No stopping Unam in season opener

Andrew Poolman – The local rugby season for 2022 was kicked off in style as the FNB University of Namibia (Unam) first team won the Trustco United 10-a-side tournament in Olympia on Saturday, beating FNB Wanderers 35-7 in the final.

Playing a gruelling fourth match for the afternoon proved too much for Wanderers against the slick student side led by centre Alcino Izaacs, who showed great early-season conditioning, having already won their opening match against FNB Western Suburbs the previous evening.

With an uneven seven entries in the premier division, Unam also had to play one more pool match than Wanderers on their way to winning the title.

Unam led 14-0 by halftime thanks to tries by Lesley Klim, who had powerfully bumped off Warren Ludwig close to the goalline before industrious loose forward Peter Diergaardt crashed over despite being held by a number of tacklers.

Ludwig redeemed himself with a try after chasing down a kick ahead by André van der Berg, which the former Windhoek High School and Pukke flyhalf converted.

Powerful loose forward Oderich Mouton crashed over for try number three before agile fullback Lorenzo Louis danced away from the tiring defence to score the next one.

FITNESS, OPPORTUNISM AND RESILIENCE

In the dying seconds of the 20th minute of the final, Unam’s fifth try exemplified their fitness, opportunism and resilience as scrumhalf Aljearreau Zaahl took a quick tap-penalty on his own 22-line and set off on a run. He found inside support from Gilad Plaatjies and Berry Gande, both tackled by the last Wanderers defenders, before Louis could jog through unchallenged.

Zaahl converted every Unam try in the final as the students lifted the inaugural Winmar Rust United 10-a-side trophy following the exciting two-day tournament sponsored by Castle Lite.

Wanderers and Unam earlier won their respective semi-finals against FNB Grootfontein (24-10) and host team United (21-0).

OTHER DIVISIONS

Meanwhile, Wanderers’ second team came back from a 0-7 deficit to clinch the reserve final against Unam II.

Wing Quinn Malander put Unam ahead before a Wanderers forward scored a converted try just before the final whistle to force a sudden-death extra time.

Flyhalf Johan Zaayman came up with a line break and sent wing Patrick Karsten away on the winning run, which resulted in a penalty try when he was impeded.

The Wanderers women’s team won their final 17-0 against Unam, walking away with the N$7 500 prize money. Try scorers for the winners were Pauline Joel, Shanaaz de Wee and Waemy Haindongo, with one conversion by Ida Visagie.