SA President’s XV victorious
A superb first-half performance set up a good 26-23 win for the SA President’s XV against Namibia in Windhoek, but they had to dig deep against the spirited home team in the second half.
The South Africans scored four tries to take a 26-9 lead into the break, at which stage they looked in complete control of the match.
The home team took a 6-0 lead early in the match, but tries for the SA President’s XV by Hoffman Maritz (fullback), Ricardo Croy (fullback), Alshaun Bock (wing) and Zandré Jordaan (No 8) put the visitors in control.
Croy converted three of the tries, while the home team added a third penalty goal by Theuns Kotze before the break.
The Welwitschias fought back in the second half through tries by Danie Dames and Callie Swanepoel, both converted by Kotze.
SA President’s XV coach Jimmy Stonehouse was happy with the result, but said there is still some work to be done before the team leaves for the IRB Tblisi Cup in Georgia next weekend.
“It’s always good to win matches like these and I was very pleased with the efforts shown by the guys in the first half, but the second half showed we still need to put in a lot of work before we depart,” said Stonehouse.
“This was good preparation for the IRB Tblisi Cup though and we’ll get stuck in again on Monday before we leave for Europe.”
The scorers:
For Namibia:
Tries: Dames, Swanepoel
Cons: Kotze 2
Pens: Kotze 3
For SA President’s XV:
Tries: Maritz, Croy, Bock, Jordaan
Cons: Croy 3
