Wanderers the team to beat

The Rugby Premier League has only had two rounds of matches so far, but defending champions FNB Wanderers already look like the team to beat. 

They started their campaign off with a 47-13 away win to FNB Rehoboth and last weekend swept aside their closest rivals in recent years, Unam, 35-20 to go to the top of the log. Tomorrow they will start as firm favourites when they host third-placed FNB Kudus at their Pionierspark ground. 

Wanderers have lost several players to the Welwitschias like the halfback pair of Jacques Theron and Andre van der Berg, centre Danco Burger, wing JC Greyling, and the forwards Le Beau du Preez, Herschelle van Wyk and Thomasau Forbes, but they have also acquired some exciting new players. 

These include the young Holtzhauzen brothers, flyhalf DJ and centre Niel, loose-forward Anton Steenkamp who has returned after a break from the game and now captains the side; prop Christiaan Henning from South Africa; flanker Pierre Venter, who played in the USA last year; centre Kian Fransman and lock forward Francois Jones, both from South Africa; and scrumhalf Danie van der Merwe. 

Especially their forward power was evident against Unam as they dominated the set-pieces, while scoring a great try after a 30m rolling maul, and with several exciting backs in their midst they will be a tough nut to crack.

They include fullback Denzo Bruwer, who dictated play against Unam with his booming boot, and their flying wingers Nandi Karuuombe and Warren Ludwig, who each scored a try. 

They also have a new coaching staff with Dirk Human having replaced Rohan Kitshoff as head coach after the latter joined the Welwitschias as forward coach. 

Human, who is being assisted by forwards coach Shaun du Preez and defensive coach Darryl de la Harpe, said they are well prepared and looking forward to the match.   

“We’ve had two good weeks and the vibe and energy is good in the camp. We’ve been disrupted by a few injuries, but we are well prepared and looking forward to the game against Kudus,” he said, adding that he was very satisfied with their performance against Unam.

“We started off at a high tempo in the first half and although the play got a bit loose in the second half, I’m very satisfied and I think we are now further than we were at this stage last year. We have a very young team so we are in a rebuilding phase again,” he added. 

Human said he expected a tough match against Kudus. 

“Kudus are never easy and they are worthy opponents, so we are expecting a tough match, especially since they were the only team that beat us at home last season.”

Kudus have also lost some of their top players to the Welwitschias, like backs Aurelio Plato, Justin Newman, PJ Walters and Lloyd Jacobs, and forwards Cameron Langenhoven, Lezardo Vos and Joshua Jacobs, although the latter will be available for the Wanderers match. 

They started their campaign off with a narrow 26-21 defeat to United in Windhoek before thrashing Reho Falcon 71-3 at Walvis Bay last week.

Wanderers, however, will be a different proposition on their home field and Kudus coach Gawan Esterhuizen said he expected a tough match. 

“We are developing a new team, but we are taking it step by step and building towards the end of the season,” he said. 

“Wanderers are a very good team they are playing good rugby at the moment, so we we are expecting a tough game, but we will give it our all,” he added. 

There are several other interesting matches in store tomorrow with Trustco United, who are the only other unbeaten team besides Wanderers, hosting FNB Rehoboth at Trustco United Park; FNB Western Suburbs hosting FNB Unam at Suburbs Park; and FNB Reho Falcon hosting FNB Grootfontein in Rehoboth.