Traditional rivals FNB Wanderers and Trustco United qualified for the Rugby Premier League final after contrasting victories against FNB Rehoboth and FNB Kudus respectively at the Hage Geingob Stadium on Saturday.
United pipped Kudus 28-27 in a thriller that went down to the wire, while Wanderers ground out a more commanding 32-20 victory against FNB Rehoboth.
In the first semifinal, a brilliant performance by United flyhalf Hanreco van Zyl and an injury time penalty by fullback Renier Benade saw them taking the spoils in a riveting match that ebbed and flowed throughout.
United took the lead after Van Zyl’s first try, when he cut clean through the backline to score behind the posts.
Kudus came back strongly, opening their account through an Aurelio Plato penalty and then camping on United’s tryline and only desperate defence kept them at bay.
Kudus’ pressure finally told on 34 minutes when centre PJ Walters cut through the backline to dive over and with Plato adding the conversion they went 10-7 ahead.
Kudus did well to deny United a try from a rolling maul, and when winger Lloyd Jacobs dived over for a converted try they took a commanding 17-7 lead at the halftime break.
United came out attacking after the break and soon reduced the deficit to 17-12 when hooker Gerhard Thirion crashed over from a forward drive.
Flyhalf Van Zyl then weaved his magic again, jinxing through the backline to touch down, and when winger Christo Gresse dived over in the corner United were back in front at 22-17.
A Plato penalty reduced the gap to 22-20 but Van Zyl was not finished, putting over a great drop kick to put United 25-20 ahead.
The drama, however, was far from over as the lead would still change a few times in the final frantic minutes.
Kudus regained the lead when substitute scrumhalf Zane Williams went over after selling a great dummy and with Plato once again converting they went 27-25 ahead.
Poor discipline, however, cost Kudus as they conceded two penalties in the final two minutes.
United fullback Benade, who had an erratic day with the boot, missed the first attempt, but the second one from 45 metres out flew high between the posts to give United a thrilling one-point victory.
In the second semi, Wanderers and Rehoboth weighed up evenly till the last quarter when Wanderers’ forward superiority started to tell as they pulled away for a 12-point win.
Wanderers opened the scoring after only two minutes when eighthman Driaan Vorster crashed over in the corner and with Eugene Jantjies adding a great conversion from the touchline they went 7-0 ahead.
Rehoboth came storming back and after Henrique Olivier missed a long-range penalty, they drew level when hooker Titus Mathias crashed over from a driving maul, with Olivier adding the conversion.
A Jantjies penalty put Wanderers back in front, but Rehoboth came storming back and regained the lead after a fine try by centre Hillian Beukes when he dummied his way over and with scrumhalf Miquel Busch converting they went 14-10 ahead at halftime.
A long range penalty by Olivier put Rehoboth 17-10 ahead, but Wanderers soon struck back when hooker Dandre Schreuder crashed over from a driving maul. Jantjies missed the conversion and another Olivier penalty put Rehoboth 20-15 ahead, but their lead did not last long.
Wanderers left wing Armand Kotze went over in the corner after a slick counterattack, before a brilliant solo try by fullback Warren Ludwig put them 25-20 ahead.
Scrumhalf Rueben Botha sealed Wanderers’ win when he sneaked through a gap for a converted try as Wanderers eased to a convincing win.
Wanderers will now be out to retain the Premier League title that they won last year when they take on United in the final on 2 September, while it’s the first time that United will be in the final since they won the title in 2019.
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