Africa-Press – Namibia. TWO unfancied clubs Grootfontein and Kudus went to the top of the Namibian Rugby Premier League log after both recorded their second victories over the weekend.
Grootfontein travelled to Rehoboth where they collected maximum bonus points after scoring eight tries in a 48-16 victory against Reho Falcon.
Fullback Irongwa Alshivudhi scored two tries, while wings Luis Weto and Ian Malan, centre Louis Grobbelaar, scrumhalf Willem Enslin, eighthman Johannes Luttig and hooker Wikus Jacobs scored one each, with flyhalf Ronald Deck adding four conversions.
It was Grootfontein’s second successive victory after they beat United last weekend and they now lead the log on 11 points.
Kudus follow in second place, three points behind after pulling off a surprise 20-5 victory against Unam at Walvis Bay, after leading 8-0 at half time.
Kudus scored three tries through left wing Aston Mukwiilongo, flanker Tertius Arangies and substitute back Rayton Paulse, while Mukwiilongo added a penalty and fullback Lloyd Jacobs a conversion.
For Unam, left wing Shareave Titus scored a solitary try.
Western Suburbs, meanwhile, got back to winning ways with an impressive 38-15 victory against United at Suburbs Park.
Suburbs, who lost 37-25 to Unam in the first round, outscored United by five tries to two, with their dynamic scrumhalf AJ Kearns scoring a hattrick of tries.
The two sides were evenly matched up front, but Suburbs’ quick backline and opportunistic play saw them winning the match with ease, while United contributed to their own downfall with numerous handling errors and wrong options.
Suburbs scored several tries from quick counterattacks, with Kearns running the length of the field for one of them when Suburbs counterattacked from behind their own try line.
Besides Kearns, flanker Dhale Cloete and left wing Gino Wilson scored one each.
Flyhalf Bronwyn Willemse added nine points with the boot and substitute back Justin Nel four points.
For United, substitute wing Doctor Andreas scored two tries, while flyhalf Chris Arries scored a conversion and a penalty.
Suburbs coach Lorenzo Kloppers said their game plan had worked out.
“We set some targets for this game after losing to Unam and I think we reached those targets. Our main target was to speed up the game and I’m very happy that we managed to outscore them by five tries to two,” he said.
“Our game plan was to launch quick counterattacks, because we have very fast wings, so we need to play fast around the rucks to get them into the game and we did that today. I’m so happy with this performance because it shows that we managed to sort out all the problems that we had against Unam last week,” he added.
Kloppers also had a word of praise for Kearns although he believes he can do even better.
“I’m so happy with AJ, he showed me today that his fitness and strength is at a good level – I still think there is room for improvement, but we will work on that.”
Despite the defeat, United coach Robbie Dickson wasn’t too worried about the result.
“I think we could have had a better first half, we were put under a lot of pressure especially on our defence on the outside, but it’s just first time tackling thats lacking, it’s a squad that’s building so I’m not stressed. It’s still early in the season and I’ve got a very young squad, but obviously the fitness is not where its supposed to be, so we will work hard on our structures and Im full of confidence that we will bounce back from this,” he said.
Dickson also welcomed the return of former Welwitschias flyhalf Chris Arries who has come out of retirement to join United this season.
“Chris is awesome, he’s a gentleman and he’s a real flyhalf and he must play rugby, if he doesn’t play rugby he does himself a lot of harm. He’s a good kicker, he reads the game well, he’s a good leader, he’s everything that you want in a flyhalf so I’m very happy that he’s with us,” he said.
The match between Wanderers and Rehoboth was postponed, after a Rehoboth player, Cameron McNab passed away on Friday night in a motor car accident.
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