THE Welwitschias completed their SuperSport Rugby Challenge campaign with another dismal performance, going down 56-12 to the Valke at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Saturday.
The visitors raced into a 32-0 lead at the half time break and although the Welwitschias showed greater resolve in the second half, they were never in the contest.
The Valke already opened their account with a try in the fourth minute and eventually ran in 10 tries with left wing Rodney Damons and flanker Thabo Mabuza scoring three each.
If Valke fly half Jan Truter had his kicking boots on they could have won by a much bigger margin, but he only managed to put over one conversion, while replacement back Anrich Richter put over two.
The Welwitschias replied with two tries through hooker Gerhard Thirion and centre Milaan van Wyk.
Mabuza opened the scoring when he barged over from a line-out maul, while fullback Juandre Nel went over after fly half Truter broke right through the Welwitschias defence.
Damons opened his account on 17 minutes when he caught a cross kick by Truter to go over in the corner, and 10 minutes later he scored his second, after a fine counterattack by fullback Nel.
Valke kept up the pressure and flanker Jan Venter bashed over, while Damons completed his hat-trick just before half time.
Mabuza went over for his second try after a driving maul early in the second half, but the Welwitschias finally opened their account when hooker Gerhard Thirion went over from a line-out maul.
Five minutes later though, Mabuza completed his hat-trick, and when right wing Coert Cronje went over for a converted try after a flowing backline attack, the Valke went 49-5 ahead.
Welwitschias centre Milaan van Wyk gave the few spectators present something to cheer about when he battled his way over for a try with six minutes to go, but the Valke had the final say when fullback Nel scored his second try off the last move of the match.
For the Valke, Mabuza and Damons stood out, with the latter winning the man of the match award, while Ruan Ludick gave a battling performance in a losing pack for the Welwitschias.
On the whole though, it was a poor effort by the home side, with too many opportunities wasted by poor handling errors and options, while the Valke ran holes through their porous defence.
The result sees the Welwitschias finishing bottom of the log with zero points and a minus 353 point aggregate after losing all seven their matches.
The Namibia Premier League, meanwhile, continued with two club matches on Saturday.
United remained at the top of the log after a hard fought 29-19 victory against Kudus at Walvis Bay.
Left wing Felix Humphries scored two tries and centre Michael Hummel and fly half Hanrico van Zyl one each, while captain Winmar Rust added three conversions and a penalty.
The result sees United pulling six points ahead of Wanderers at the top of the log on 27 points, although Wanderers have a match in hand.
Rehoboth, meanwhile, collected maximum bonus points and moved up to fourth position on the log on 18 points after beating Reho Falcon 39-19 in the Rehoboth derby.
Rehoboth scored seven tries with flanker Titus Mathias and left wing Romeo Visagie scoring two each, and eighthman Johan Wohler, right wing Julian Afrikaner and fullback Xavier van Wyk one try each.
Wanderers (21), Unam (19), Rehoboth (18) and Western Suburbs (16) are now all closely packed in the title race, but Kudus (10) will need to pick up some victories if they want to remain in contention.
