Windhoek Gymnasium moved up to second place on the Momentum Schools Under-19 Rugby log after grinding out a 38-27 victory against Windhoek High School (WHS) on Wednesday night.
In a great battle between the traditional arch-rivals at WHS’ Vegkop Stadium, the momentum swung back and forth, with Windhoek Gym (WG) holding a narrow two-point lead at the break, before finishing stronger to run out worthy winners.
WG came firing out of the blocks and took the lead after barely two minutes when eighthman Marnu Schrader intercepted the ball and ran half the length of the field to touch down.
WHS centre Ignatius Kandowa narrowed the deficit to two points with a penalty, but WG soon stretched their lead to 12-3 when flanker Janco Greeff crashed over from a lineout maul, with flyhalf Farenzel Cloete adding the conversion.
After constant pressure on WG’s line, WHS struck back with a try by flanker Lee-Jay Armstrong, but WG went 17-10 ahead when Greeff finished off another lineout maul.
WHS narrowed the gap to 17-15 when fullback Kaku Kuzatjike rounded off a swift backline attack, and although WG went further ahead with Schrader’s second try from a scrum, WHS immediately struck back with a converted try by Kandowa and with WG holding a narrow 24-22 half-time lead, it was still anyone’s game.
WG’s forward pressure, however, started to take its toll in the second half as they gradually wore WHS down and further tries by flanker Angelo Novella and prop Dirk Badenhorst, both converted by Cloete, sealed their victory.
The win saw WG moving up to second position on the log on 57 points from seven matches – seven behind the leaders Windhoek Afrikaanse Privaatskool (WAP), who have played one more match.
WHS are struggling at the wrong end of the table, now in eighth position on 37 points, although they have a match in hand on WG and two on WAP.
Defending champions Moria Private School are third on the log on 52 points from seven matches, followed by Roots Gymnasium and Elnatan, who are both on 46 points from seven matches.
In matches tomorrow, Dr Lemmer host Roots Gymnasium, Tsumeb Gimnasium host Elnatan, WAP host Karstveld, and WHS host Walvis Bay Private School.
