Schools rugby off to slow start

SCHOOLS rugby got off to a ponderous start on Saturday when WHS beat HTS 26-0 in a friendly match at the HTS field on Saturday.

With the school league having being cancelled due to Covid-19, it was both teams’ first match of the season and their rustiness showed as the match was littered by numerous handling errors.

WHS, fielding a bigger pack of forwards, however, gradually took control and eventually ran out comfortable victors against a game and younger HTS side, with most of the boys only being 16 years old.

WHS fly half Geraldo Beukes had a fine match, scoring one try and three conversions for a personal tally of 11 points, while their other tries were scored by prop Filipus Iyambo, centre Edward Turner and left wing Quirone Majiedt.

WHS’ heavier pack of forwards laid the foundation for their victory, with eighthman Riaan Grove, flanker and captain Daniel Opperman and lock Johan Schaaf catching the eye.

For HTS fly half Willis Prince stood out with his darting runs, while lock Kistings Minoyi impressed in the line-outs.

WHS coach Ainsley Daniels said it was not a very good performance by his team.

“They were a bit rusty in the beginning, but as the game progressed they picked up on how they were coached to play. The boys didn’t stick to their structures and it was not the best match from WHS that I have seen,” he said.

“We struggled to get players to come and train when we first started in July, so most of them have only trained for two or three weeks, while a lot are still busy with exams, but theres a lot of friendly matches in store so we’ll get there,” he added.

Ronelle Bezuidenhout, a teacher of HTS said that their team had been severely depleted.

“Most of our matrics withdrew due to exams, or because the parents didn’t want them to play during Covid-19. Most of our players are 16, while we had four 15-year-olds and one 14 year old in the team,” she said.

Several more friendly matches will be played over the next few weeks, while WHS will play the defending Metropolitan Boards champions, Windhoek Afrikaanse Privaat Skool on 15 August.