Namibia’s 2026 Rugby Premier League champions will be crowned tomorrow when FNB Kudus take on FNB Wanderers in a repeat of last year’s final at Hage Geingob National Rugby Stadium.
Last year, Kudus made history by winning their first ever premier league title since Namibia’s independence, with an inspiring 50-32 victory against Wanderers.
This year, however, Wanderers bounced back with an impressive run in the league that saw them finishing well clear at the top of the log after winning 15 of their 16 league matches.
They also beat Kudus twice during the league, winning 36-21 at home on 4 July, and 22-12 at the coast on 12 September.
Kudus, by contrast, had a slower start, and for most of the season were lying fourth on the log, before they finished strongly to finish third.
In the semis they also upped their game with a 55-38 victory against Montego United after scoring three late tries.
Their backline was particularly impressive with fullback Lloyd Jacobs scoring four tries and flyhalf Kyle Wentzel two, but their forwards also gave a powerful performance in the set-pieces, while loose forwards Lezardo Vos and Ja-Tamson van der Berg were at the forefront with their committed defence and linkage play.
Despite losing both their league matches to Wanderers this year, Kudus pushed them all the way, while their forwards more than matched Wanderers in the tight exchanges.
After the disappointment of losing last year’s final, Wanderers have been clinical this year, performing like a well-oiled machine, as they ran up some record scores in the league.
They finished 13 points ahead of second-placed United at the end of the league phase, while they also scored the most points (843) and conceded the least (343).
They recorded some huge wins along the way, beating Western Suburbs 104-28, Reho Falcon 90-7, and Dolphins 87-19, while their average winning score per match was 52-21.
As usual, Wanderers’ success has been built around their powerful pack where players like Edward Drotsky, Kistings Minyoi, Dhale Cloete, Adriaan Booysen and Kyle Nel stood out, while their hard running backline has piled on the points with the likes of Tareekuje Tjipute, Jaylon Carew, Owen Hawanga and their crash tackling centre and captain, Danco Burger.
Wanderers coach Darryl de la Harpe says they had moved on from last year’s final defeat to Kudus.
“Yes, I think it did affect us, but I told the boys to take the positives from that defeat and build on that, which they did and I couldn’t be prouder of them. We went on to win three other trophies last year and most of the players are still in their early 20s, so I think they have big futures ahead of them,” he says.
De la Harpe says their preparation has been as normal as can be under the circumstances.
“To be honest with you, the guys are not overly stressed. We just went through our processes, and worked on our tactical awareness, and it was a really fun atmosphere this week. Obviously there is pressure, but we are used to that and they have handled it well all season. The guys are really looking forward to the match – I haven’t seen them so determined to win in a long time,” he says.
The Reserve League final will also see a repeat of last year when Kudus II beat Unam II 49-41 to win the title.
In the semi-finals a fortnight ago, Unam pipped Grootfontein 41-39 in a thriller, while Kudus beat Wanderers 40-26.
The women’s league final will also see a repeat of last year’s final when defending champions Unam take on Wanderers.
Last year Unam comfortably won the final 43-7, but Wanderers beat them 19-12 in the JSB Gold Cup final.
This year Unam beat Wanderers 34-15 in their first round match, but were pushed all the way in their second round match before winning 24-22.
