Rugby semifinals too close to call

THE 2016 Club Rugby Premier League reaches its knockout stage on Saturday when the semifinals will be held at the Hage Geingob Stadium.

The defending champions Unam take on Western Suburbs in the first match at 16h00 while Wanderers take on United in the second semifinal at about 17h45.

Both matches should be tight affairs, as all the teams teams have won and lost against each other in previous encounters this season.

Unam had a slow start to the league and lost their first match against Suburbs 26-20 on March 5.

They also lost to Wanderers and United and at the halfway stage were trailing the log leaders Wanderers by 10 points.

Unam however had a much stronger second half to the season and went on an unbeaten streak of 12 matches, beating Suburbs 27-18 at Suburbs Park in the process.

They eventually finished second on the log on 69 points – four points behind Wanderers, and well ahead of Suburbs (57) and United (53).

Last weekend they hammered Kudus 60-5 at home and they seem to have peaked at the right time in their quest to defend their title.

Unam coach Johan Diegaardt however said he expected a tough match.

“Both teams have a lot of potential and I expect it will be a 50-50 game. In the end it will come down to who is hungrier to play in the final and who takes their chances,” he said.

Unam are missing three players who are with the national squad – Leneve Damens, Cameron Klaasen and Muniovita Kasiringua – but besides them they have a full squad to choose from.

Up front they have a powerful pack including captain Bradley Klaasen, locks Max Katjijeko and Mahepisa Tjeriko, and props Hauta Veii and Tjino Tjirare; while they have exciting match winners in the backline like Lorenzo Louis, Lesley Klim and Unomassa Kavita.

Suburbs have had a poor season by their own standards, losing five of their 16 matches.

Since their last defeat against Wanderers a month ago, however, they have won their last three matches and also seem to be peaking at the right moment.

A key aspect of the match will be the forward battle where Unam might hold the edge, but Suburbs also have a dangerous backline with the likes of Gino Wilson, Deveroux Jansen and Japhet Tjinaho, while full back Ricardo Swartz has turned into a match winner with his reliable goal kicking.

The second match between Wanderers and United could also go down to the wire, as was the case with both their league matches this season.

Wanderers won the first one in March 36-31, while United struck back with a thrilling 41-38 win two months later.

Wanderers started the league on a roll and went on an eight-match unbeaten run to open up a 10-point gap on the chasing pack at the halfway stage.

Their second round was however not that impressive as they suffered defeats to United and Unam, while they were surprisingly held to a 26-26 draw by second-from-bottom Walvis Bay last weekend.

But they have been the hardest hit of all the clubs with regards to players having to be released to the Welwitschias and national squad, with more than 10 players missing at times.

They will once again be without some of their top players who are preparing with the national squad for next weekend’s Africa Cup match against Zimbabwe, but several of their Currie Cup players have been released, including Riaan van Zyl, Alberto Englbrecht, Johan Luttig, Shaun du Preez, Petri Burger, Mahco Prinsloo and Malcolm Moore, while the dangerous Johann Tromp is back from injury.

Wanderers coach JP Nel said he expected a tough encounter.

“The honours are even between us this season, and in a play-off anything can happen, so I think it will be a very interesting match,” he said.

Of the top four teams, United have been the most inconsistent, winning only nine and losing seven of their league matches. Four of those defeats came in the second round, as they lost away to Suburbs and Reho Falcon, and at home to Unam and Kudus.

United coach Jood Opperman was however not too concerned, saying he expected a good performance from his team.

“Our preparation has gone very well and three of our players have returned from the Currie Cup squad – Arno von Wiellich, Collen Smith and Phillip Nashikaku. We just need to keep to our system and will have to work hard at the point of breakdown,” he said.

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