName.toLowerCase() == CLASS_ATTR) {
       var classes = splitClasses(attrValue);
       classes.forEach(className => cssSelector.addClassName(className));
     }
diff --git a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_parser_spec.ts b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_parser_spec.ts
index 2d6b54b434..21916aacc1 100644
--- a/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_parser_spec.ts
+++ b/modules/angular2/test/compiler/template_parser_spec.ts
@@ -908,6 +908,24 @@ Property binding a not used by any directive on an embedded template ("[ERROR ->
             ]);
       });
 
+      it('should support directive in namespace', () => {
+        var tagSel = CompileDirectiveMetadata.create(
+            {selector: 'circle', type: new CompileTypeMetadata({name: 'elDir'})});
+        var attrSel = CompileDirectiveMetadata.create(
+            {selector: '[href]', type: new CompileTypeMetadata({name: 'attrDir'})});
+
+        expect(humanizeTplAstSourceSpans(
+                   parse('<svg><circle /><use xlink:href="Port" /></svg>', [tagSel, attrSel])))
+            .toEqual([
+              [ElementAst, '@svg:svg', '<svg>'],
+              [ElementAst, '@svg:circle', '<circle />'],
+              [DirectiveAst, tagSel, '<circle />'],
+              [ElementAst, '@svg:use', '<use xlink:href="Port" />'],
+              [AttrAst, '@xlink:href', 'Port', 'xlink:href="Port"'],
+              [DirectiveAst, attrSel, '<use xlink:href="Port" />'],
+            ]);
+      });
+
       it('should support directive property', () => {
         var dirA = CompileDirectiveMetadata.create(
             {selector: 'div', type: new CompileTypeMetadata({name: 'DirA'}), inputs: ['aProp']});