Africa-Press – Namibia. WITH the rugby premier league entering the home straight, teams are jostling for position to reach the knockout stages.
FNB Kudus and FNB Wanderers are still setting the pace, with Kudus leading the log on 39 points and Wanderers a point behind, and are favourites to clinch two of the semifinal spots, but four more teams are in the running for the other two spots and some exciting encounters can be expected.
One of them is tomorrow’s clash between third-placed FNB Unam (32 points) and fifth-placed FNB Rehoboth (26 points) at the Unam stadium, which will be crucial for both teams’ title aspirations.
Unam suffered a shock 34-12 home defeat to Kudus last weekend, but coach David Philander was not too perturbed about the result.
“I don’t know what went wrong against Kudus, it was a shambles and our game plan just fell apart. We made a lot of handling errors which they exploited and turned into points,” he said.
“But I’m not too concerned, and I feel quite positive about our match against Rehoboth. We identified our weaknesses against Kudus, and we just made simple mistakes which we can rectify,” he added.
Unam should also be strengthened by the return of some national players from France earlier this week, Philander said.
“Not all our national players are available – some of the boys are not back yet while some have some injury niggles, so we don’t want to rush them back, but I hope to have about two or three available for the Rehoboth match,” he said.
“We must win each game from here on, but we are in a good position to make the knockout stages,” he added.
Rehoboth last weekend pulled off a major upset when they beat Wanderers 37-31 at home, which has put them right back amongst the title contenders. Their veteran loose forward Johann Wohler said their game plan worked against Wanderers.
“We put Wanderers under a lot of pressure from the start to stop them building momentum, while we spread the ball as wide as possible. We built up a 20-5 lead early in the second half and although they came back later it was not enough,” he said.
Wohler, however, said they will try to change their tactics against Unam.
“Unam like to spread the ball wide and attack through their wings so we are planning a more structured game and want to try to dominate the forward battle. But it will be very tough, and they will have their international players back, who will add a lot of experience,” he said.
“We still have a chance of making the semis, but each game will be crucial and a lot of hard work lies ahead. We have been playing every weekend for the past six weeks and have quite a few niggling injuries, so we need to prepare our second team players to step up and take their places in the final matches if need be,” he added.
Kudus, meanwhile, returned to the top of the log last weekend after Wanderers’ slip-up against Rehoboth, and will be firm favourites to extend their lead when they host Trustco United in Walvis Bay. Kudus have only lost one match all season and with away victories against powerhouses Unam and Wanderers, they have now emerged as serious contenders for the title.
United, by contrast, have only won one match, while they will have to lift themselves after a heavy 53-9 defeat to FNB Western Suburbs last weekend.
Suburbs, who are fourth on 29 points, should also be too strong for bottom-placed FNB Reho Falcons, who are still looking for their first win this season, while Wanderers face a tricky away match against FNB Grootfontein, who are sixth on 24 points.
Grootfontein ran Wanderers close in their first round encounter in Windhoek in April, before losing 39-23, and although Wanderers will be strengthened by the return of some of their national players, Grootfontein will be a tough proposition on their home turf.
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