The annual Wanderers-United derby takes centre stage tomorrow with both teams amongst the frontrunners in the Rugby Premier League title race.
FNB Kudus currently lead the log on 24 points, but both United on 23 and Wanderers on 21 points are unbeaten and have a match in hand.
Their annual derby has a rich history, having started with a 3-3 draw in 1954, and then continuing every year with the excpetion of 2020 due to covid.
Wanderers have had the better of their more recent encounters, winning their last two matches, but United still hold the record in the derby which takes place for the 68th time at the Wanderers field tomorrow.
Since their first encounter, United have won 34 matches compared to Wanderers’ 29, while four have ended in draws.
Wanderers are the defending Premier League champions, but United have improved a lot and adding further spice to tomorrow’s encounter is the fact that one of the two teams will lose its unbeaten record, providing the match doesn’t end in a draw.
Wanderers have been strengthened by the return of several players from the Welwitschias squad, including prop Herschell van Wyk, lock Lebeau du Preez, flanker Darius von Solms, scrumhalf Jacques Theron and wing Warren Ludwig.
Besides them they have a powerful pack led by eighthman Anton Steenkamp, and some speed merchants in the backline in Ludwig and Nandivatu Karuuombe, backed up by the powerful boot of Denzo Bruwer at fullback.
Wanderers coach Dirk Human said they are well prepared and ready for the match.
“We are excited and looking forward to the match. The derby is nearly bigger than the final, and United are in good form, so the tension is building. We are well prepared and I think it’s going to be a great match,” he said.
Human, however, refused to get carried away about the title race or the favourite’s tag.
“It’s still early days and there have been some surprising results so one can’t really say who’s the favourite. We narrowly beat Grootfontein away, while United drew against Reho Falcons, but we had a good match against Suburbs last weekend so I think we are on the right track,” he said.
United coach Robbie Dickson was also in confident mood:
“We are feeling pretty confident, we have prepared well and are feeling good.”
United have not been title contenders since they last won the title in 2019, but they have shown a big improvement this year and coach Robbie Dickson said their development plan is starting to bear fruition.
“Last year we had a young squad, but we are working on a three-year development plan and the players are improving. The players are willing to work hard and the team is building a strong backbone,” he said.
Part of their success is due to the inspirational form of their young brothers Eloff and Jahno du Plessis. Flanker Eloff already captains the team at the tender age of 24, while 21-year-old Jahno has added an attacking threat at scrumhalf with his sniper attacks from the base of the scrum.
Centre Reinold Benade is also back in the squad to form another sibling pair with fullback Renier Benade, and with the unpredicatable Hanreco van Zyl at flyhalf, their backline can create havoc.
But as is the norm, the battle will be won or lost up front where United stalwarts like Jano Otto, Gerhard Thirion and Dean Blom will spearhead their attack.
Wanderers have prepared a full weekend of entertainment with the archrivals also competing against each other in various other sport codes. Activities already get underway this evening with a women’s hockey match, while the action continues tomorrow morning with table tennis, squash and knobel amongst others.
Log leaders Kudus, meanwhile, travel to Windhoek to take on Unam at the Unam Stadium tomorrow afternoon. Unam have had a disappointing season, with only one win from their opening five matches and will be determined to get back on track against a strong Kudus side which has developed into title contenders under coach Gawan Esterhuizen.
In tomorrow’s final match fourth-placed Rehoboth host bottom-of-the-log Grootfontein. Rehoboth are already eight points behind Kudus and will be aiming for maximum points to stay in touchwith the leaders, but Grootfontein cannot be underestimated, as they showed in a near-win against Wanderers.
