United back in the hunt 

An injury time try by Ben Burger gave Trustco United a dramatic 43-36 victory against FNB Kudus on Saturday to throw the Namibia Rugby Premier League title race wide open.

FNB Grootfontein, meanwhile, recorded their third successive victory with a hard fought 37-32 win against FNB Wanderers to go to the top of the log, while FNB Dolphins beat FNB Rehoboth 56-14 and Reho Falcon beat FNB Western Suburbs 38-29.

At the Trustco United ground in Olympia, United and defending champions Kudus dished up a thriller that went down to the wire.

Kudus came out attacking, and their early pressure was rewarded when flanker Alexander Jansen crashed over from a maul, while flyhalf Denzo Bruwer added the conversion and a penalty to put them 10-0 ahead.

Kudus, however, suffered a blow when hooker Jarren Koning was sin-binned for a foul, and United opened their account when Burger stormed through a few tackles to dive over for his first try.

United maintained the momentum, launching some expansive backline attacks, with fullback Jurgen Meyer prominent, and tries by Elzandro van Wyk and Hanreco van Zyl putting them 19-10 ahead at the half-time break.

Kudus struck back early in the second half with a try by Koning, but United wing Sammy Soobramoney rounded off a great counterattack to dive over behind the posts to put United 26-17 ahead.

Fortunes continued to sway to and fro as Justin Newman touched down for Kudus but an intercept try by United’s livewire flanker, Thehard Lintvelt, put United 36-22 ahead.

Kudus made a great comeback with tries by Ray-Shawn Shoombe and Aston Mukwiilongo to draw level at 36-all, and were bashing away at United’s line when Burger pounced onto a loose ball and ran the length of the field to score the winning try.

It was a great performance by United, with their forwards matching Kudus in the setpieces, while their backline created havoc with their opportunistic attacks.

The win put United level with Wanderers and Dolphins on 12 points, while Grootfontein now lead the log on 15 points after their 37-22 victory against Wanderers.

In a close encounter, both teams scored four tries, but Grootfontein centre Franklin Busch was the difference, converting all four and adding three penalties and a try for a personal tally of 22 points.

Their other try scorers were Justin Pollmann, Pieter-Daniel Kok and Wicus Jacobs.

For Wanderers, Tareekuje Tjipute, Jonathan Hanekom, Ruan Ludick and Wiks Tromp scored tries, while the latter added 12 points with the boot.

Dolphins, meanwhile, bounced back from their 87-19 drubbing by Wanderers last week with a commanding 56-14 victory against Rehoboth.

They scored nine tries through Richard Kasimbu (two), Zaino van Wyk, Antonio Titus, Jerome Immanuel, Ronaldo Diergaardt, Demashu Maya, Vijanda Tjikotche and Naftali Ndakolo, while Van Wyk added two conversions and a penalty, and Luciano Geingob two conversions.

Reho Falcon got their first win of the campaign, beating Western Suburbs 36-29 at home.

Falcons scored five tries through Keynen Basson (two), Cliven Loubser, JP van Wyk and Xio Saulse, while Casey Beukes added 13 points with the boot.

Suburbs scored five tries through Morgan Esterhuizen, Jamal Fisch, Delano van Wyk, Billa Kaverua and Wyatte Brooks, who added two conversions.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.