NMMU are more hopeful

Kolie Brandt, the experienced coach of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, is hoping for a smoother ride than last year in the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International.

He said: “We had horrific injuries and didn’t have the depth to cope with it.

“During the 2008 Varsity Cup we lost nine players who had experience of playing for the Eastern Province senior team.”

The start to this competition has not been promising, as four of the side’s better players will not play in the opening round at the University of Cape Town’s field.

Their team is a team of locals, which is hardly surprising as people leave the Eastern Cape more readily than go to it and several top schoolboy players are now playing for universities in other centres. They have only one player not originally from the Eastern Cape – flyhalf Willem Laubscher who was at school at Paarl Gim. But they are not a team of novices. Ten of the team played for Eastern Province at Craven Week and another three played for Border. Four have played for the Eastern Province senior team, one for the Eastern Province Amateur team and another for Border Amateurs. One played for Blue Bulls Under-10 and six for Eastern Province Under-19. In 2007 prop Tashrique Hearne played for South African Students.

NMMU team: 15 Oscar Mazaka, 14 Rayn January, 13 Wade Roos, 12 Marius Muller, 11 Lutho Zatu, 10 Willem Laubscher, 9 Niel Wetz, 8 Jaco Swanepoel, 7 Morné van der Westhuyzen (captain), 6 Qhamani Mjobo, 5 André Goosen, 4 Luke Beling, 3 Pierre Hammond, 2 Alistair Langson, 1 Tyrone Williams.
Replacements: 16 Wade Lotter, 17 Tashrique Hearne, 18 Frans van der Walt, 19 Jannie Fourie, 20 Luso Booi, 21 Devon Mellville, 22 Dale Geyer.

Coach: Kolie Brandt
Assistant coaches: Werner Barnard, Denver Brandt

Kick-off: Monday, February 2, 2.45pm, Groote Schuur