Touring squad gives strong account in Malmesbury

The James De Koker (JDK) sevens team from Namibia finished as runners-up in the plate division at the Wesbank Mount Royal 7’s Tournament in Malmesbury, South Africa, last weekend.After losing the plate final 14-10 to Hillcrest, the travelling squad earned a N$6 000 reward for their efforts. The plate division winners received R10 000. Wolseley defeated Wesbank 1 in the cup final and pocketed R30 000 as the 2025 tournament champions. Young Hamiltons earned R5 000 after they defeated Maccassar 31-7 in the final of the bowl division. JDK defeated Paarl Rangers 38-5 in their semi-final and sailed past Coronations 38-5 in the quarter-final. Twenty-four teams were divided into eight pools of three each in the tournament with a total prize pot of R70 000. JDK was drawn in Pool C. The Namibians played Wolseley in their opening match which ended in a 26-26 draw. Young Hamiltons then dealt JDK a 19-12 defeat. Roger Thompson, the head coach of JDK, told Sport Wrap: “We finished sixth overall. It was the first time the team progressed this far and that in itself is an achievement. “The average age of our team is 22 and the players really stood their ground against some some top club teams in South Africa. We were the only team that denied the tournament champions Wolseley a win on the day. We must continue to build our sevens with the aim to win the tournament in the foreseeable future.” The invitational team from Namibia, with a core from FNB Kudus Rugby Club in Walvis Bay, consisted of Franco Vries, Ja-Tamson van der Berg, Gregory Namaseb, Darren Beukes, Rayshawn Shoombe, Aston Mukwilongo, Suramie Kambombo, Michael Koopman, Irongwa Atshivudhi, Lucio Isaacs, along with Dolano Vries and Denver Beukes (Rehoboth Rugby Club), AJ Kearns (Western Suburbs), AJ Zaahl and Quirone Majiedt (Unam), with Joe Blom (Kudus) as team manager. Eco Global, DS9, Erongo Commodity Traders with GoodStuff Investments as main sponsor made the journey of over 1700 kilometres to Malmesbury possible. “The dedication and passion for rugby by the team and companies from Namibia is truly inspiring,” commented one of the tournament directors, Eduaan Howburg.The JDK sevens team was named after the late James de Koker, a former board member of Kudus Rugby Club.

Touring squad gives strong account in Malmesbury

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