FNB Wanderers maintained their unbeaten record this season but had to pull out all the stops to beat Trustco United 47-24 in their annual derby match on Saturday.
Although the final result seems a bit one-sided it was not a true reflection of the game as United matched Wanderers throughout in a ferocious forward battle, with great defensive displays by both sides.
Wanderers collected maximum bonus points, scoring seven tries, with Danco Burger scoring two, and Adriaan Booysen, Sheron Rossouw, Edward Drotsky, Jurgen Meyer and Johnny Mwenyo one each. Mwenyo added four conversions for a personal tally of 13 points, while Denzo Bruwer, coming on as a second half substitute added two conversions.
United scored four tries through Christo Gresse (two), Thehard Lintvelt and Kamaa Kajau, while Enrique Husselmann added two conversions.
In a ferocious forward battle of big hits and crunching tackles, Wanderers took the lead when Adriaan Booysen crashed over for a converted try, but United came surging back and opened their account when Kajau
went over from a maul.
Wanderers stretched their lead when Sheron Rossouw finished off a lineout driving maul, but United once again struck back when Lintvelt crashed over from a maul and with Husselmann adding the conversion they were level at 12-12.
Wanderers came back with a vengeance, bashing away at United’s line, and despite some great defence, Unied finally wilted as Burger and Drotsky touched down to give Wanderers a 26-12 lead at the break.
Mwenyo stretched their lead to 33-12 when he rounded off a backline attack, but United came storming back with Gresse finally diving over in the corner after concerted pressure on Wanderers’ line and with Husselmann adding a great conversion from the touchline they were back in the hunt at 33-19 down.
With defensive gaps, however, starting to appear in the final quarter, Wanderers took their opportunities and further tries by Burger and Meyer completed a resounding win.
The victory left Wanderers at the top of the log on 34 points, now five points clear of FNB Kudus, while United are fourth on 18 points – just one ahead of FNB Unam.
Wanderers captain Jacques Theron said they had to dig deep for the win.
“Like we thought United really brought it to us today, so congrats to them, they really put up a great effort. We had to dig deep to win this one, but luckily the team could pull it through. I think they really fought for the whole 80 minutes, so I’m really proud of them,” he said.
“United came for us on attack and defence, they really brought everything to get this one through, so there was a lot of physicality and a lot of tackles, but that’s rugby and that’s why its fun,” he added.
United coach Robbie Dickson said they’ll take the lessons from their defeat as they prepare for their remaining matches.
“We struggled a bit in the second half with our set-pieces and they caught us on our defence a couple of times on the outside. It’s never nice losing a derby, but we’ll just go back to the drawing board and assess the game and see how we can improve for our game against Unam next week,” he said.
“I am still confident that we can reach the semis, but we can’t lose from here on – we’ve got Unam next weekend and then Dolphins away, so we need to take the points there,” he added.
FNB Unam, meanwhile, are also firmly in the hunt for a semifinal spot after beating FNB Rehoboth 43-28 at the Unam field. The result puts them fifth on the log on 17 points, just one behind United, while Rehoboth are seventh on 11 points.
FNB Kudus remain second on 29 points after beating Reho Falcon 38-8 at Rehoboth, while FNB Grootfontein remain third on 21 points after beating FNB Dolphins 40-13 at Swakopmund.
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