U19 crown on the line as Windhoek Gym meet WAP
King Price Windhoek Gymnasium and Autohaus Windhoek Afrikaans Private School (WAP) will battle for the Momentum My Zone NSSR U19 Super League at 16:15 on Saturday.
The final brings together the top two sides from the regular season, with Windhoek Gymnasium finishing first on 75 points and WAP second on 73.
Windhoek Gymnasium booked their place in the final with a convincing 50-29 victory over PSG Roots Gymnasium in last weekend's semi-final, while WAP produced a strong second-half performance to dethrone defending champions the OK Foods Bere 43-22.
The final presents Windhoek Gymnasium an opportunity to redeem their only defeat of the regular season, at home against WAP (22-34, on 24 June).
Windhoek Gymnasium shared the 2023 title in a dramatic 34-34 draw against Samsung Windhoek High School, while their last outright championship was one year earlier, beating Affies by one point (24-23).
Meanwhile, Affies are striving to hold the trophy for the first time since their 2018 and 2019 titles.
Windhoek Gymnasium captain JD Jankowitz said his side is ready for the challenge.
“We are ready for battle. We lost to WAP in the league, but this is the final. We need to bring our A game in this one.”
For Jankowitz and several of his teammates, Saturday's final will be particularly significant as they prepare to leave schools rugby behind.
“It's the last year in high school for a lot of us, so we really want to go out with a bang.”
WAP winger James Louw said his teammates are equally motivated after their semi-final victory over the defending champions.
“Our group of boys are really fired up. We took on the defending champions in a tough match, and the boys stuck together till the end.”
Louw said the team is focused on the final and expects a highly competitive contest.
“This is the final, we are ready for it and may the best team on the day win.”
The final promises to be a closely fought encounter between two sides that have already shown their quality throughout the campaign.
PSG Roots Gymnasium and the OK Foods Bere will meet in the Super League third-place play-off, with Roots looking to end their historic first season on a high after reaching the semi-finals.
In the U19 A League final, Samsung Windhoek High School will face Hollard Tsumeb Gymnasium. WHS defeated InSpares Pro-Ed Academy 32–14 in their semi-final, while Tsumeb Gymnasium came from behind to beat Farmstyle Elnatan Private School 29–22.
Teams for the U19 Super League final:
King Price Windhoek Gymnasium: 15 Emmanuel Jimmy, 14 Kyle van Wyk, 13 Fourie Steyn, 12 JD Jankowitz (captain), 11 Juan van Wyk, 10 Farenzel Cloete, 9 Evin Dreyer, 8 Marnu Schrader, 7 Janro Greeff, 6 Angelo Novella, 5 Curnal Beukes, 4 Buhlem Oelofsen, 3 Gert Pretorius, 2 DJ Gous, 1 Dirk Badenhorst.
Bench: 16 Luan Karsten, 17 Duan Ludeke, 18 Adrian Schoeman, 19 Adriaan Opperman, 20 Lihan Horn, 21 Cayden van Wyk, 22 Timothy du Plessis, 23 Willem Swart.
Autohaus Windhoek Affies: 15 Luca Micillo, 14 James Louw, 13 Derick Nell, 12 Pieter le Roux, 11 Sergio Steenkamp, 10 Noëlle Loubser, 9 Malan Esterhuyzen (captain), 8 Eduardo Dunn, 7 Zander Pretorius, 6 Dian Delport, 5 Tapiwa Penduka, 4 Jacobus Mouton, 3 Willem Oosthuizen, 2 Zayden Gerber, 1 Thomas Rebang.
Bench: 16 Otto Klotz, 17 Stefanus Horn, 18 Jacques Coetzee, 19 Jansen Rossouw, 20 Berndt Otto, 21 Daniel Nell, 22 Jeray Cloete, 23 Xenon van Wyk.
• Full match schedule on page 2.
