Namibia Rugby Premier League outfit Wanderers went top of the Premier League log standings on Saturday after their 27-17 victory over Khomasdal-based outfit Western Suburbs.
Wanderers opened the scoring as early as the fourth minute through Warren Ludwig, and DJ Holtshauzen made no mistake with the conversion that saw them take a 7-0 lead. The home team Suburbs responded with a try of their own in the seventh minute through Dumarcho Hartung, and Bronwon Willemse converted to level the score at 7-7.
In the 19th minute, Suburbs were handed a penalty, which Willemse converted to give his team a three-point lead at 10-7. But their lead did not last long, as Wanderers were awarded a penalty in the 29th minute, which Holtshauzen scored to level the scores.
Just before the halftime break, Suburbs saw one of their players sent to the bin, and Wanderers immediately capitalised on that advantage in the 36th minute as Reben Botha ran in a try, which Bredell Wessels converted to extend their lead to 17-10 at halftime. Before the halftime break, Wanderers also saw one of their players sent to the bin, but Suburbs failed to capitalise on their one-man advantage as Sheron Rossouw served seven more minutes in the bin at the start of the second half.
With Rossouw back in the field of play, Wanderers were once again back to their scoring form as Nandivatu Karuuombe ran in two tries in a space of three minutes and Wessels failed to convert from any of the tries as Wanderers took a 17-point lead with the score standing at 27-10. As minutes ran down, Suburbs regrouped and ran in their second try of the match through Justin Nel, who found a gap after his teammates tussled with the Wanderers’ defence for over two minutes. Willemse once again converted to reduce the gap to 10 points, as the score stood at 27-17 for Wanderers.
In the dying minutes of the match, Wessels missed an opportunity to extend their lead after missing a penalty. The win puts Wanderers on top of the Premier League table with 53 points from 12 games, while Kudus are now second with 49 points and Trustco United, who thrashed Reho Falcon 45-19 on Saturday, are third with 44 points. Suburbs are fourth with 44 points, while Rehoboth occupies the top five positions with 31 points. – Nampa