UNAM beat Western Suburbs 31-29 in a thrilling Premier League rugby match at Suburbs Park on Saturday.
Unam seemed to be cruising to a comfortable victory when they led 17-3 at halftime, but Suburbs launched a great comeback to take a 29-24 lead with seven minutes to go.Unam however struck back with a try in the closing stages by replacement back John Boois to draw level at 29-all before fullback Marque Bezuidenhout put the conversion over to give them a narrow victory.Unam started like a house on fire and took a first minute lead when right wing John Drotsky followed up a kick ahead to touch down behind the posts, with Marque Bezuidenhout converting.Suburbs centre Charlton Brussel and Bezuidenhout traded penalties before Unam went further ahead through a great try by centre Mbimbo Mbai, which saw the ball going through at least eight passes in the backline before Mbai crashed over. The reliable Bezuidenhout added the conversion to put Unam 17-3 ahead at halftime.Suburbs immediately struck back in the second half, pinning Unam on their tryline, before left wing Sergio de la Harpe went over in the corner after catching Unam napping from a quick throw in.Barely two minutes later, the speedy De la Harpe set up their next try when he cut through Unam’s backline and passed to prop Lloyd Busch who dived over behind the posts. TC Losper added the conversion to reduce the deficit to only 17-15.Mbai went over for his second try from a 5m scrum and with Bezuidenhout adding the conversion Unam had taken a 24-15 lead, but once again Suburbs struck back.Replacement back Eathan van Rooi touched down after following up a grubber kick by Roger Thompson, with Losper adding the conversion and then Suburbs took the lead for the first time when Vaughan Petersen went over from a driving maul. With Losper adding the conversion Suburbs were leading 29-24.But Unam had the final say as Renaud van Neel won a 5m lineout and John Boois went over close to the posts. Bezuidenhout added the conversion to give them a 31-29 victory.In Rehoboth, Reho Falcon maintained their unbeaten run this season when they beat neighbours Rehoboth 24-21 in a close encounter.The victory saw Falcons stretching their lead at the top of the log to 10 points, ahead of United, who thrashed Wanderers 57-15 at Wanderers’ home ground in Pionierspark.Mariental gave a great display of running rugby as they thrashed Kudus 67-0 in Mariental.Reho Falcon now lead the log with 40 points, followed by United on 30, Mariental and Rehoboth on 29, Western Suburbs on 18, Unam on 17, Kudus on 13 and Wanderers on 2. – namibiasport.com.na
