EtoshaLionskeptcontrolofthegameagainstSparta2.Photos:DesireeGases
EtoshaLionskeptcontrolofthegameagainstSparta2.Photos:DesireeGases

It’s officially rugby season!

Brian Munango
Saturday saw the return of the Namibia Rugby Union's (NRU) first division league.

The Erongo conference provided great rugby action as defending champions Sparta 1 took on Dolphins, who haven’t taken part in the competition since 2019, while Sparta 2 took on Etosha Lions who have also been absent from the tournament for more than two years.

The games took place at Tamariskia Sports Stadium in Swakopmund.

In the first game, Sparta 2 took on Etosha Lions, who travelled all the way from Tsumeb.

It was a very tight game but Etosha Lions controlled the game, and were rewarded when Geovanne Rittman scored the first try.

Corne Du Plessis scored two tries while George Turner added two conversions for his team.

Sparta 2 didn’t show any signs of giving up although they were trailing, and got a penalty try in the dying minutes of the game. It ended 27-7 in Etosha Lions' favour.



Gutted

Nelan Farmer, who captains Sparta 2, was gutted by his team's performance.

“We didn’t play well and we got punished for that. We need to go back to the drawing board to see where we can improve to make sure we come back stronger in the next game,” he said.

In the main game, we saw defending champions Sparta lose 12-7 against Dolphins.

After the game, Dolphins captain Sean de Klerk said: “We came into this one as underdogs, we are happy with the win. We felt the pressure. They are the back-to-back defending champions, after all.

"We won, we’re happy. On to the next!”

With the next round of games set to take place towards end of April, there's a lot to be excited for this rugby season.

Comments

Namibian Sun 2024-05-17

No comments have been left on this article

Please login to leave a comment

Premier League: Manchester United 3 vs 2 Newcastle | Brighton 1 vs 2 Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur 0 vs 2 Manchester City LaLiga: Real Sociedad 1 vs 0 Valencia | Almería 0 vs 2 Barcelona | Las Palmas 2 vs 2 Real Betis | Celta Vigo 2 vs 1 Athletic Club | Getafe 0 vs 3 Atletico Madrid | Sevilla 0 vs 1 Cadiz | Rayo Vallecano 2 vs 1 Granada | Girona 0 vs 1 Villarreal | Real Madrid 5 vs 0 Deportivo Alaves | Osasuna 1 vs 1 Mallorca European Championships Qualifying: Leeds United 4 vs 0 Norwich City English Championship: Leeds United 4 vs 0 Norwich City Katima Mulilo: 11° | 31° Rundu: 11° | 30° Eenhana: 11° | 31° Oshakati: 12° | 30° Ruacana: 12° | 31° Tsumeb: 13° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 11° | 27° Omaruru: 11° | 30° Windhoek: 11° | 26° Gobabis: 12° | 27° Henties Bay: 19° | 35° Wind speed: 35km/h, Wind direction: E, Low tide: 05:49, High tide: 12:03, Low Tide: 17:43, High tide: 00:16 Swakopmund: 20° | 26° Wind speed: 27km/h, Wind direction: E, Low tide: 05:47, High tide: 12:01, Low Tide: 17:41, High tide: 00:14 Walvis Bay: 23° | 33° Wind speed: 28km/h, Wind direction: E, Low tide: 05:47, High tide: 12:00, Low Tide: 17:41, High tide: 00:13 Rehoboth: 12° | 27° Mariental: 15° | 29° Keetmanshoop: 17° | 29° Aranos: 15° | 28° Lüderitz: 20° | 32° Ariamsvlei: 16° | 30° Oranjemund: 15° | 25° Luanda: 24° | 27° Gaborone: 16° | 30° Lubumbashi: 11° | 27° Mbabane: 13° | 22° Maseru: 9° | 23° Antananarivo: 12° | 27° Lilongwe: 15° | 28° Maputo: 19° | 28° Windhoek: 11° | 26° Cape Town: 15° | 22° Durban: 17° | 23° Johannesburg: 15° | 24° Dar es Salaam: 23° | 32° Lusaka: 14° | 27° Harare: 13° | 26° Currency: GBP to NAD 23.08 | EUR to NAD 19.81 | CNY to NAD 2.53 | USD to NAD 18.28 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.3 | EGP to NAD 0.38 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.71 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.54 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.22 | USD to DZD 134.35 | USD to AOA 847.42 | USD to BWP 13.49 | USD to EGP 46.86 | USD to KES 130.48 | USD to NGN 1520 | USD to ZAR 18.28 | USD to ZMW 25.5 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 79509 Up +0.19% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1740.48 Up +0.45% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 13411.39 Down -0.07% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 26142.84 Up +3.27% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9151.06 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 387.44/OZ UP +0.40% | Copper US$ 4.89/lb UP +0.96% | Zinc US$ 2 980.50/T UP 0.08% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 83.56/BBP DOWN -0.0026 | Platinum US$ 1 053.86/OZ DOWN -0.0073 Sport results: Premier League: Manchester United 3 vs 2 Newcastle | Brighton 1 vs 2 Chelsea | Tottenham Hotspur 0 vs 2 Manchester City LaLiga: Real Sociedad 1 vs 0 Valencia | Almería 0 vs 2 Barcelona | Las Palmas 2 vs 2 Real Betis | Celta Vigo 2 vs 1 Athletic Club | Getafe 0 vs 3 Atletico Madrid | Sevilla 0 vs 1 Cadiz | Rayo Vallecano 2 vs 1 Granada | Girona 0 vs 1 Villarreal | Real Madrid 5 vs 0 Deportivo Alaves | Osasuna 1 vs 1 Mallorca European Championships Qualifying: Leeds United 4 vs 0 Norwich City English Championship: Leeds United 4 vs 0 Norwich City Weather: Katima Mulilo: 11° | 31° Rundu: 11° | 30° Eenhana: 11° | 31° Oshakati: 12° | 30° Ruacana: 12° | 31° Tsumeb: 13° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 11° | 27° Omaruru: 11° | 30° Windhoek: 11° | 26° Gobabis: 12° | 27° Henties Bay: 19° | 35° Wind speed: 35km/h, Wind direction: E, Low tide: 05:49, High tide: 12:03, Low Tide: 17:43, High tide: 00:16 Swakopmund: 20° | 26° Wind speed: 27km/h, Wind direction: E, Low tide: 05:47, High tide: 12:01, Low Tide: 17:41, High tide: 00:14 Walvis Bay: 23° | 33° Wind speed: 28km/h, Wind direction: E, Low tide: 05:47, High tide: 12:00, Low Tide: 17:41, High tide: 00:13 Rehoboth: 12° | 27° Mariental: 15° | 29° Keetmanshoop: 17° | 29° Aranos: 15° | 28° Lüderitz: 20° | 32° Ariamsvlei: 16° | 30° Oranjemund: 15° | 25° Luanda: 24° | 27° Gaborone: 16° | 30° Lubumbashi: 11° | 27° Mbabane: 13° | 22° Maseru: 9° | 23° Antananarivo: 12° | 27° Lilongwe: 15° | 28° Maputo: 19° | 28° Windhoek: 11° | 26° Cape Town: 15° | 22° Durban: 17° | 23° Johannesburg: 15° | 24° Dar es Salaam: 23° | 32° Lusaka: 14° | 27° Harare: 13° | 26° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.08 | EUR to NAD 19.81 | CNY to NAD 2.53 | USD to NAD 18.28 | DZD to NAD 0.13 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.3 | EGP to NAD 0.38 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.71 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.54 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.22 | USD to DZD 134.35 | USD to AOA 847.42 | USD to BWP 13.49 | USD to EGP 46.86 | USD to KES 130.48 | USD to NGN 1520 | USD to ZAR 18.28 | USD to ZMW 25.5 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 79509 Up +0.19% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1740.48 Up +0.45% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 13411.39 Down -0.07% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 26142.84 Up +3.27% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI 9151.06 Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 387.44/OZ UP +0.40% | Copper US$ 4.89/lb UP +0.96% | Zinc US$ 2 980.50/T UP 0.08% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 83.56/BBP DOWN -0.0026 | Platinum US$ 1 053.86/OZ DOWN -0.0073