University of Namibia’s (Unam) men and Wanderers Women Rugby teams won the season-opening Rugby United 10’s aside tournament that took place on Friday and Saturday at Trusco United Park.
In the men’s Premier League competition, Unam outclassed Wanderers 35-07 to emerge champions after outclassing Trusco United 19-0 in the semi-finals.
Wanderers had overcome Grootfontein 24-10 in the other semi-final to book their place in the final.
In the men’s reserve league, Unam 2 and Wanderers 2 played an exciting 7 all draw in regular time and Wanderers 2 triumphed via an extra-time shootout by scoring the all-important try to secure victory by 17-07.
In the women’s tournament, Wanderers Ladies thumped their Unam counterparts 17-0 in a one-sided final to emerge as champions.
Waemey Haindongo, Paulina Joel and Shanaaz De Wee scored a try apiece with Ida Visage converting once to lead their side to victory.
Wanderers Ladies coach Janice Beukes said all the women displayed top-class rugby throughout the weekend and she was very proud of her girls for winning the tournament.
“We need more consistency as we try and set a trend and build Women’s rugby. My girls played for each other and the club. We are now looking forward to the league starting. This year will be a different year for Women’s rugby,” she said after the final.
Meanwhile, newly appointed Unam head coach David Philander said he is happy with the progress being made by his team.
“We started building up momentum in the game before the semi-final and we just kept going from there, assuring ourselves that the final is where we want to be. The players are reacting positively to me. I have worked with some of these players in the sevens set up and at other clubs as well,” he said.
He added that he prefers to work with players on an individual basis rather than in a group, a situation that made it easy for him to improve the players individually.
A total of 21 teams participated in the tournament, with seven men’s premier league teams, eight men’s reserve league and six Women’s teams all divided into two pools. The top two teams from each pool qualified for the semi-finals, with the winners clashing in the finals.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
