Oranjemund and Vipers will contest the Namibia Rugby First Division final after winning two tough semifinal encounters at the Hage Geingob National Rugby Stadium on Saturday.
Vipers from Windhoek made a great comeback to beat Keetmanshoop Rams 28-24, while Oranjemund had to repel a late onslaught before beating Oceans 26-19.
In the first semifinal, Vipers opened the scoring with a try by eighthman Gaston Swartz but the Rams stormed back with tries by centre Heino Keister and a penalty try to go 12-10 ahead.
Vipers regained the lead with a penalty by Keanan Jansen but a try by flanker David Sakeus, converted by Marc Sauls put the Rams up 19-13 at halftime.
The Vipers, however, upped their game in the second half with their captain and flanker Klasie Mostert giving an inspirational performance. He scored two successive tries and with Jansen converting one and Duncan Subeb adding a penalty they went 28-19 ahead, before Vincenzo Gawaseb scored a late consolation try for the Rams.
Captain Mostert said they had to dig deep for the win.
“It was a tough match – the team had to fight back in the second half and I think we did well. Our discipline let us down today but I think the boys pulled it together in the end. Our half time talk was quite harsh, our coaches had a lot to say and our discipline wasn’t good, so we had to dig deep to get over the advantage line,” he said.
“Reaching the final is a big achievement for us seeing that we had quite a revamp at Vipers with a brand new management this year. The aim was to get to the final and we are there now, but we definitely need to step up a gear from today’s display,” he added.
In the second semi, a storming display by Oranjemund seemed to be heading for a comfortable victory after a storming display by their eighthman Keanan Beukes.
Displaying power, speed and great supportive play, he scored their opening three tries and with Ronald Solomons converting all three they took a 21-0 lead at the halftime break.
Oceans opened their account with a try by Quentos Damens but Oranjemund went 26-5 ahead when flyhalf Theodore Steenkamp cut through the defence to dot down.
Oceans made a fine comeback with tries by Kwenu Daniels and Denzel Sitambi to narrow the deficit to 26-19 but it was not enough as Oranjemund held on for victory.
Oranjemund captain Gino Wilson said it was a tough battle.
“It was really tough, especially towards the end, you could see they tried to come back, but fortunately for us we managed to score most of our points in the first half, so it was tough for them to come back. But well done to Oceans, they really showed a good fight and character until the last minute, but I’m very proud of my boys that we could keep them out till the end,” he said.
“It doesn’t matter who we face in the final – all we have to do is work on ourselves and back ourselves and see where we can improve. We must take the positives and work on the negatives, and just try and improve ourselves for the final, which will be another cracker,” he added.
