A lot will be at stake when Unam take on Wanderers in a Rugby Premier League top of the log encounter at the Unam field on Saturday afternoon.
Unam are still unbeaten and currently lead the log on 16 points – five ahead of second-placed Wanderers, who suffered their first defeat of the season against Western Suburbs last weekend.
Another defeat for Wanderers against the defending champions Unam will make it very difficult for them to qualify for the popular South African club competition, the Gold Cup, since Namibia’s representative this year will be determined at the end of the first round and not the second round as in the past.
Despite the fact that Unam has won the Namibian Premier League title for the past two years, they were not allowed to compete in the Gold Cup, which is exclusively for non-university teams, and Wanderers, who finished as runners-up in both years took their place.
This year, though, there is a good chance that Unam will be allowed to compete, according to their coach Johan Diergaardt.
“We are busy negotiating with SA Rugby and there is a good chance that we can play this year. We got permission to compete in the Gold Cup, but we still need to get that in writing. We are an open club so we can play in the Gold Cup, but we will have to change our name, so we are in the process of doing that,” he said.
If Unam are allowed to compete, they will strengthen their chances considerably with another victory against Wanderers on Saturday.
Both teams will be at full strength after their national players, who have been following a strength and conditioning program at the Namibia Rugby Union’s High Performance Centre, were released for the match.
Unam will be strengthened by the return of centre Lesley Klim, eighth man Leneve Damens, lock or flanker Max Katjijeko and lock Muniovita Kasiringua.
According to Diergaardt, they will, however, miss flanker Thomas Kali and lock Reinhard Carelse due to injury, but centre Camlo Martin is back in the squad after recovering from an injury.
Unam have built an impressive squad with depth and talent and with other exciting talents like Lorenzo Louis, Denver Murorua, Cameron Klassen, Milaan van Wyk, Bradley Klazen and Mapisa Tjeriko to call upon, they will be hard to stop.
Wanderers, though, will also be at full strength with several national players back in their fold.
They include flanker Rohan Kitshoff and centre JC Greyling, while fly half Theuns Kotze is expected to make his first start after recovering from a niggling injury.
Especially Kotze’s presence will give Wanderers a lot of confidence, because the 29-year-old veteran of two World Cups has a fine all-round game and is deadly with the boot.
Wanderers’ exciting fullback Lean Stoop is however unavailable since he is with the national Sevens team that will compete at the Hong Kong Sevens tournament next weekend.
Diergaardt said he was looking forward to a tough battle.
“Wanderers nearly have a full Currie Cup team, so it’s going to be very tough, but I’m excited and looking forward to the match. It’s good to have strength versus strength and it will give us an indication of how much we have improved,” he said.
Wanderers coach Charl du Toit was also looking forward to a big battle.
“They are the champions so it will be a big challenge to beat them on their home ground, but I have confidence in my players. We weren’t at our best against Suburbs last weekend and I believe we can do much better,” he said.
Western Suburbs and United, who are joint-third on the log on 10 points each, meet at Suburbs Park tomorrow afternoon in another crucial encounter as both will be eager to close the gap on the leaders.
Suburbs also have their national players (Eugene Jantjies, Darryl de la Harpe and Thomas Forbes), back in the fold, but they will all start the match on the bench, and possibly come on as impact players in the second half.
In other Premier League matches on Saturday, both the Rehoboth teams, Reho Falcon and Rehoboth, travel to the coast to take on Walvis Bay and Kudus respectively.
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