Otniel Hembapu
WINDHOEK – The Windhoek Draught Welwitschias, who are still without a victory in the ongoing SuperSport Rugby Challenge, will tomorrow host the visiting iCollege Pumas at the Hage Geingob Stadium in the capital.
With three defeats so far from their last three outings, the Welwitschias will tomorrow be expected to be at their best and well organised if they want to stand a chance against Pumas, who are fast proving to be the team to beat in the Northern Pool of the competition.
The Namibian youngsters lost their opening fixture 39-7 against Valke and went on to suffer a 73-20 defeat at the hands of the lethal Blue Bulls in their second match of the competition. Last weekend in their third match, the Welwitschias narrowly lost 45-35 against the Golden Lions but managed to show serious character and guts in their defeat.
Thus, the Welwitschias will tomorrow be expected to accord the visiting Pumas an inhospitable welcome at the Hage Geingob Stadium and hopefully secure their first win in this year’s competition.
Pumas made a strong start this year, beating both the Vodacom Blue Bulls and Xerox Golden Lions XV, and will be coming to Windhoek this weekend as overwhelming favourites, when compared to the Namibians who lost their matches against the same opponents. In the other Northern Pool fixtures, Valke will host the Golden Lions in Kempton Park.
Namibia endured a tough ride during last year’s edition, which saw the Welwitschias winning only one match from their eight outings in total and will thus this year be expected to deliver a much improved performance while handing various youngsters in the team an opportunity to gain much-needed exposure.
The SuperSport Rugby Challenge is the secondary domestic rugby union competition in South Africa and the long-term successor of the Vodacom Cup competition. The competition is organised by the South African Rugby Union (SARU) and features all fourteen South African provincial unions plus the Welwitschias.
For this year, the format of the tournament will again see five teams battle it out in each of the North, South and Central pools, with all 14 unions and Namibia taking part in another exciting edition
Mouth-watering clashes in local rugby league
Meanwhile, local rugby clubs will also be in action this weekend, starting with what is expected to be a thrilling premiership clash between reigning champions Unam and Western Suburbs at Suburbs Park in Khomasdal at 15h45, while the pick of this weekend’s action will be the Rehoboth derby which sees Rehoboth Rugby Club taking on local rivals Reho Falcon in the town of Rehoboth at 15h45. A heated affair is also expected when Wanderers host United at the Wanderers Stadium in the capital. The matches will be played tomorrow.