• Rugby

Kudus mark their golden season with two titles

• 13 Hours Ago

Winning both the premier and reserve league titles of the Namibia Rugby Union (NRU) for 2025 came as nothing short of a dream come true for FNB Kudus and their legion of fans on Saturday.

A “golden generation” of players had been eliminated in the semi-finals of the previous three seasons, but on Saturday’s PJ Walters’ team ran out of patience, delivering a comprehensive 50-32 win against title holders FNB Wanderers.

Their second team also clinched the NRU reserve league final 49-41 against FNB Unam’s second stringers to hold on to the trophy Kudus won last year.

The Walvis Bay teams were spurred on passionately by the “blue army” of travelling fans from the coast, who filled most of the main pavillion of the Hage Geingob Stadium and fully exerted their influence as the “16th player” against the favourites Wanderers.

The White Stallions’ starting team featured ten of their 14 players recently called up to prepare for the international season kicking off against Uganda at Walvis Bay Private School’s Naartjie Park next Saturday.

Kudus currently have no representatives in the national squad since Cameron Langenhoven had to withdraw due to a biceps injury. Wanderers had sailed through the single-round premier league, winning eight out of eight with a massive 319 points difference, which included a 28-10 win against Kudus at Jan Wilken Stadium.

But on Saturday, Kudus could clearly not let their supporters down any longer and delivered a heroic 80-minute team performance.

Among the many stand-out individuals were fly-half Michael Koopman, who followed up his 18 kicking points of the semi-final win against FNB Grootfontein with a match-winning 22 against Wanderers, which included two opportunistic tries.

Centre Justin Newman, wing Lucio Isaacs, nr 8 Ja-Tamson van der Berg and scrumhalf Rayshawn Shoombe scored tries for Kudus – the latter two off quickly-taken penalty taps. Aurelio Plato also came off the bench to add more late kicking points.

The relentless work ethic and accuracy of the Kudus effort came nonwithstanding the fact that they’ve had to travel to the capital for a third straight week.

Wanderers were chasing the game after falling behind 15-30 by halftime, with their place-kicking also letting them down in the absence of the injured Denzo Bruwer. Danco Burger (fly-half), Ray-Eez Feris (centre) and Jurgen Meyer (wing) all scored unconverted tries in the first half, with Edward Drotsky (hooker) and Johny Mwenyo (fullback) adding later consolation tries.

Wanderers captain Jacques Theron played well, but had a day to forget, as the scrumhalf returned from a second-half yellow card to be knocked out and stretchered off after a collision with Kudus flank Zwandre Viviers. Theron yesterday said he passed his initial test for a suspected concussion and is positive of being cleared for possible selection against Uganda.



Women’s final

The Unam Steenbokkies full-back Ivone Kooper scored four tries to inspire their third consecutive title in the NRU women’s 15s league in a 57-17 domination against the Trustco United Gemsbokkies (halftime 24-10).

Right wing Fiola Vliete also scored a try and two conversions, while captain and centre Elzane-Lee Basson and loose-forwards Mandy Hansen and Kaylin Basson also crossed the goalline.

For the beaten finalists, flyhalf Tishina Basson and nr 8 and captain Geraldine Louw scored tries, while prop Getisha Uses was accurate with two conversions and a penalty.