diff --git a/cmd/gorepomod/internal/repo/manager.go b/cmd/gorepomod/internal/repo/manager.go
index 783fa0580a..b679ea2b5a 100644
--- a/cmd/gorepomod/internal/repo/manager.go
+++ b/cmd/gorepomod/internal/repo/manager.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@ package repo
 import (
 	"fmt"
 	"strconv"
-	"strings"
 
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/cmd/gorepomod/internal/edit"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/kustomize/cmd/gorepomod/internal/git"
@@ -145,13 +144,13 @@ func (mgr *Manager) Release(
 	gr := git.NewLoud(mgr.AbsPath(), doIt, localFlag)
 
 	// e.g. get v0.17.1 from release-kyaml-v0.17.1
-	newVersionString := strings.Split(gr.GetCurrentVersionFromBranchName(), "-")
+	newVersionString := gr.GetCurrentVersionFromBranchName()
 
 	if len(newVersionString) == 0 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error getting version from remote")
 	}
 
-	newVersionSv, err := semver.Parse(newVersionString)
+	newVersionSv, err := semver.Parse(string(newVersionString))
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("error parsing version string: \"%s\"", newVersionString)
 	}