Lesotho Rugby Championship reaches business end

Who will be on top?
The Lesotho Rugby Championship is reaching its final stages...

The league phase of the Lesotho Rugby Championship ends on Saturday with an intriguing round of games at the Makoanyane Barracks sports grounds. The matches will decide the seedings for the four teams that will contest the championship playoffs next weekend.

The pick of the day’s three ties is the clash between the National University of Lesotho (NUL) Spears, who top the log standings, and second placed Maseru Warriors. The game will start at 14:00.

Spears have been the league’s standout team this season.

The university side have won seven of their eight games and own the best defensive and offensive records in the league. However, Spears could still mathematically be pipped to the top seed by Warriors, who were beaten finalists in last year’s Rugby Championship. Warriors, who have won five of their eight outings, have 28 points while Spears have 33.

The side that beat Warriors last year is Mabote Beavers but the defending champions have found the going tougher this season. Beavers are fourth in the standings and will likely have the difficult task of facing the winner between Spears and Warriors in next week’s playoffs.

However, before then, Beavers have to end their league campaign with a tricky game against LDF Liqhomane. The match will start at 16:00.

The day’s other fixture will be played at 12:00 and will see third-placed Giants take on bottom side Swallows.

Giants won the inaugural Rugby Championship in 2015 but missed last year’s competition because of suspension. They will be looking to establish momentum for the playoffs with a good performance against struggling Swallows.

Weekend Fixtures:

Giants v Swallows (12:00)

NUL Spears v Maseru Warriors (14:00)

LDF Liqhomane v Mabote Beavers (16:00)

Lesotho Rugby Championship Standings:

		P	W	D	L	PF	PA	Pts.
1	NUL Spears	8	7	0	1	165	35	33
2	Warriors	8	5	1	2	115	60	28
3	Giants	6	4	0	2	75	40	18
4	Mabote Beavers	8	4	1	3	65	90	13
5	LCS Lioalaoala	3	1	0	2	15	50	4
6	Swallows	8	0	0	8	25	80	2

Bokamoso South on the verge of history

Bokamoso South (left) and Lichocha (right) meet in Game 3
of the NBL finals on Friday evening

Bokamoso South stand on the verge of etching their names into the history books when they face Lichocha Shooting Rifles in Game 3 of the National Basketball League (NBL) finals on Friday evening at the Lehakoe Club.

Bokamoso need just one more to clinch the best-of-five finals series after winning the first two games last weekend.

Bokamoso beat Lichocha 83-77 in Game 1 of the NBL finals last Friday and then followed that up with a 76-64 win in Game 2 last Saturday.

Bokamoso, who finished first in the regular season league phase, are bidding to complete a rare treble of trophies this season.

They won the Sprite Memorial Independence Tournament last October before winning the Sprite Summer Slam Charity Tournament in December

The odds say Bokamoso stand a good chance of completing adding a third title. Not only do they have a commanding 2-0 lead over Lichocha in the finals series, Bokamoso have been virtually unbeatable all season.

In total, across all competitions in the 2016/17 season, Bokamoso have played 33 games and have won 31 of them. They have only suffered defeat on two occasions.

Bokamoso South’s incredible 2016/17 season:

	P	W	L
NBL League Season	20	18	2
NBL Playoffs	4	4	0
Memorial Independence	4	4	0
Summer Slam	5	5	0
Total	33	31	1

Schedule for Vodacom Premier League finale confirmed

The Vodacom Premier League season ends on Saturday
and the timetable has been confirmed...

The times and venues for the final weekend of the 2016/17 Vodacom Premier League season have been confirmed.

All seven matches will be played on Saturday and all will kick-off at 14:00.

The headline clash will take place at the Maputsoe DiFA Stadium where Bantu, who need a win to clinch the title, face third-placed Kick4Life. The teams will go into the title deciding game in contrasting form.

A Matšo Matebele are unbeaten in their last 12 league matches winning 10 of them. Kick4Life, on the other hand, have won just once in their last six games and were beaten 1-0 by LDF last weekend.

The only other side that has a chance of winning the Vodacom Premiership is champions Lioli who will retain their title if Bantu fail to beat Kick4Life and Tse Nala collect maximum points against Sky Battalion. Lioli’s game against SK will be played at Setsoto Stadium.

The other main drama on the final day will revolve around the relegation dogfight where Rovers and Likhopo are going toe to toe for survival. Rovers hold edge because they are two points clear of the Red Army.

Nevertheless, because of Rovers’ inferior goal difference, the Dynamites have to win to against Linare to ensure Likhopo don’t pip them to survival with a win over Liphakoe.

Rovers will host Linare in Roma while Likhopo have to make the long trip to Quthing to face Liphakoe.

The battle for top eight placing will also be decided on Saturday.

With LDF and Matlama having secured their top eight spots with wins last weekend, the battle for the eighth and final spot is between LMPS and Sundawana. LMPS are eighth, two points clear of Sundawana who are ninth. LMPS hold a major advantage, however, because they face relegated Butha-Buthe Warriors who have lost 21 of their 25 games this season.

A win for Semonye over generous Warriors would mean it doesn’t matter what Sundawana do in their game against LCS.

The final fixture of the weekend is a meeting of two sleeping giants, LDF and Matlama, at Ratjomose.

All games will kick-off at 14:00...

There is little at stake in the game with the only prize for the winner being finishing the season in sixth place. It is a far cry from the glory days of Lesotho’s two most successful clubs.

Matlama have won the most league titles with 10 followed by Sohle-Sohle with eight. However, they go into the final day of this Vodacom Premier League season with LDF in sixth place and Tse Putsoa languishing in seventh.

Vodacom Premier League final day fixtures:

Saturday

LMPS v Butha-Buthe Warriors (14:00, PTC)

Bantu v Kick4Life (14:00, Maputsoe DiFA)

LCS v Sundawana (14:00, LCS Stadium)

LDF v Matlama (14:00, Ratjomose)

Liphakoe v Likhopo (14:00, Liphakoe Ground, Quthing)

Lioli v Sky Battalion (14:00, Setsoto Stadium)         

Rovers v Linare (14:00, Roma)

Standings:

		P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts.
1	Bantu	25	18	5	2	47	13	+34	59
2	Lioli	25	18	3	4	47	11	+36	57
3	Kick4Life	25	13	6	6	42	25	+17	45
4	LCS	25	14	8	5	36	21	+15	44
5	Sky Battalion	25	12	5	8	33	25	+8	41
6	LDF	25	10	8	7	28	21	+7	35
7	Matlama	25	9	10	6	37	25	+12	34
8	LMPS	25	7	12	6	21	19	+2	33
9	Sundawana	25	7	10	8	25	27	-2	31
10	Liphakoe	25	7	7	11	22	31	-9	28
11	Linare	25	6	8	11	34	37	-3	26
12	Rovers	25	3	7	15	21	49	-28	16
13	Likhopo	25	2	8	15	18	38	-20	14
R	Butha-Buthe Warriors	25	1	3	21	17	86	-69	6

·         Matlama docked 3 points

·         LDF docked 3 points and 3 goals