Western Suburbs will put up a last ditch effort to reach the MTC Rugby Premier League semi finals when they play their last match of the league against second placed Reho Falcon at Suburbs Park on Saturday afternoon.
Suburbs are currently fifth on the log with 32 points after they lost 39-16 against defending champions Rehoboth last weekend. They still have a mathematical chance of getting a fourth place finish if they beat Falcons with two bonus points and Rehoboth, who are fourth with 37 points, lose their next match and fail to get any bonus points.
Falcons on the other hand have already qualified for the semi finals as they are currently second on the log with 44 points even though they lost their last match to Wanderers 26-15.
The last time these two teams met in round seven, Suburbs beat Falcons 32-25 in Rehoboth and will definitely be hoping for a repeat performance.
Robert Thompson, the manager of Suburbs said that his team was ready to take on Falcons.
“Our guys are all fit again and the moment has come. We are not feeling any pressure whatsoever,” Thomson said.
“If we don’t make it then that’s that. Our guys have given it their all this season and we will be satisfied with that,” he added.
“We struggled during the season because a lot of our players had to go away on national duty for the Under 19 Africa qualifiers in Ivory Coast and the Nations Cup in Romania. That impacted badly upon us,” he said.
Thompson however said they still hoped to get a replay of their away match against Mariental which was abandoned in June. Mariental shifted the match to Stampriet after the Mariental Stadium had been booked for another event, but Suburbs refused to play at Stampriet. The NRU gave Mariental the points, but Suburbs subsequently lodged an appeal.
“We are hoping that this will not be our last match of the season because we are still waiting to play our match against Mariental. We are waiting for the arbitrators to make a decision,” he added.
Wanderers are now on top of the log after they beat Falcons in Pioneers Park on August 7 and are definitely secured of their semi final spot.
Mariental is another team that will definitely play in the semi finals in their first season in the MTC Premier League. They are currently third with 40 points to their name.
Defending champions Rehoboth have had a season full mixed results and find themselves fourth on the log with seven wins so far in their campaign.
United saw their chance of a fourth place finish and a chance to play in the semi final go up in smoke when they did not travel to Mariental for their league fixture last weekend. Mariental were given the points as a result of the forfeited match.
United did not travel to the south because of a lack of players on the day. They had only one prop for both their first and second teams.
United are now seventh with 30 points. Kudus on the other hand managed to overtake them to sixth position when they beat Unam 27-22 at the coast last weekend.
Unam are last on the log having played 13 matches and only winning three. They last won a match on June 12, in round six when they beat Kudus 30-27 in Windhoek.
In the Southern First League Desert Buffalos will host Rosh Pinah and Ocean Swallows will host Oranjemund.
All three matches will start at 15h00 on Saturday.