WITH the race for the knockout stages of the Rugby Premier League intensifying, United, Kudus and Western Suburbs all obtained crucial victories over the weekend to strengthen their positions.
United beat Rehoboth 29-24 in Windhoek, Suburbs thrashed Reho Falcon 66-33 in Rehoboth, and Kudus beat Wanderers 34-11 in Walvis Bay.
With Unam way ahead on the log and already through to the semifinals, Wanderers, United, Suburbs and Kudus are now all within five points of each other and in a tight battle for the remaining three semifinal spots.
At Trustco United Park, flanker Niel van Vuuren scored a hat-trick of tries as United beat a fired-up Rehoboth.
United took the lead through two converted tries by Van Vuuren and a penalty by Winmar Rust, but Rehoboth stuck back through a converted try by flanker Johann Wohler and a penalty by Howard Titus to narrow the gap to 17-10 at halftime.
Rehoboth came out firing after the break and took a 24-17 lead after two converted tries by wings Xavier van Wyk and Julian Afrikaner.
United, however, made a fine comeback and a try by flanker Morne Blom drew them level at 24-24, before Van Vuuren capped a fine performance with his third try to secure the victory for United.
“Rehoboth came to win and it was a tough, but a clean match. We gave several youngsters from our second team a run to give them more experience and I think we underestimated Rehoboth a bit,” United manager Karel Olvier said.
The result gave United’s chances a boost as they now join second-placed Wanderers on 35 points, although United only have one match remaining, compared to the two of their rivals.
Wanderers, meanwhile, slipped up to a 34-11 defeat against Kudus in Walvis Bay.
Kudus got a bonus point after scoring four tries, with centre Lloyd Jacobs scoring a brace and fly half Ivo Croza and eighthman Anthony Jevu one each, while fullback Aurelio Plato added four penalties and a conversion.
The result puts Kudus in fifth place on 30 points and with two games in hand they are still in the run for a semifinals place.
Western Suburbs also made full use of their chances against the bottom-placed Reho Falcon, with an emphatic 66-33 victory in Rehoboth.
Suburbs scored 10 tries, with lock Uno Katjioungua and centre Nikin Cloete scoring two each, and Ryan Garoeb, Japhet Tjindo, Ricardo Swartz, Dumarche Hartung, Fidel Micolleney and Justin Nel scoring one each.
For Reho Falcon, prop Roland Renton scored two tries, and centres Diego Loubser and Armando Dentlinger, and wing Anthony January one try each.
Suburbs now move up to fourth position on 33 points, and with two matches in hand, their chances are also good of reaching the knockout stages.
At this stage it looks like United will have the toughest run-in, because they only have one match remaining, and with that being away to the log leaders Unam, the odds will be stacked against them.
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