The finishing line is in sight and after Maties again dipped first in this year’s Super League A, it’s UWC and Parow NTK that are running neck and neck at the moment.
With Belhar and St Georges’s relegation already confirmed, the Bellville students will host NTK in a straight shootout for the third-from-bottom place.
The winner stays in Super League A for 2019, while the loser will have to play a promotion/ relegation clash against the third-placed team in Super League B at the end of the term.
At home, UWC will fancy their chances against a NTK team that started out well this year, but gradually lost their fire as the year progressed.
The students, though, will know that they will have to improve on their performance against Brackenfell last weekend.
Director of Rugby Chester Williams’ men were never really in that encounter, trailing 15-3 at the break and despite their best efforts were beaten 32-8 in a match that could have given them the safety they required heading into the final round.
NTK, meanwhile, will leave nothing on the field at the UWC Stadium.
Free-running, they scored five tries against Victorians last weekend and despite a double by Dan Aspeling, they still lost the match 55-40. Needing a win to guarantee safety, NTK will in all likelihood throw caution to the wind again.
While the relegation scrap has gone down to the wire, UCT still have a chance of making it into the top six when they travel to Milnerton to face UniMil.
A win for Ikeys, who were beaten by Tygerberg in a surprise result last weekend, will see them knock Vics out of the top six.
They can also go past UniMil in fourth place, meaning Isma-Eel Dollie’s team will have a tougher draw in the top-six title playoffs.
A win for UniMil, though, will keep them in fourth and will effectively knock out Ikeys.
Durbell, meanwhile, will be hoping Brackenfell can spring a surprise when they host False Bay on Saturday.
The Bay currently occupy second spot on the log, meaning they will have a home semifinal in the playoffs.
Trailing them by two log points, Durbell will have to get the better of Tygerberg and hope Brackenfell win to get second spot on the log.
So while the season is done and dusted for some teams, others still have a lot to play for before things really get real.
Tygerberg 34 UCT 33, St Georges 26 SK Walmers 29, NTK 40 Victorians 55, Hamiltons 7 Durbell 12, False Bay 50 Villager 32, Brackenfell 32 UWC 8, Belhar 24 Union Milnerton 63.
All first team games kick off at 4pm
UWC v NTK, UniMil v UCT, SK Walmers v Belhar, Durbell v Tygerberg, Brackenfell v False Bay.