Seabata Mahao
All eyes will be on the Econet Rugby Premier League games this weekend as the season heads into week three of the second leg with some tantalising macth-ups.
This weekend current log leaders Mabote Beavers will take on Academy while Liqhomane will take on NUL Spears. This weekend’s matches will be hosted by the Academy.
On October 28 this month, Liqhomane will take on Mabote Beavers; Warriors will take on Academy. The host for the matches will be Maseru Rugby Warriors.
Mabote Beavers currently lead the log with 25 points followed by Liqhomane with 18 points, Maseru Rugby Warriors comes third with 16 points, followed by Academy with 10 points, and lastly NUL Spears with zero points in the five- team league.
Defending champions, Maseru Rugby Warriors suffered a setback when they lost 15- 11 to Liqhomane in their opening day of the second leg games last weekend.
Commenting on his teams performance, Maseru Rugby Warriors coach, Morapeli Motaung said expressed pride to his young side for its gallant display against tough and experienced opponents. ÂÂ
He said the promising performance gives hope that the team will soon improve and reclaim its dominance in the championship.
“It has been a very challenging game against one of the big teams. They are older and wiser with their level of physique being above us,” Motaung said.
“I have been stressing that we are short of experienced players and we fielded young inexperienced players. But I was very impressed with how they played. It shows that we are building a competitive team, they played well although we lost. From here we just need to improve on our consistency, Motaung said.
In the other second leg games from last weekend, Mabote Beavers Rugby Club beat NUL Spears 78 – 7. Mabote Beavers had seven tries scored by Sekhola Phate, who extended his lead in the try scorers’ charts.
Warriors’ 15-11 loss to Liqhomane placed them in third position with 16 points in the five–aside championship log, and they will have to work hard to defend their title against high-flying Mabote Beavers.
However, the least they can hope for if their performamces do not improve is a top-four finish which will guarantee them a spot in the semi-finals.
Technically, the Warriors’ poor performance in the league will have little effect on the knockout stages as all teams will be regarded as favourites to go all the way to the final.
