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Home / Suburbs stumble in Gold Cup opener … Don satisfied with level of commitment
Suburbs stumble in Gold Cup opener … Don satisfied with level of commitment
2017-09-11Staff Report 2 Strauss Lunyangwe Windhoek-Khomasdal rugby giants Western Suburbs faced a fire of baptism when Namibia’s reprentatives in the South African Provincial Club Championships, the Gold Cup, met the visiting South African Go Nutz College Rovers at Suburbs Park in Windhoek on Saturday. The hosts found themselves trailing by 19 points in the opening stages of the match and further down the line, as they could only manage a paltry three points on the scoreboard going into the change-over (3-21). The visitors dominated the match from the word go – opening their assault via a penalty kick followed by two tries, while Suburbs could only respond with a well taken penalty kick by outside-centre Justine Nel. After the resumption, a much more determined Suburbs finally came to the party – visiting the whitewash with 10 minutes gone in the second half, courtesy of a pair of tries by fast-as-lightning winger Gino Wilson, which were duly converted by Nel to narrow the deficit. However, their effort was not enough, as the South Africans upped their game and proved too strong for the Namibian amateurs, as the tie ended 46-17 in favour of the visitors, who scored four tries and a pair of conversions. Depsite the defeat, Suburbs technical director Walter Don – a former national senior rugby team head coach and former Federation Rugby player, as well as South West Africa (SWA) scrumhalf – said the defeat was a wake-up call and that they were playing against the best club in Kwazulu-Natal. “We just need to increase our tempo and the overall rhythm of play if we are to improve our game, but I think we can be a force to be reckoned with.” Suburbs will next weekend confront Boland in their next Gold Cup assignment in South Africa and believe they are capable of registering a victory, since Boland’s playing style suits them. Don said his team is in the competition not just to participate but to try and win every game that comes their way. Suburbs’ playing personnel comprises of players occupying day-jobs, who only train after working-hours, but Don still believes the team is on track, despite the advantage of their counterparts who are playing on a professional basis. Rovers coach Derek Heiberg was delighted to manufacture a victory away from home, as it gives them a much-needed boost going forward in the competition. He added that his team still needs to concentrate a lot more on their fitness level to progress well into the competition. The Gold Cup is a domestic competition for clubs South Africa, but Namibia and Zimbabwe have been thrown a lifeline to participate in the prestigious provincial club championships. Suburbs qualified by virtue of finishing runners-up in the highly competitive Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) Premier League in the just ended campaign. Undisputed Namibian champions Unam RC, who won the coveted league title three times in succesion, are deemed ineligible to participate in the tourney, as the competition does not make provision for university teams. 2017-09-11Staff Report 2
