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Masiphumelele kicked off the Top Nine competition in the Promotion League of the Western Province Rugby Union by beating Van der Stel-Evergreens by 40-20 at home.
Masi continued where they left off in the City League before progressing to this league and are now top of the log after this win. Van der Stel-Evergreens are lying bottom of the log with a deficit of 20 points.
On Saturday Masi will be playing against Police who drew with Retreat (32-32) in an away game.
“This year we had a long pre-season as we didn’t know when the season was going to start due to the water crisis. Training was hard and fun with road runs, beach sessions and gym conditioning. Once the season started more players showed up as the boys just want to play,” says Warren Edwards, coach of the A team.
The second team is coached by Russel Speelman.
“This new competition with the new teams brings new challenges. In the City League the top try scorer was Siyabonga Mabali (eight tries), while Malabo Totshini scored the most points (51). You must remember that the Top Nine consist of the top three teams of the City League and Northern and Southern League. Masi only played against Silvertree and Police in the City League so the other six teams are newbies to us,” he says.
If Masi is one of the three teams that will be playing in Super League C next year it means that they are on the rise and will hopefully attract new and more players for 2019.
“The club is a community club and the players are all from the Deep South. We played tough games against Silvertree and Caledonian Roses and we once again have to face Silvertree on Saturday 22 September. For now we have to focus on our encounter this coming Saturday against Police before we worry about Silvertree again.
“In the competition in City League we learned that no game is easy. You have to rock up and be switched on each and every Saturday. In the game against Van der Stel-Evergreens, we played as individuals in the first half and they came out all guns blazing. In the second half we could manage to play as a team again and that is when we kept the scoreboard rolling,” he says.
The fixtures for Saturday 15 September (home team first):
Police vs Masi; Van der Stel-Evergreens vs Silvertree; Blue Stars United vs Retreat; Lagunya (who had a bye last week) vs Raithby-Universals, and Morning Star is not in action on Saturday.
