Unam back on track

FNB Unam got their Rugby Premier League campaign back on track with a 31-18 victory against Reho Falcons on Saturday, to revive their hopes of reaching the knock-out stages of the competition.

There were also wins for FNB Kudus, FNB Western Suburbs and FNB Rehoboth as the battle for semifinal spots intensifies. 

At the HTS field Unam received stiff resistance from Falcons, but eventually ran out comfortable winners, scoring five tries to zero. 

In a scrappy first half, Ashton van Wyk put Falcons 6-0 ahead with two penalties, but Unam opened their account when Don Juan Beukes broke blind from a scrum to race clear, and with Aljarreau Zaal adding the conversion they went 7-6 ahead. 

Falcons were penalised with Mike Eliaser and Zaino van Wyk both receiving yellow cards for foul play, but they defended courageously and regained the lead through another Van Wyk penalty early in the second half. 

Unam upped the tempo after the break and went ahead after tries by fullback Davitho van Wyk and winger Quirione Majiedt, but Ashton van Wyk kept Falcons in touch with his booming boot and with 10 minutes to go the result was still wide open with Unam leading 19-15. 

Unam, however, pulled away with two more tries by Cameron Klassen and Rowan Jansen in the final minutes to run out comfortable winners. The result put Unam right back in the title race in fifth place on the log on 12 points – four behind Grootfontein, but with a game in hand. 

Unam captain Jansen was not very happy with their performance. 

“It was a very rough start to the game – the first half was just stop and start all the time, there were a lot of knock-ons, a lot of scrums and lineouts, and lots of disciplinary issues from both teams that had to be sorted out,” he said. 

“It really spoiled the quality of the game from both teams – we have to improve on that and it could have been a very good game if everyone was just a bit more disciplined. But in the second half my team came through strongly and we finished the game off well,” he added.

Jansen said they need to improve a lot if they hope to make an impact this season. 

“We’ve had a rough start to the season and we have a lot of things to sort out in our camp. So far we have three losses and two wins, so we have a long way to go and we have to improve on that,” he said. 

Kudus, meanwhile, moved to within four points of log leaders FNB Wanderers with a hard-fought 33-27 away win against FNB Grootfontein. 

Irongwa Atshivudhi scored a hattrick of tries, and Rayshawn Shoombe and Tonderai Ndudzo one try each, while Kyle Wentzel added three conversions and Shoombe one. 

For Grootfontein, captain Wicus Jacobs scored three tries, all converted by Uroel Marais, who also added two penalties. 

The result leaves Kudus second on 24 points, while Grootfontein remain fourth on 16. 

Trustco United remain third on the log on 17 points, despite suffering a 38-28 defeat way to Rehoboth, who are now seventh on 11 points. 

Manfred Garoeb scored a hattrick of tries for Rehoboth and Miquel Busch and Keynnen Basson one each, while Franklin Busch converted all five and added a penalty for a personal tally of 13 points.

United scored four tries through Enrique Husselmann, JD Nel, Christo Gresse and Elzandro van Wyk, while Ricardo Swartz added four conversions. 

Suburbs moved up to sixth position on 11 points after beating Dolphins 45-19 at Swakopmund. 

Suburbs scored seven tries through Dhale Cloete (2), Bentinhu Benjamin, Delano van Wyk, Marcell Gariseb, Richard Mupewa and Digo Ashipala, while Nazume Swartz added four conversions.

Dolphins scored three tries through Walter Johr, Cameron Marcus and Jerome Schumann, with Zaino van Wyk converting two. 

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