Rugby league action returns
The Namibia Rugby Premier League (NRPL) kicked off on Saturday with exciting matches after a year of no action due to the Covid-19 pandemic that brought the domestic game to a standstill.
In fixtures this weekend, Wanderers played Western Suburbs at the Hage Geingob Stadium while Rehoboth travelled to Walvis Bay to face Kudus in their league openers. League defending champions Wanderers started their campaign on a positive note beating Khomasdal-based Suburbs with a 24-12 scoreline while Kudus lost at home to Rehoboth 25-13.
To register their first victory of the 2021 season, Bernadus Hugo, Driaan Vorster and Jan Wessel Meyer scored three tries for Wanderers while Jacques Theron converted twice from the spot and Renier Benade took the other conversion as well a penalty for the defending champions.
Suburbs only managed to score two tries through Morgan Esterhuizen and Ricardo Swartz while Justin Nel converted once from the spot. In Walvis Bay, Rehoboth scored four tries but only managed to convert once from the spot. Their tries were scored by Dylan Farmer, Cameron McNab, Ascher Coetzee and Brandon Dentlinger while Henrique Olivier converted once and Xavier van Wyk scored a penalty.
The home team Kudus only scored one try through Lorenco Calaca which Aurello Plato converted. Plato also scored two penalties for them. Speaking to Nampa after the game, Wanderers coach Rohan Kitshoff said the game was tough as players lacked match fitness.
“We are satisfied with the score but I am not happy with the performance because the players were not involved in active rugby for a long time which showed that match fitness levels is something we have to work on going forward with our games,” he said.
He added that their goals for this year are to compete well and get all their new players in the right frame of mind as well as improve their development since their team registered a number of young players for this season.