Kudus win Ongos Sevens title 

Kudus won the third and final leg of the Ongos Valley Sevens tournament after beating United 24-17 in the final on Saturday. 

It marked a fine comeback by the coastal side after they had earlier lost 21-19 to United in the group stages, but in the final they rose to the occasion to take the title after scoring three tries to two. 

Kudus recovered from their opening defeat to United go on a winning streak, with victories against Grootfontein (33-17), Unam (28-19) and Dolphin (38-12), before beating Rehoboth 19-10 in the semifinals.

For United it was a cruel blow after they had won all their previous matches. Besides their 21-19 win against Kudus, they also beat Dolphin 38-0, Grootfontein 19-7 and Unam 24-19, before beating Wanderers 19-15 in the semifinals. 

Kudus’ coach Chad Plato said it was a great statement for Kudus and Namibian rugby in general. 

“No one thought we would be here, no one thought that we would be champions, but we are here and we are the champions. I think this is a good statement for Namibian rugby – it’s not just rugby in the capital, we should look at the coast and in the north, the south and the east to get this country’s rugby onto the next level,” he said. 

“Our team doesnt have training facilities or gym factilities, we have nothing compared to these giants in Windhoek, but if you give these boys an opportunity, a platform to express themselves, look what they can do, they can become champions,” he added.

Plato thanked Ongos for their investment in sevens rugby. 

“I’d like to thank Ongos for sponsoring this event. We need more sponsors like Ongos Valley to invest money into our rugby fraternity so that we can host more of these events, to get more boys to play rugby, to get more boys off the street and create an opportunity, where we can make a business out of our game,” he said. 

A total of 12 teams throughout Namibia competed in the third leg of the inaugural Ongos Valley Sevens Tournament at Windhoek after the previous two legs were held in Keetmanshoop and at Swakopmund. 

There were also two women’s sevens matches, with Unam Steenbokkies taking the title in emphaticstyle after beating Wanderers Bokkies 36-0 and United Gemsbokkies 26-0.

Reagan Graig, the chairman of Ongos Valley Development said they are commited to the tournament in the long term. 

“This is the first sevens rugby tournament we’ve had in a long time, the last one was about 15 years ago, so from my perspective as a corporate that’s investing into sport, I think this was a success. We are committed to this, we are long term investors, and I think that next year we want to grow this even bigger.

“We had 12 teams that participated and I know to manage something like this takes a lot, so I think the Namibia Rugby Union can pat themselves on the back for a magnificent tournament,” he said.