Cavaliers down Welwitschias to go top

The Boland Cavaliers beat the Windhoek Draught Welwitschias 38-17 after a great defensive effort at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Saturday. 

The Welwitschias threw everything into the attack in the final quarter of the match, but the visitors defended courageously to seal a well-deserved victory, which puts them on top of the log for the first time this season. 

The Cavaliers now lead the log on 31 points, ahead of SWD Eagles on 30 and the Valke on 26, while the Welwitschias remain third from bottom on 12 points. 

On Saturday, the Welwitschias were competitive throughout, but several movements went astray due to poor finishing, while the Cavaliers pounced on the Welwitschias’ mistakes, converting turnovers into points to keep the scoreboard ticking. 

Their hooker, Emile Booysen already scored the first try after barely two minutes, and although Welwitschias flyhalf Danco Burger reduced the deficit with a penalty, the visitors went 14-3 ahead when right wing Dylan Maart broke through two tackles to score a try behind the posts. 

Welwitschias’ exciting fullback Gershwin Mouton brought the crowd to its feet with a great try when he cut trough the backline to dot down behind the posts, but Boland flyhalf Darian Hock soon added a penalty and when fullback Cameron Hufke turned on the pace to score behind the posts, they took a healthy 24-10 lead at the halftime break.

The second half started like the first, with the Welwitschias on the attack, but Boland pouncing onto an error, with Maart tearing away for his second try, and when Hock dummied his way through the defence for a converted try they were well ahead at 38-10. 

The Welwitschias came back strongly and after a geat break by Danco Burger, JC Greyling finally went over in the left hand corner and with Burger adding the conversion they reduced the deficit to 38-17 with 25 minutes to go. 

The Welwitschias started to camp in Boland’s half as they threw everything into attack in the final quarter, but they could not find a way past the visitors’ tigerish defence as the Cavaliers held on for the win. 

Conceding soft tries

Welwitschias’ defence coach Allister Coetzee said they gave away too many soft tries. 

“It was a really entertaining match, but something that has been a bit of a negative for us the whole season is that we don’t get off to a good start, and we once again started off with a soft try that we gave to the opposition. In this instance, we knocked on from the kickoff and you know, it’s difficult to catch up if you are 7-0 down after barely two minutes into the game,” he said. 

“But the score doesn’t reflect what happened here today. I’m really proud of the players and I’m really proud of a team that trains once a week and then comes out and performs like this today, showing physicality and dominance,” he added. 

Coetzee said it was a big learning curve for the team. 

“If you look at the flow of the game, we’ve been attacking well, but we lack patience. We lost the ball three times on their try line and Boland go and score on the other side – we spoke about turnovers the whole week, and they are good on the counter-attack, so they punished us. So this is really a learning curve for our boys, it’s different to club rugby where you can make a mistake but you can fix it again,” he said. 

“It’s just a pity that after dominating territory, we couldnt get over the line in the final quarter, but it’s really a big improvement. This Boland side has been together for some time, its their second or third year in the Mzansi Cup, while it’s only our first year and if we continue to make such big strides, I’m sure the Welwitschias will be a highly competitive team next year,” he added. 

Coetzee said competition for places for the international season ahead is now hotting up. 

“I’m happy with the game-understanding which has improved so much and a lot of the players in the Mzanzi squad are now really contesting for positions for the Nations Cup and also the World Cup squad. We have 26 players outside the borders of Namibia and they will be joining the team as from the 26th of June for our first training camp, while our second training camp is from the 10th of July,” he said. 

“I’m proud to see a team that never gives up – that’s something you can’t coach – you either lie down and fade, but this team didn’t lie down and fade today,” he added.