Botswana v Swaziland in RWC qualifier
Fri, 16 May 2008 16:48
Botswana, whose team is nicknamed the Vultures, play Swaziland at the UB Stadium in Gaborone on Saturday afternoon, the third occasion for qualification for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
First there was the Caribbean tournament which saw Trinidad & Tobago move on to the next round. Then Cameroon beat Nigeria to move on to the next round. Now Swaziland play Botswana and the winner will join Uganda and Madagascar in the next round.
Botswana's coach Gareth Gilbert is optimistic but says: "I hope I don't jinx the team but we have not lost to the Swazis before."
Mike Collinson, the president of the Swaziland Rugby Union and the coach of the Swazi side, says: "In terms of rugby awareness within Swaziland, beating Botswana would be a huge boost
"Rugby is the fastest growing sport within Swaziland and beating Botswana would put Rugby on the front page of the local newspapers. It would also mean we would play Uganda at home in June, which would be amazing for local rugby."
Already qualified for 2011 are South Africa, England, Tonga, Australia, Fiji, Wales, New Zealand, Scotland, Italy, Argentina, France and Ireland.
There is room for qualifiers - two from Europe and the Americas, one each from Asia, Oceania and Africa and a side which will get there through répechage.
Teams that have been to previous World Cups and will need to qualify are Canada, the USA and Uruguay from the Americas; Samoa from Oceania; Japan from Asia; Romania, Georgia, Spain and Portugal from Europe; Zimbabwe, Cote d’Ivoire and Namibia from Africa.
Teams:
Botswana: Katlego Mohutsiwa (UB Rhinos), Brendan Garcin (vc) (Gaberone Hogs), Victor Lajini (BDF Cheetahs), Gilbert Machobane (BDF Cheetahs), Eddie Ernst (BDF Cheetahs), Kabo Batsile (BDF Cheetahs), Jerry Mooketsi (BDF Cheetahs), Munya Mhonda (UB Rhinos), Mark Colley (C) (Gaberone Hogs), Hugo Botha (Gaberone Hogs), Jeremy Babbage (Gaberone Hogs), Ryan O Shaugnessy (Gaberone Hogs), Jerome Alabu (UB Rhinos), Leloba Kgosintwa (BDF Cheetahs), Mooketsi Mooketsi (BDF Cheetahs), Tyrone Warburton (Gaberone Hogs), Lesedi Keekae (UB Rhinos), Molibi Maphanyane (Gaberone Hogs), Johan van Niekerk (Gaberone Hogs), JJ Harris (Gaberone Hogs), Eddie Oosterhuizen (Gaberone Hogs), Tshoganetso Katse (UB Rhinos)
Coaches: Gareth Gilbert, Ivor Greeves
Swaziland: tba
Date: Saturday, May 17
Kick-off: 15.00 (local time)
Venue: UB Stadium, Gaberone
Referee: Jacky Husselman (Namibia)
Touch judges: Wikkie Hough (Namibia), Danie Koen (Namibia)
