WESTERN Suburbs started their 2011 MTC Rugby Premier League campaign on a good note with a 33-16 win over their longtime rivals Unam at the Unam Stadium on Saturday.
The match started with Suburbs going on the attack but failing to get the ball over the line in the first few minutes of the match. They were however rewarded in the eighth minute when they were awarded a penalty which was converted by centre Charlton Brussel to put Suburbs 3-0 ahead.Two minutes later, flyhalf Rodney Coetzee followed suit by kicking a penalty for Unam to tie the score at 3-all.There were few scoring chances but Brussel scored three more penalties for Suburbs to bring the halftime score to 12-3 in Suburbs’ favour.With the first half having been characterised but poor judgement and handling errors by Unam, they came back into the second half launching a determined comeback.Flyhalf John Drotsky led the comeback with the first try of the match, which Coetzee failed to convert, but Unam were right back at 12-8 down.Suburbs however upped the tempo and three minutes later, wing Raymund Jossob broke away to score their first try which was converted by Brussel to put them 19-8 ahead.Coetzee succeeded with a penalty to keep Unam in touch at 19-11, but Suburbs once again stretched their lead when Brussel went over for a try, which was converted by scrumhalf Allonso Julius (26-11).Drotsky scored his second try for Unam after taking a quick tap penalty, which Coetzee once again failed to convert (26-16). Suburbs got the last try of the match when in the 70th minute, eighthman Brandon Walters scored and Brussel converted.In the other matches played on Saturday, defending champions Wanderers were comprehensively beaten 45-16 by United in their derby in Olympia. Coastal outfit, Kudus suffered a defeat at the hands of Mariental when they went down 27-19 to the team from the south.In Rehoboth, Reho Falcon beat rivals Rehoboth 44-26. – namibiasport.com.na
