WHS and Gymnasium settle for draw
Schools rugby
Champions Windhoek Gymnasium overcame a controversial early red card and fought back from a 24-10 deficit.
Hage Geingob Stadium was packed on Saturday as the Standard Bank Namibia Secondary School Rugby (NSSR) league season for 2023 concluded with the finals.The main match saw defending champions Schoemans Group Windhoek Gymnasium I take on the ambitious and adventurous Samsung Windhoek High School I.
WHS started strongly as they went into halftime leading 24-15. It certainly didn’t look good for Gymnasium at the time, as scrumhalf Denver Beukes was issued a second yellow card and was sent off halfway through the first half.
Beukes’ first offence was tackling WHS scrumhalf Dominique Isaaks after running about seven metres from a quick tap penalty. Shortly after returning from the sin bin, Beukes was controversially adjudged by referee Nicardo Pienaar to have interfered with WHS wing Alejandro Morkel following up on a kick bounce in Gymnasium’s in-goal area.
Gymnasium came out guns blazing in the second half as good plays off lineouts and driving mauls got them back into the game, while centre and vice-captain Stefan Gildenhuys scored a good solo try.
In what was a nail-biting game WHS left wing Jurgen Meyer capitalized on a wicked kick bounce in Gymnasium’s in-goal area and scored the final try. Centre Davito van Wyk’s conversion levelled the score at 34-34.
The WHS try scorers in the final were centre Sammy Soobramoney, prop Joshua Bester, wing Jurgen Meyer and a penalty try. Davito van Wyk added two penalties and four conversions.
Gymnasium replied with two tries each by Janneman Brand and flank Zack von Wielligh and one by centre Stefan Gildenhuys. Fly-half J.W. Visagie landed two penalties and two conversions.
In his post-match interview, WHS co-captain Luca Cindano said, “Very gutted to not come out as winners today. We gave it everything we could, discipline cost us at the end. Gymnasium really gave us a tough game, and I’m happy with how the team played.”
With how the rules are set up this means the trophy will be shared by the two teams, with each team to keep the trophy for six months.The gold medals were awarded to WHS after they won the coin toss.
Windhoek Gymnasium captain Janneman Brand said: “Playing with 14 players is a big challenge, especialluy against a team like WHS. We regrouped at halftime and we gave everything in the second half to win it. (The result) was not how we wanted it to end, as for some of us it’s our last rugby match in school. But we really made the most out of it.”
• In the U19 Super League bronze final on Friday, Autohaus Windhoek Affies flyhalf Van der Merwe Tromp went from hero to villain and back to hero as they won 20-17 against a determined PSG Pro-Ed Academy.
Tromp served ten minutes in the sin bin after giving away a penalty try that allowed Pro-Ed to level the score at 17-17. Tromp returned with barely two minutes left, to kick his third drop goal of the match, along with two penalties and a try by hooker Delano van der Berg.
Pro-Ed’s hooker Shaheem Kharuxab (try) and fly-half Maughan Jarman (conversion and penalty) were the other try scorers.