Hat-trick hero seals SWD win

A hat-trick by Ruwayne Beekman earned his SWD ‘Jong Arende’ team a comprehensive 41-5 victory over Namibia in the first game of Day 3 of the 2009 Craven Week in East London on Wednesday.

Despite the one-sided scoreline, Namibia had a lot of the ball in the SWD half, but could do little with it. The Arende by contrast, were purposeful in attack and the clinical finishing of Beekman and co. was enough to secure the high-scoring win.

SWD started the brighter and put the Namibian line under early pressure. The Namibian defence held out initially, but a ridiculous error in their own 22 put SWD ahead.

After surviving an early onslaught, a Namibian player put his team under enormous pressure with a quick throw. The ball was spilled and SWD swarmed on it. Some simple hands from the backs wing put Henry Gordon away to score.

Namibia responded well with an attack of their own. But despite good possession in the SWD half, the SWD defence held firm.

SWD were far more dangerous with the ball in hand and struck again just after the 20 minute mark. A ball was moved wide from a lineout; two skip passes stretching the Namibian defence.

Ruwayne Beekman picked up a bouncing ball with one man to beat. He put the advancing defender to ground with a telling hand-off and accelerated away to score in the corner. Flyhalf and captain Jaco van Tonder made a brilliant conversion from the touchline to make it 12-0 to the Arende.

The rest of the half saw a similar pattern. The Namibian’s would advance into the SWD half and control the ball through a few phases. The attack, though, was slow, predictable and easy to defend.

A turnover would inevitably come, and the adventurous Arende backs would mount enterprising counter attacks against the scrambling Namibian defenders. One such passage allowed van Tonder to score after a three-on-two with the defence. That made it 17-0 going into the break. 

The second half was one-way traffic, two further tries from Beekman sealing the win by the 45 minute mark. His second was a great effort, cutting back against the defensive tide to beat three men on his way to the line. And little over a minute later, the Outeniqua flyer grabbed his hat-trick.

The Namibians made a meal of a well-judged kick into the corner and Beekman was first to react for the simplest of his three tries. This opportunism, combined with good pace and vision will have put the youngster on the SA Schools selectors’ radar.

Namibia will have gained scant consolation with a try from flank Dirk Basson, but SWD sealed the comfortable 41-5 win with tries from Franco Geldenhuys and Adrian Fransman as they dominated the second half.

Scorers:

For Namibia:
Try: Basson

For SWD:
Tries: Gordon, Beekman 3, van Tonder, Geldenhuys, Fransman
Cons: van Tonder 3
 
Squads:

Namibia: 15 Daniel Bock (Walvisbaai Hoërskool), 14 Malcolm Moor (Windhoek Gimnasium), 13 William Jacobs (Windhoek Hoërskool), 12 Johan Deysel (Windhoek Hoërskool), 11 Nandi Karuuombe (Jan Mohr), 10 Zirk Coetzee (Windhoek Hoërskool), 9 Pieter Janse van Vuuren (Windhoek Hoërskool), 8 Royal Otto (Tsumeb Gimnasium), 7 Dirk Basson (Windhoek Hoërskool), 6 Jaco Wiese (Windhoek Hoërskool), 5 Paul Willemse (Tsumeb Gimnasium), 4 Norman Campbell (SS Otjiwarongo), 3 François Pretorius (SS Otjiwarongo), 2 Niel van Vuuren (Windhoek Hoërskool), 1 Sholto Olivier (Windhoek Hoërskool), 16 Rathony Becker (Windhoek HTS), 17 François Potgieter (Gobabis Gimnasium), 18 Munee Tjiueza (Windhoek Hoërskool), 19 Glen Mouton (Walvisbaai Hoërskool), 20 Jeremy Strong (Walvisbaai Hoërskool),21 Wesley Fisch (PK de Villiers), 22 Rinrongeree Kauuovo (Windhoek Hoërskool)

South Western Districts: Martin Boonzaaier (Oakdale), Acker van der Merwe (Outeniqua), André Labuschagne (Outeniqua), Japie Bothma (Oakdale), Ben Jacobs (Outeniqua), Rudger van Wyk (Outeniqua), Karel Liebenberg (Langenhoven Gimnasium), Franco Geldenhuys (Outeniqua), Graham September (Outeniqua), Jaco van Tonder (Outeniqua), Henry Gordon (Oudtshoorn), Riaan Botha (Outeniqua), Adriaan Fransman (Outeniqua), Doveno Bowers (Oudtshoorn), Warren Ekstraat (Langenhoven Gimnasium), Wayne Khan (PW Botha), Gerhard Baard (Outeniqua), Peet van der Walt (Outeniqua), JJ du Toit (Oakdale), Ivan Ludick (Oakdale), Ruwayne Beekman (Outeniqua), Rowel Fielding (Outeniqua)

Referee: Tiaan Jonker

By Tim Human