With the Namibia Rugby Premier League well into the home straight, attention now shifts to the top-four battle for the semi-final places.
FNB Wanderers and FNB Grootfontein have been dominating the league so far, regularly exchanging the lead at the top of the log, while Montego United are right behind them in third place.
Last weekend, Wanderers regained the lead after a 33-31 home win against Grootfontein to go top on 45 points, but Grootfontein are a point behind on 44, while United are third on 42 points.
Barring any dramatic slumps, all three teams should comfortably reach the semi-finals at the end of the season, but the battle for the final semi-final spot is still wide open with FNB Kudus, FNB Unam, and possibly FNB Rehoboth all still in contention.
The defending champions, Kudus, currently occupy the fourth spot on 32 points, followed by Unam (25) and Rehoboth (22).
FNB Dolphins (16) and FNB Reho Falcon (15) still have a mathematical chance of going through, but it’s highly unlikely.
Tomorrow, Kudus and Unam are both favoured to win when they take on Dolphins and FNB Western Suburbs, respectively, but Rehoboth face a tough task when they travel to Grootfontein.
The defending champions Kudus had an indifferent start to the league with some early away defeats to United (43-36), Grootfontein (24-19) and Wanderers (36-21), and by the halfway stage had dropped well behind the top three on the log.
In the second round, however, they face all three the top teams at home and last weekend already gave an indication that they will be much stronger on their home turf with an emphatic 53-38 victory against United.
They have a powerful pack, including the likes of Ja-Tamson van der Berg, Adriaan Ludick, Sheron Rossouw and Lizardo Vos, and a lot of speed and experience among the backs with players like Aston Mukwiilongo, Lucio Isaacs, Lloyd Jacobs, Justin Newman, PJ Walters, and the evergreen Aurelio Plato.
Dolphins, on the other hand, have only won two matches so far and are currently struggling in seventh position on the log.
Kudus comfortably won their first-round encounter 45-12, but Dolphins should not be underestimated and have the ability to spring a surprise. They recorded convincing wins against Suburbs (45-21) and Rehoboth (56-14), while they nearly shocked Grootfontein away, before going down 41-36.
Unam will also be strongly favoured to win when they host Suburbs at Unam Stadium. They haven’t had the best of seasons or lived up to their potential, but they should have enough firepower against a struggling Suburbs, who have lost all their matches and are rock bottom on two points.
They have suffered some heavy defeats, going down 66-7 to Wanderers, 61-27 to United, and 61-26 to Reho Falcon, but actually produced one of their best performances in their first-leg match against Unam, going down 28-7 at home, which should give them hope for tomorrow’s return leg.
Rehoboth, meanwhile, face a tough task when they travel north to take on Grootfontein, who will be determined to bounce back from their defeat to Wanderers last weekend.
Despite the defeat, Grootfontein will draw hope from that performance as they nearly toppled Wanderers on their home turf, and should start as favourites against Rehoboth, whom they beat 66-25 away in the first round.
Wanderers will also start as favourites when they take on Falcons at Rehoboth, but Falcons have the ability to spring a surprise.
They did quite well in their first-leg encounter, before going down 47-23 at Wanderers, and with their halfback pair of Dillon Kahmann and former national flyhalf Cliven Loubser both in great form, they cannot be underestimated.
