Hamilton, Pirates gear up for crunch quarter-final

They may have been drawn to play the first quarter-final of the day, but there’s little doubt that the match between two of the country’s oldest clubs, Hamilton and Pirates, is the most eagerly anticipated clash of Day 2 of the SAA National Club Champs, which resumes in Pretoria on Tuesday.

The match kicks off at 11h30 at the LC de Villiers stadium on the University of Pretoria sport campus and pits the historic Western Province and Golden Lions champions against each other for a place in Thursday’s semi-finals, which will be televised live on SuperSport from 16h00.

Hammies – South Africa’s oldest club having been founded in 1876 – began their quest for a first-ever Club Champs title with an 83-19 win over Griquas representatives Kuruman on Sunday.

“A first game of a tournament is always difficult and we didn’t know what to expect against Kuruman,” said Hamilton head coach Anton Moolman. “But we arrived in Pretoria in good form and I’m happy with the way the guys performed in the first match.”

Moolman said that Pirates would however be a different proposition altogether. “We know it’s going to be a tough game but the guys are in a good space and we didn’t come here to make up the numbers,” he said. “The team is fully focused and while we know that anything can happen in a knockout tournament, if we play to our potential I can’t see Pirates standing in our way.

“This is the first time we’ve ever gone to the SAA National Club Champs and we want to finish off a very successful year by bringing the trophy back home with us to Cape Town.”

Pirates, founded in 1888, are Johannesburg’s oldest club and were also the last open club to win the title when, under current Springbok assistant coach Dick Muir, they beat Tygerberg in the 2001 final.

The Gauteng side began their campaign with a convincing 66-3 win over Mpumalanga champions Middelburg on the opening day to set up what should be an intriguing match-up.

“The guys did very well against Middelburg considering that we didn’t know too much about them,” said Pirates’ coach Neil Kalify. “We had to find out what we were up against and I think it went well.”

Kalify said he expected the quarter-final against Hamilton to be a much tighter affair. “We saw Hamilton play and they’re a good outfit and well organised,” he said. “The game will be a lot tighter but the guys are ready to get stuck in. Every team is here to do the business and my players are very calm and settled going into the match.”

In the day’s second Premier quarter-final, Border champions Buffalo will want to prove that their 45-19 win over Pretoria Police in the main match on Sunday was no fluke. They face the hard men from Springs.

College Rovers, who emerged from a tough encounter against Impala with a hard-fought 33-25 victory, will face the opening day’s other giant killers, Park of Eastern Province, in the third match. Park shocked Free State champs Shimlas 27-26 to book their place in the last eight.

In the main match of the day, coach Rudy Joubert’s NWU-Pukke play Boland champions Rawsonville for a place in the semi-finals. Pukke kicked off their title defence with an 87-12 win over Noordelikes, while Rawsonville accounted for SWD’s Great Brak River 25-21 in one of the most closely contested matches of the opening day.

The Plate competition, which features the eight first-round losers, will kick off proceedings on Tuesday with the first match starting at 10h00. The first Premier quarter-final kicks off at 11h30.

Fixtures for Tuesday 22 September:

Premier quarter-finals (LC de Villiers stadium):
11h30: Hamiltons (WP) v Pirates (Golden Lions)
13h00: Springs (Valke) v Buffalo (Border)
14h30: College Rovers (KZN) v Park (EP)
16h00: NWU-Pukke (Leopards) v Rawsonville (Boland)

Plate quarter-finals (A-field):
10h00: Noordelikes (Limpopo invitees) v Great Brak River (SWD)
11h30: Impala (Leopards invitees) v Shimlas (Free State)
13h00: Kuruman (Griqualand West) v Middelburg (Mpumalanga)
14h30: Welkom Rovers (Griffons) v Pretoria Police (Blue Bulls)

Issued by SA Rugby