Grand prize will spur on teams for Super League ties

THE Backsportswear Nashua Tournament draw held at Old Selbornians in East London on Wednesday evening will see Border Super League teams battling it out for the grand prize at Old Boys Nashua Park tomorrow.

The first round of action kicks off at 1pm and the teams will be battling it out for the grand prize of kit worth R35 000, and all the clubs present were happy to be part of this exciting rugby challenge on Youth Day.

Tournament organiser, Barry Neville said teams needed to adhere to the rules strictly, so they could avoid delays in the one-day tournament.

“If a player gets suspended there will be no disciplinary hearing. That player will get suspended from the next game.

“But the team can replace that player off the bench after 10 minutes.

“And if you’ve used all your players and you get another red card while your bench are already on the field, you can’t replace them,” said Neville.

He also warned against unruly behaviour including racial discrimination from anyone during the tournament.

“We are sick and tired because we already have enough problems at Border club rugby to go through this again, so if you cause trouble you gonna get nailed,” said Neville.

One of the most interesting fixtures will be the second game against Swallows and Berlin Tigers. Swallows has had an impressive start to the season winning all their games, but they still have two disputes that Border Rugby is to deliberate on.

On the contrary, Tigers had a slow start, losing three games in the beginning of the season, but they have since bounced back. Last week Tigers managed to upset Old Boys, but not before they beat Breakers away in Komani’s Mlungisi Stadium.

Tiger’s coach Leo Mbini said his team was ready to take on the unruly Swallows, and they were much better prepared this time round.

“I’m not panicking about this game, because even the first game against swallows this season was not tough. We were just unlucky because ball possession was ours, but they had better counter-attack and now it’s a total different ballgame.

“We are ready for Swallows as compared to the first game, and the reason we lost to them is that our players are from rural areas.

“And they had to go back home and play the Easter tournament for their local teams and because if they were not injured they were tired.”

Mbini said most of their players came back with injuries so they had to field inexperienced guys.

“We’ve improved our defence and that’s what helped us against Old Boys, and our buildups in the attacks are much better now.

“And even shifting our style to physical suits our team now, because our team has grown bigger,” said Mbini.

Nashua East London sales manager Mark Greenaway said sponsoring the tournament was in line with what they do at the technology solutions company.

“We sponsor the schools and the Super League is also quite important to us, and we expect the guys to get down and enjoy their game.

“Obviously we want a clean good game and enjoyable for the fans, so that’s quite important to us, and as long as the guys enjoy it, we’ll be back next year,” said Greenaway.

Fixtures: Nashua Old Selbornian v Winter Rose, Swallows v Berlin Tigers, Police v Buffaloes, Walter Sisulu All Blacks v Fort Hare University Blues