Africa-Press – Namibia. FNB Wanderers and FNB Unam are through to the Namibia Rugby Premier League final after two pulsating semifinals on Saturday that both went down to the wire.
FNB Wanderers and FNB Unam are through to the Namibia Rugby Premier League final after two pulsating semifinals on Saturday that both went down to the wire.
In Windhoek, Wanderers were always in the lead, but had to withstand a strong challenge from FNB Rehoboth before sneaking through 31-29, while in Walvis Bay, Unam had to come from behind to beat FNB Kudus 23-18.
At the Wanderers field both sides delivered a thriller with the opposing flyhalves Andre van der Berg and Cliven Loubser both playing starring roles.
Rehoboth came out firing, but Wanderers withstood the early pressure and took the lead when hooker Obert Nortje crashed over from a driving maul.
Van der Berg and Rehoboth scrumhalf Miguel Busch exchanged penalties, but Wanderers took a commanding 15-3 lead when Van der Berg cut through the backline to dot down and convert.
Not to be outdone, Loubser struck back with a great try, breaking through two tackles to dive over extravagantly and when he added a penalty from the half way line shortly after, Rehoboth were right back in the game, with a mere 15-13 deficit at halftime.
Wanderers started the second half in the ascendancy, and two more Van der Berg penalties put them 21-13 ahead, but Rehoboth refused to give up as they clawed their way back into the game, with two Busch penalties making the score 21-19.
Wanderers’ pressure, however, started to tell and they took a decisive 31-22 lead with two tries in four minutes.
First centre Nico Maartens completed a backline attack, going over in the right hand corner, and then scrumhalf Jacques Theron went over after a forward maul to the line.
Once again Rehoboth struck back as Loubser went over for his second try after incessant pressure, and with Busch adding a great conversion from the touchline, Rehoboth were right back in it with a 31-29 deficit with five minutes to go.
Wanderers’ defence, however, stood firm in the closing stages to complete a memorable win and book a place in the final in two weeks time, on 3 September.
Wanderers scrumhalf Jacque Theron said it was a great match.
“I think that’s how a semifinal should be – hard and tight rugby, and it never looked like one side would take the game away. I just need to say well done to the guys for hanging in for 80 minutes to win the game, they did awesome today.”
“Rehoboth also did very well, every time we scored points they immediately answered with their own, so we need to take our hats off to Rehoboth. They played an awesome game today, but I think our bench made the difference, and as soon as they came on with fresh legs you could see the difference they brought in,” he said.
Theron said he was excited and confident about winning the final.
“We are extremely excited to be in the final – there are two weeks of recovery and hard work still, but I think the preparation has been done this entire year, so I’m backing our guys to win the final in two weeks time.”
Wanderers will meet Unam in the final after they beat Kudus 23-18 in the other semifinal at the Jan Wilkens Stadium in Walvis Bay.
Unam did the early attacking and built up a 13-0 lead after a try by eigththman Oderich Mouton and two penalties by winger Aljarreau Zaahl.
Kudus, however, opened their account when eighthman Joshua Jacobs crashed over from a scrum to make the half time score 13-5.
Another try by captain Cameron Langenhoven converted by Rayton Paulse reduce the deficit to one point at 13-12, and when Paulse succeeded with a penalty Kudus took the lead for the first time at 15-13.
Penalties by Zaahl and Chad Plato took the score to 18-16 but Unam struck back with a great converted try by flyhalf Delron Brandt to win the match in injury time.
In Windhoek, Wanderers were always in the lead, but had to withstand a strong challenge from FNB Rehoboth before sneaking through 31-29, while in Walvis Bay, Unam had to come from behind to beat FNB Kudus 23-18.
At the Wanderers field both sides delivered a thriller with the opposing flyhalves Andre van der Berg and Cliven Loubser both playing starring roles.
Rehoboth came out firing, but Wanderers withstood the early pressure and took the lead when hooker Obert Nortje crashed over from a driving maul.
Van der Berg and Rehoboth scrumhalf Miguel Busch exchanged penalties, but Wanderers took a commanding 15-3 lead when Van der Berg cut through the backline to dot down and convert.
Not to be outdone, Loubser struck back with a great try, breaking through two tackles to dive over extravagantly and when he added a penalty from the half way line shortly after, Rehoboth were right back in the game, with a mere 15-13 deficit at halftime.
Wanderers started the second half in the ascendancy, and two more Van der Berg penalties put them 21-13 ahead, but Rehoboth refused to give up as they clawed their way back into the game, with two Busch penalties making the score 21-19.
Wanderers’ pressure, however, started to tell and they took a decisive 31-22 lead with two tries in four minutes.
First centre Nico Maartens completed a backline attack, going over in the right hand corner, and then scrumhalf Jacques Theron went over after a forward maul to the line.
Once again Rehoboth struck back as Loubser went over for his second try after incessant pressure, and with Busch adding a great conversion from the touchline, Rehoboth were right back in it with a 31-29 deficit with five minutes to go.
Wanderers’ defence, however, stood firm in the closing stages to complete a memorable win and book a place in the final in two weeks time, on 3 September.
Wanderers scrumhalf Jacque Theron said it was a great match.
“I think that’s how a semifinal should be – hard and tight rugby, and it never looked like one side would take the game away. I just need to say well done to the guys for hanging in for 80 minutes to win the game, they did awesome today.”
“Rehoboth also did very well, every time we scored points they immediately answered with their own, so we need to take our hats off to Rehoboth. They played an awesome game today, but I think our bench made the difference, and as soon as they came on with fresh legs you could see the difference they brought in,” he said.
Theron said he was excited and confident about winning the final.
“We are extremely excited to be in the final – there are two weeks of recovery and hard work still, but I think the preparation has been done this entire year, so I’m backing our guys to win the final in two weeks time.”
Wanderers will meet Unam in the final after they beat Kudus 23-18 in the other semifinal at the Jan Wilkens Stadium in Walvis Bay.
Unam did the early attacking and built up a 13-0 lead after a try by eigththman Oderich Mouton and two penalties by winger Aljarreau Zaahl.
Kudus, however, opened their account when eighthman Joshua Jacobs crashed over from a scrum to make the half time score 13-5.
Another try by captain Cameron Langenhoven converted by Rayton Paulse reduce the deficit to one point at 13-12, and when Paulse succeeded with a penalty Kudus took the lead for the first time at 15-13.
Penalties by Zaahl and Chad Plato took the score to 18-16 but Unam struck back with a great converted try by flyhalf Delron Brandt to win the match in injury time.
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