United, who have found their traditional running game rhythm following a rather slow, frustrating start to the Valke Peregrine League campaign, continued with their free scoring as they all but ended the contest in the first half.
They ran in four tries of their total six to secure the bonus point through flying left wing Cameron Lentoor, who scored a brace, and midfield partners Igor Engelbrecht and Jackie Jonkers.
As impressive as United looked on the offensive end, they were never allowed comfort by NWU, who scored enough points throughout the match always to give themselves a chance of causing an upset.
The half-time score was 26-12 to the hosts, with fly-half Andy Huysamen converting all but one of his side’s first-half tries.
The men from Reiger Park have now scored a total of 129 points in their last three games since the second round of the league – beating all the log leaders, Springs (home), Boksburg (away) and NWU (home), in what has been a big turnaround.
They do, however, continue to leak points and, critically, tries – a potential problem coach Stephan Nel is well aware of.
Springs got 26 out of them while Boksburg and now NWU, got a respective 35 and 33.
“I’m happy but not very happy,” commented Nel.
“A win is a win so you cannot not be happy, but I think we can do much better.”
The trainer also touched on his side’s defensive frailties.
“It’s a real concern. You can’t go into a semi-final or a final and give the opposition so many scoring opportunities; we still have a lot of work to do.”
United’s first try was from a combination of their centres as Jonkers slipped through a few tackles close to the visitors’ line before offloading to his inside partner, Engelbrecht, who went through for an easy dot down.
NWU almost immediately hit back as they were soon camped in United’s hot area but a sucker-punch intercept try by United’s Lentoor, who’s one of the fastest wings in the league, extended his side’s lead.
The two sides then swapped tries going into the break.
The latter half imitated the first, with the sides exchanging points but with United scoring more and often.
Quizzed on his side’s performance, NWU coach Lukas van der Schyff was not impressed.
“I was not really happy with our performance; we had chances to win the game but we threw it away,” he said.
United scorers:
- Tries: Cameron Lentoor (2), Tiaan Ramat, Jackie Jonkers, Igor Engelbrecht and Waylon Thompson. Conversions: Andy Huysamen (4) and Cameron Lentoor. Penalties: Andy Huysamen.
United: 1 Dirk van Wyk, 2 Shaun de Wet, 3 Saki Klaas, 4 Bakkies Bakumeni, 5 Kieran Campbell, 6 Piet Mnguni, 7 Ruan Noeth, 8 Fanie van Staden (captain); 9 Johan Pretorius, 10 Andy Huysamen, 11 Cameron Lentoor, 12 Igor Engelbrecht, 13 Jackie Jonkers, 14 Tiaan Ramat and 15 Clayton Gindan. Bench: 16 Johan Vos, 17 Andre Myburgh, 18 Jacques van Tonder, 19 Stanley Steward, 20 Monde Petela, 21 Waylon Thompson and 22 Jan Harm Venter. – @SabeloBoksburg
