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A great rugby day for Windhoek Gym


WINDHOEK Gymnasium were crowned the Standard Bank u19 Super League rugby champions after a riveting 24-23 victory against Windhoek Afrikaanse Privaat Skool at Windhoek Gymnasium’s field on Saturday.

In an action-packed match where fortunes swayed to and fro throughout, Gymnasium won a last minute penalty in front of the posts and flyhalf JW Visagie coolly converted to send their fans wild with delight and Affies fans into despair.

It capped a great day for Windhoek Gymnasium as they also won the u15 A and u19 B titles, while they drew the u14 A title.

The Super League final was a gripping affair with some heavy collisions and great defence by both sides in the opening stages.

Affies initially held the upper hand, and came close to scoring after a fine run by flanker SG Maritz, but Gymnasium absorbed the early pressure and took the lead against the run of play when Visagie put over a penalty.

Affies immediately struck back from the kickoff when right wing Nico Tromp followed up a kick ahead to touch down, but Visagie soon added another penalty, and when prop forward Herman Coetzee went over from a maul for a converted try after a great run by hooker Hendre Schrader, Gymnasium went 13-5 ahead.

Affies fullback Andre Siepker put over a penalty to make the half time score 13-8, and from the second half kickoff, wing Jandre Esterhuizen sprinted away to score in the left hand corner. Siepker missed the conversion, but the teams were now level at 13-all.

Gymnasium struck back and nearly scored from a line-out maul but great defence kept them at bay, while at the other end, Affies wing Esterhuizen was tackled a few metres from the line.

Siepker missed a 50m penalty, but another try by Esterhuizen after a fine break by scrumhalf Fanus Jurgens gave Affies the lead, and with Siepker adding a great conversion from the touchline, they went 20-13 ahead.

Gymnasium came storming back and flanker Dirkie Theunissen rounded off an impressive 20m driving maul to dot down and although Visagie missed the conversion they were just two points behind at 20-18.

Siepker missed another long-range penalty attempt for Affies, but Gymnasium kept on attacking and regained the lead when a Visagie penalty put them 21-20 ahead.

In the tense final moments, a Siepker penalty put Affies 23-21 ahead, but Gymnasium threw everything into attack and their pressure paid off in the final minute as Affies were penalised and Visagie put over the penalty to give them a gripping one-point victory.

The win saw Windhoek Gymnasium returning to the Super League summit for the first time in five years, while they broke Affies’ recent dominance, after they won the trophy in 2018 and 2019, before a Covid interruption in 2020 and 2021.

Gymnasium’s flanker Jorick Muir won the player and forward of the match awards, while Affies wing Jandre Esterhuizen won the backline player of the match award.

The complete results of the Standard Bank Schools Trophy finals were as follows:

U14 B: M&K Gertse 26-12 WHS B

U19 D: Dawid Bezuidenhout I 24-10 M&K Gertse II

U19 Super Plate: WHS 17-14 Moria

U15 B: Pro Ed Academy 38-24 M&K Gertse

U14 A: Windhoek Gymnasium 17-17 WHS

U19 C: HTS 38-25 Grootfontein

U15 A: Windhoek Gymnasium 16-15 WHS

U19 B: Windhoek Gymnasium II 21-19 WHS II

U19 A: Walvis Bay 46-18 Dr Lemmer

U19 Super: Windhoek Gymnasium 24-23 WAP





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