SA Students edge Namibia

SA Students
39-37 Namibia

Tembelani Mayosi reports for uctrfc.co.za
Over the weekend the SA Universities selection which included three Varsity men, Robbie Fleck, part of the coaching staff and Tembelani Mayosi and J.P. Koster as players, played Namibia who were preparing for their World Cup qualifier against Zimbabwe next week.

The team flew out from Jo’Burg on the Thursday 24th and had a day to acclimatise to the thin dry air of Windhoek.  The Namibian side missing a few of their World cup stars from 2007 were looking to build on last years impressive showing. The students XV which had players mainly picked from the Varsity cup and SASSU week were looking to show what they could do on the international stage.

The game was pretty open from the start and it was end to end stuff with Namibia capitalising off the errors made by the Students. The Namibians took an early lead but not for long as the Students got it together scoring some brilliant tries. The Student seemingly on the verge of running away with it struggled with a few injuries which stopped the momentum.

Namibia smelling blood capitalised on the errors and ended up taking the lead after half time. The players from UCT did their reputations no harm as Koster was solid in open play and hit his jumpers in the lineout with ease. Mayosi had a solid game in the tight and scrums but a hamstring injury limited his impact in open play and he eventually had to be subbed at half time.

The match ended in dramatic fashion as the Namibians were 5 points ahead, and with no time left the students had to dig deep for the victory. The Namibians had a scrum on their 5m line and huge pressure from the Students pack led to a wobbly ball going to the Namibian flyhalf. With Students flanker Edgar Moruthule bearing down on him, he crumbled and was charged down and a try was scored under the posts by the students flyhalf, which Jean Tiedt converted and it was all over.

The match was played in a good spirit and Namibia got some match practice before they embarked on another conquest for a spot in the World Cup. It was a great experience for the UCT boys who benefited from a strong showing at the Varsity cup.