Club Rugby Premier League wide open

THE 2016 Namibian Club Rugby season gets underway on Saturday with the title race wide open and numerous teams in with a chance of winning the league.

Unam, who won the title for the first time last year, will start amongst the favourites, but last year’s losing finalists Wanderers; United who are celebrating their centenary year; and Western Suburbs will all fancy their chances this year.

Rehoboth and Reho Falcon will also be out to make amends after poor seasons last year, while Kudus and newly-promoted Dolphins will lead the coastal charge.

Saturday’s matches kick off with the traditional derby matches, with champions Unam hosting Western Suburbs at the Unam Stadium.

Unam coach Johan Diergaardt said they were ready and looking forward to the match.

“Our preparation is on track – we have completed our off-season programme and are at the level where we want to be. We are looking forward to the game but it will be tough. Suburbs will be back to full strength after the World Cup and they have some experienced players in their squad,” he said.

The core of the Unam squad that won the title last season, remains, while they have also signed several new young players. They include Shariefa Titus, a wing from Van der Stel in South Africa; Kudus and Namibia u20 centre Chippy Lawrence; eighthman Cameron McNab who played for the Sharks u19 last year; and flanker Freddy Puriza and hooker Bigman Kaura from Suburbs.

They have however lost fly half Henriques Olivier who is studying in South Africa, while eighthman Bwalya Bwalya must still return from Zambia. Lock Mahepisa Tjeriko is still recovering from an operation while centre Lesley Klim is a doubtful starter after taking a knock in last weekend’s United 10-a-side tournament.

Diergaardt said he expected a tough season, saying it will be difficult to retain their title.

“It’s going to be a big challenge to defend the title, but we will take it game by game. We have worked hard in the off season and I have the utmost confidence in my players,” he said.

Suburbs had a poor season last year, failing to make the semifinals for the first time in many years, but according to coach Sergio de la Harpe they will do better this year.

“I think we will do better this year. We started off badly last year when we lost most of our first round matches, but improved and only lost one match in the second round. Our pre-season preparation has also gone well and I feel we are on the right track,” he said.

Suburbs have lost a few players to other clubs, but several experienced players like flanker Vaughan Petersen, fly half Godwin Walters and eighthman Brendon Walters have come out of retirement and started playing again.

They also have experienced players like Darryl de la Harpe, Russel van Wyk, Justin Nel, Shawn Kaizemi and Rodrigues Victor in their squad and will be a team to be reckoned with this season.

United won the league two years ago and will be keen to recapture the title in their centenary year.

They have also been boosted by a sponsorship of several million from Trustco for the next 20 years, while the former Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has been appointed by Trustco to assist with youth development and coaching courses throughout Namibia.

United coach Jood Opperman said they would not make use of De Villiers’ services just yet.

“He has not been involved in our training yet. I already spoke to him and he said he would be available to assist if need be, but we will only make use of him if it’s really necessary. Vincent Dreyer is my backline coach and he’s a very good skills coach,” he said.

“We are well prepared. We had quite a few injuries at last week’s United 10-a-side competition but we have replaced them with players of the same calibre.

I’m excited and looking forward to the game and it should give an indication of how our season will go,” he added.

United have named a strong team for Saturday’s derby against Wanderers at Trustco United Park, including stalwarts like Winmar Rust, Stefan Neustadt, Morne Blom and Naude Neethling amongst the forwards and Robbie Dickson, Nandi Karuuombe, Martin Cronje and Philip Nashikaku amongst the backs.

Wanderers coach JP Nel said they were well prepared.

“Our preparations have gone well and we will have our national players back from the Welwitschias training squad,” he said.

They include Shaun du Preez, Quintin Esterhuizen, Arthur Bouwer, Nico Esterhuyse and World Cup campaigners Johann Tromp, JC Greyling and Rohan Kitshoff, but Nel said they had also signed up several new promising youngsters.

“We have some exciting new youngsters in the squad – I’m very excited about them and it’s good for the club to have this injection of youth,” he said.

Nel said he expected a close match.

In other derby matches on Saturday, Reho Falcon face Rehoboth at the Rehoboth Stadium, while Dolphins host Kudus in Swakopmund.