The University of Namibia (UNAM) Rugby Club were left to rue a controversial call two minutes from time as they lost 32-27 away to Wanderers in round 13 of the 2022 Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) Premier League Season on Saturday.

The students thought they had scored a winning try after substitute winger Johannes Mwenyo brilliantly anticipated a bad pass by Jacques Theron from his try line, ran the full length of the field and scored a try, only for the lineman to call for offside against UNAM and instead award a penalty for Wanderers.

The match officials, who were below par throughout the afternoon, missed numerous off-the-ball incidents and made several bad calls, which at one point seemed to irritate a section of fans at the game.

As for the match itself, the two teams produced top-quality rugby as Wanderers went to the break leading 21-15 having scored and converted three tries, while UNAM scored two, converted one and added a penalty.

In the second half, Wanderers scored a try which they failed to convert before adding a penalty to take their points tally to 29, while UNAM added two more tries and converted one to move to 27 after Wanderers had Nian Berg sin-binned.

Controversy then ensured, with Wanderers coach Rohan Kitshoff saying he had feared for the worst after UNAM scored the disallowed try.

“This is the beauty of rugby, sometimes these calls are against you, sometimes they are for you. Today the call was for us, and I am happy, I think it was the right call. There is still all to play for in the last match of the season,” Kitshoff said.

UNAM coach David Philander said his side was unlucky to lose controversially.

“We also do not want to win matches through last-minute play, we want to win confidently and convincingly. It was an action-packed game and we will go back to the drawing board for our next game,” he said.

Meanwhile, Grootfontein provided the upset of the weekend as they beat Kudus 29-19 at home.

Kudus’ defeat sees them drop to position two on the log behind new leaders Wanderers, while UNAM remains in third place.

Western Suburbs drew with Rehoboth 22-all to maintain their fourth and fifth place respectively.

The sixth place belongs to Grootfontein following their win over Kudus, while is at seventh after picking up their second victory of the season by beating bottom of the log Reho Falcon by 35-26 points in Rehoboth.

Source: The Namibian Press Agency