THE Welwitschias were completely outplayed as they slumped to a 96-5 defeat against the South Western Districts Eagles in Windhoek on Saturday.
By halftime the visitors were already leading 47-5 before they eventually ran in a total of 14 tries to complete an overwhelming victory.
SWD flyhalf Ozart du Toit led the way with three tries, which won him the man of the match award, while left wing Daniel Roberts scored two and full back Jacquin Jansen scored one and added seven conversions for a personal total of 19 points.
The other try scorers were eighthman Thorleif Halvorsen, lock Lodewyk Uys, hooker Kurt Haupt, flanker Johannes Stander, centre Wilneth Engelbrecht, prop Layle Delo, and substitute forwards Christo du Plessis and Andy Ntsila.
Substitute backs Thomas Kean and Johannes Graaff added four and two conversions, respectively.
The Eagles opened the scoring after only two minutes, when eighthman Thorleif Halvorsen crashed over from a pushover try, while fullback Jacquin Jansen added the conversion.
The Welwitschias immediately struck back with a try by centre Leslie Klim after a fine break by wing Silvano Beukes, but any hopes of a revival were dashed as the visitors went into overdrive.
The Eagles launched wave after wave of attacks and although the Welwitschias held them at bay for a while, it was only a matter of time before the Eagles went further ahead.
Lock Lodewyk Uys went over from an intercept pass, and when wing Daniel Roberts rounded off a spectacular counterattack launched by Du Toit from close to their own tryline they were 21-5 up.
The Welwitschias’ cause was not helped when captain Francois Wiese was replaced by Mahco Prinsloo, while prop Hauta Veii was sin binned for foul play.
The Eagles capitalised and tries by Kurt Haupt, Johannes Stander and two by the influential Du Toit gave them a commanding 47-5 lead at halftime.
Full back Joaquin Jansen rounded off a great team try early in the second half, but the Welwitschias showed more commitment and gave a better defensive display.
They managed to keep the Eagles at bay till the final quarter, but then the dam wall broke as visitors attacked from all angles and ran in six more tries.
After the match, Welwitschias captain Quintin Esterhuizen admitted that it was not a good performance.
“We didn’t bring our A game to the match and we have a lot of things to work on. We’ve lost a lot of guys to the national side that’s playing in the Nations Cup in Romania, so there is a bit of a vacuum, but we are working and building for the future so we will get there,” he said.
The Eagles captain and man of the match Ozart du Toit said it was a team effort.
“We started well and then there was a bit of a dip, but we picked up the pace and finished well. I’m happy to win the player of the match award, but the guys play for each other so it was a team effort,” he said.
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