Windhoek High School dominated the FNB Davin Sport Festival which took place at their sports grounds from Thursday to Saturday.
WHS won the rugby and hockey competitions with ease, while Elnatan won the netball competition.
Close to 500 children from Namibian and South African schools competed in the festival that has become one of the school sporting highlights on the Namibian sporting calendar. It was the fifth consecutive year that the festival had taken place since its launch in 2008.
Besides WHS, other Namibian schools that competed included Windhoek Gymnasium, St Pauls, St Geirges, Windhoek Afrikaanse Privaat Skool (WAP) and Walvis Bay, while the South African schools consisted of DF Malan, Vredendal, Tygerberg, Randburg and Nylstroom.
WHS dominated the rugby competition winning both their matches comfortably. They thrashed DF Malan 53-15 in their opening match on Thursday but on Saturday were given a bit more opposition by Vredendal before winning the match 28-11.
It was a great achievement by WHS, bearing in mind that they were missing up to 10 of their top players who are currently playing in the Craven Week and Academy Week competitions in South Africa.
Against DF Malan, they took an early lead when flyhalf Emmanuel Cloete cut through the backline to score a converted try and from then on there was no stopping WHS.
Their strong and mobile pack of forwards dominated the set pieces well they combined well with the backline and attacked from all quarters. By halftime they were already 36-3 ahead and by the end of the match they had run in nine tries for a comprehensive victory.
Cloete led the way with a hattrick of tries, while their tough flanker and captain Sven Reimers scored two tries. Their wings Tiaan Rabie and Frans van Staden, flanker Jon Jon Schickerling and substitute flanker Freddie Puriza each scored one try while centre Deon Venter added four conversions.
Vredendal beat WAP 15-8 in their first encounter to set the stage for a final rugby showdown against WHS on Saturday.
Vredendal provided better opposition against WHS, but WHS took their chances to win the match. They streaked into a 21-3 lead after three converted tries by eighthman HJ du Plessis, Sven Reimers and Frans van Staden and although Vredendal cut the deficit to 21-11 at halftime, a further try by Reimers sealed their victory.
WHS’ dominance was such that their second team even beat DF Malan 13-9 in the first match on Saturday.
WHS, Windhoek Gym unbeaten
In the girls hockey competition, WHS won all four their matches with bonus points to top the log with 16 points. They dominated all their matches, beating St Pauls 8-0, St Georges 6-0, Randburg 7-0 and Nylstroom 5-1.
Their team included five national under 21 players in Berta Namupala, Jocelle Deysel, Mariaan Laubscher, Lauren Mouton and Nicola Heathcote, with Deysel and Laubscher both excelling throughout the tournament.
Both players scored in all their matches, while Deysel scored four goals against St Pauls and Laubscher a hattrick against Randburg.
Windhoek Gymnasium finished two points behind in second place after they also won all four their matches, but did not collect as many bonus points as WHS. They beat WAP 1-0, Nylstroom 4-2, Walvis Bay 5-0 and St Pauls 2-1.
Windhoek Gymnasium’s team included three national Under 21 players in Isa Steenkamp, Britta Haensel and Carla Britz and it’s a pity that the organisers did not match them up against WHS to give a fitting finale for the hockey festival.
WHS also won the boys hockey competition, followed by St Pauls and St Georges, while WHS also won the girls netball competition.