THE Welwitschias take on the Falcons in their final match of the season in Windhoek on Saturday, hoping they can finally break their winless streak.
In a tough introduction to the South African Currie Cup competition, the Welwitschias lost all their matches in the first qualifying round of the competition, while they are also winless in the second round, the Currie Cup First Division.
According to Welwitschias coach John Williams, they, however, have a great chance of winning Saturday’s match against a Falcons side that has also found the going tough this season.
“I’m very positive about Saturday’s match. The Falcons have also struggled this season and are just above us on the log. Furthermore, we are playing at home and we really want to finish on a high, so I think we can pull this one off,” he said.
The Welwitschias are sixth and bottom of the log on two bonus points after losing all their four matches to date, while the Falcons are fifth on seven points, after one victory from four matches.
The Falcons, however, still have a chance of moving into fourth position and qualifying for the semifinals and are sure to be highly motivated for tomorrow’s match. If they beat the Welwitschias and the fourth-placed SWD Eagles lose to the Border Bulldogs, the Falcons will finish fourth and make the play-offs.
Last weekend the Welwitschias were hammered 84-25 by the third-placed Griffons in Welkom, which left Williams frustrated after another poor start to the match.
“We played well at times, but we had a bad start and were on the back foot from then on. We couldn’t get any momentum going and our individual tackling was not up to standard – that has been a major problem all season. It was frustrating, but if we cut out our errors and give everything on Saturday, we can win this match,” he said.
Williams has made six changes to the starting 15, with the most interesting being that of regular full back Chrysander Botha coming in at fly half.
He replaces Eugene Jantjies, who has not really impressed at number 10 in the last few matches, while his kicking has also not been up to scratch. Against the Griffons he only managed to convert one of four tries and one penalty.
Fly half has been a troublesome position all season, with Jantjies, Shawn Kaizemi, Heinrich Smit, Mahco Prinsloo and Justin Nel all being used at various stages, and hopefully Botha will be able to add some vitality and direction to this position.
In other changes, Rohan Kitshoff and Johan Wohler come in at flank in place of Zayne Groenewaldt and Morne Blom; Shawn Kaizemi replaces Darryl de la Harpe at centre; Malcolm Moore replaces Gino Wilson at right wing; and Riaan van Zyl comes in for Chrysander Botha at full back.
It will be Williams’ last match as coach of the Welwitschias after the NRU recently advertised the position, but he said he would remain as general manager of the Namibia Rugby Union.
“From the beginning, I just took the coaching position for this season to get things going, but I will still continue in my position as general manager of Namibian rugby,” he said.
The match starts at 16h00, while tickets cost N$60 for the Main Stand, N$30 for the Open Stand, and N$10 for children on the Open Stand.
The Welwitschias team is as follows:
Hauta Veii, Gerhard Lotter, A J de Klerk (captain), Denzil van Wyk, Ruan Ludick, Rohan Kitshoff, Johan Wohler, Leneve Damens, Eugene Jantjies, Chrysander Botha, Philip Nashikaku, Shaun Kaizemi, Leslie Klim, Malcolm Moore and Riaan van Zyl.
The substitutes are Shaun du Preez, Nian Berg, Munio Kasaringua, Zayne Groenewaldt, J C Winckler, Heinrich Smith and Justin Nel.
