Coastal teams in Semi-final

Sparta United Rugby Club (SURC) and SFC Vikings from Walvis Bay and Swakopmund respectively are in the semi-finals of the Namibian Rugby Union (NRU) First league.

This past Saturday 2018 defending champions SFC Vikings progressed to the of the semi- finals after beating Unam Barbarians 22-14 in their quarter final match at the Hage Geingob Stadium in Windhoek.
The Newly established Sparta United Rugby Club beat Wanderers III 23 – 20 and is currently in the process of completing their very first season in the Namibian First league and its turning out to be a very fruitful season.
A brilliant attacking strike saw Vikings winger Lionel Coetzee open the score board for the coastal team. Minutes later, another Vikings try came through a storming run from left wing Ronaldo Diergaardt. A Shoulder charge from the latter, resulted in a penalty try being awarded to the students by referee Antonie de Greeff, making the score 10-7 in favor of the Vikings at half time.
In the second half, the students scored straight from kick off to bring the score to 14-10 for the Unam Barbarians. Later in the match, the Barbarians opted for a quick tap and a pass out wide which was intercepted by Vikings lock Jaco Barnard to score another five pointer for the Vikings. The conversion was kicked by Dirk von Weidts to bring the score to 17-14 in their favor. In the dying minutes, it was again winger Lionel Coetzee who crossed the
chalk to secure a 22-14 win for the men from Swakopmund.
“I would be lying if I said this was one of our best matches to date, but this is knockout footy, so we are definitely happy with the win, especially if you take into account that there was 4 weeks between our last league match and the quarter final. There were times in the match where we stuck to our structures which resulted in some beautiful tries, but we will have to work hard to do that for a full 80 minutes. Everyone in the team took responsibility for our performance and will be working hard throughout the week to build on the positives and to better some aspects of our game. The Semi Final is going to be really tough and we will need to be at our very best” said Jaco Barnard
The Men from Sparta have played 6 league Games this season and have only suffered two losses in very close encounters against SFC Vikings 17-11 & 31-24 respectively, The Men from Walvis Bay ended second on the log in the NRU’s First league west and thus qualified for the Quarterfinals of the NRU First League.
It was set to be a Massive clash in the Windhoek as SURC drew Wanderers III and it really lived up to the hype in front of a very respectably sized crowd. From the first whistle, both teams came out guns blazing but it was Wanderers that put the first 7 points on the board.
After some back and forth Sparta crossed the white wash through Leanzo Losper (13), the conversion was not successful (7-5).
Wanderers were awarded a penalty and made good of their chance landing a 3 pointer (10-5). Sparta replied in good fashion with some very strong run-ning from the 8th Man Tertius Arangies (10-10), Conversion Missed.
Right before half time, Wanderers managed to squeeze another successful Penalty (13-10 Half time). Both Sides came out on fire the Second half and it were the Men from Sparta that crossed the line once again through Leanzo Losper, going in for his second Try of the match with some great link up play with his Center Teammate (15-13 Sparta, con-version Missed. Sparta were awarded another Penalty after some good ground work and pressure, Number 19, Charlton Brussels making good with the 3 pointer (18-13) Sparta.
After some very good pressure and commitment from the Sparta Men, Winger, Karim Visage crossed the Try line for another 5 pointer bringing it to 23-13 in Spartas favour.
Right on the death, Wanderers Managed the final word after crossing the line but ultimately were out-scored 23-20 at the final whistle. The Team from the Coast will now be contesting the Namibian First League Semi Finals this coming weekend in Windhoek once again.
The Coaches, Management and players would like to thank everyone for the wonderful support shown by the public and are eager to bring home the Title in the clubs very first year. Please check the club out on Facebook: Sparta United Rugby Club for schedules and News.
The Vikings will play their semi-final match against the Keetmanshoop Rams and Sparta will take on Grootfontien. Both games will be played tomorrow at the Hago Gaingob Stadium in Windhoek.