THE Namibian Welwitschias squandered a 12-point lead to draw 20-20 against Border in their Vodacom Cup match on Saturday afternoon.
The Welwitschias seemed set to win their first match in this year’s campaign, when they took a 20-8 lead midway through the first half. But their defence let them down as they let in two tries in the final five minutes as Border tied the match with the last kick of the match.The Welwitschias’ forwards put in a great display and soon stamped their authority in the scrums and the lineouts, while their driving mauls had Border in all sorts of trouble.They took the lead from one of these driving mauls as flanker Tinus du Plessis burst over with flyhalf Chrysander Botha adding the conversion.Another penalty by Botha made it 10-0 but Border opened their account early in the second half through a try by centre Byron McGuigan.McGuigan and Botha traded penalties before a great try by David Philander, converted by Botha, but the Welwitschias 20-8 ahead.Border however staged a determined comeback and left wing Lonwabo Ntlama went over for a try with five minutes remaining.Border kept on pounding away at Namibia’s defence and McGuigan finally broke through to dot down in the left hand corner. McGuigan, who had been off target with most of his kicks, succeeded with the conversion to tie the score and give Border a share of the spoils.For Namibia, centre David Philander, made a great return after a long injury layoff. He combined well with Darryl de la Harpe, put in some darting runs and scored a great try when he cut through Border’s defence.Chrysander Botha is also growing in stature as a flyhalf and gave a fine all round display.But it was the forwards who made the biggest impact, with players like Tinus du Plessis, PJ van Lill, Raymond Dobson and Johnny Redelinghuys giving sterling performances.- namibiasport.com.na
