A long walk to Ongos Valley 7s title 

The Witz Barbarians team from South Africa had to walk across the border into Namibia, but they finally walked away with the main prize at the Ongos Valley Sevens tournament on Saturday. 

The Witz Barbarians, from the Boland community of Witzenberg, beat Wanderers 14-12 in the final on Saturday night to win the final leg of the Ongos Sevens series, but it was quite a struggle just to get into Namibia. 

Interviewed after the match, one of their players Curtley Cedras said they  took a 18-hour trip from the Cape to reach Namibia, while they had to cross the border on foot after experiencing some permit issues.

“We left at 22h00 on Wednesday night on a bus trip and drove to the border. 

But our driver didnt have a cross border permit so we had to get people from Namibia to come pick us up at the Namibian border. Our driver dropped us at the SA border and we had to walk all the way with our baggage to the Namibian border post, so to win this tournament after that is just a great moment for us,” he said. 

“Its a big moment for us, it’s the first time that we’ve come out of South Africa, and it was a long trip coming here. We put a lot of effort into this and worked hard behind the scenes, from the beginning of the year already to have this moment and its a privilege to be here,” he added. 

“It means a lot for us and it means a lot for the people back home as well so we just want to make everyone proud. We said that when we come here it will be us and us a alone so we have to back each other all the time and thats what we did,” he said. 

The captain of their team Nathan van Wyk said it was a tough trip. 

“We came by bus and it was the travelling was tough, 18 hours on a bus is not easy. It was also very hot up here but we are the Witz Barbarians, we dont give up, we fight right through till the end.”

John Heynes CEO of the Namibia Rugby Union said he didnt know about the incident. 

“This is the first that I’ve heard aboput it. It’s very unfortunate and I dont wish that for any team, but they did their own arrangements and we had nothing to do with it,” he said. 

The final was a tight affair with the Baabaas taking a 7-0 lead but Wanderers equalising and then going 12-7 ahead in the second half. The Witz team, however, had the final say with a converted try in the last minute to clinch the trophy as well as the winners prize of N$25 000, while Wanderers received N$18 500. 

FNB Grootfontein received N$15 000 for finishing third after beating FNB Kudus 33-22 in the bronze medal match, while Kudus received N$12 500.

FNB Wanderers, however had some consolation as their women’s team received N$10 000 after beating FNB Rehoboth 10-0, while the latter received N$7 500. 

Abed Erastus of Ongos was very satisfied with the tournament. 

“From Ongos’ point of view it was a very successful tournament – we had two South African teams taking part and one of them won the title. We had a lot of players out here playing Sevens rugby, and it was the culmination of three weekends – the first weekend we were in Luderitz, and then in Swakopmund, and now the final leg is here in Windhoek, so we are very happy with how it turned out, and we would just like to congratulate Witz Barbarians for taking the title for Ongos Valley Sevens Champions 2025,” he said. 

“This partnership with the Namibia Rugby Union is a five-year partnership, and this was only the second year of it, so hopefully next year will be bigger and better and we will try and get more international teams to invite, hopefully a team from Zimbabwe and one from Uganda,” he added.

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