Clinical finishing hands Kavaliers the win

Namibians stuck in seventh position
Opportunistic counter-attacking allowed the Western Cape team to score from periods when the Namibians had the early ascendancy.
Andrew Poolman
  • 10 Months Ago
A significant amount of solid build-up work went unrewarded as the Windhoek Draught Welwitschias failed to capitalise and eventually went down by an unflattering scoreline of 38-17 to the Boland Kavaliers in Windhoek on Saturday.

Only one more home match remains for the Namibians in the 2023 Mzansi Challenge, as they will aim to achieve their first win against a South African side when the Eastern Province Elephants visit the Hage Geingob Stadium.

The Boland has not been beaten by any Namibian side since the latter’s independence in 1990. By half-time on Saturday, the visitor had already managed to attain a 24-10 lead, which put the pressure squarely on the home side.

“We are the number-one team on the log, but at times it felt like we were playing the number-two team in the competition. If you guys keep going this way, you will be making life tough for a lot of teams,” Boland flank and captain Thurlow March said post-match.



Scintillating run

The Western Cape team was first on the board after just one minute with a lineout maul try by hooker Emile Booysen, which fly-half Darian Hock converted.

His counterpart Danco Burger pulled the Welwitschias back with a penalty, but he then kicked a ball directly into touch from a pass into his 22-area, handing Boland the platform to create right wing Dylan Maart’s first try after several phases of attack to left and right (14-3).

Welwitschias full-back Gerswin Mouton continued his recent try-scoring form, breaking through on a scintillating run from a clever inside pass by flank Max Katjijeko for a try, which Burger converted.

However, the 14-10 difference was as good as it got for the Namibians, as a Hock penalty was followed by an opportunist long-distance try for full-back Cameron Hufke, after the Welwitschias had applied phase pressure in their 22-area for quite a while before vitally losing possession.



Disaster struck

Another disaster struck five minutes after half-time, as Mouton attempted a counter-attack from deep, but his kick was charged down by number-eight Peter-John Smit, who gathered and fed the speedy Maart for his second try (31-10).

Hock rounded off a smartly-taken individual break past Johan Luttig to score the 38-10 try after 52 minutes, which Hufke converted.

Two minutes later, Burger produced a linebreak off a wayward Boland kick to send left wing JC Greyling through for the latest of his Mzansi Challenge tries, which also included two against the Simbas and one against the San Clemente Rhinos.

In typical fashion, Boland resolutely defended their line with 14 men for eight minutes following a yellow card to centre Lunathi Nxele for a deliberate knock-down.

The result moves the Kavaliers (31 from eight matches) to the top of the log, while the Welwitschias (12 points) remain seventh of the 10 teams.