Armentum to back up opening win?

Kovsies' finest hostel rugby team, Huis Armentum, began their challenge in the Steinhoff Koshuis Championships to become the best hostel team in the country on a sound note this past Monday.

They defeated Steinhoff Majuba - from Stellenbosch - comprehensively (61-19), but now the Steinhoff Cobras from the University of Cape Town (UCT) await them in Cape.

The Cobras have struggled to date; going down to both Majuba and Barbarians, and another loss on Monday would certainly spell the end of their cup challenge.

Armentum can expect a heavy onslaught from the UCT students, but the visitors' head coach, Willem Kruger, is philosophical about Monday's encounter.

"We don't know much about our opponents," he admitted to varsitycup.co.za, "just that we're playing on a much softer field we are use to and that there is a strong wind blowing there."

However, he says his players will be well prepared for the challenge: "It's going to be crucial for us to play the wind correctly, especially when it's behind our backs.

"We must then also have a plan in action when we're playing against it - our kickers have worked hard this week."

Kruger was very impressed with his team's performance on Monday, particularly their ability to turn opportunities into points.

"The chances we had we rounded of well, so I'm satisfied. However we are not where we want to be yet," said the Armentum coach.

"We still made quite a few mistakes, especially our defence and they way we played in our own half require an improvement," he added.

Armentum will have fond memories of playing a UCT side in the Steinhoff Koshuis Championships. Last year in George they could easily have won the trophy, but had to settle with one win only - a big one at that, 53-6 over the Colts, who represented UCT in 2008.

Before that fixture, Armentum lost two matches after regulation time. Against Dagbreek (Maties), which ended up in a 0-0 draw at full-time, the match was decided by kicks at goal, where Dagbreek came out tops.

Another draw (13-all) followed against the Barbarians from NMMU and yet again a kicking challenge was used to determine the winner.

After this contest also ended even, Barbarians were crowned as winners because they scored the most points in the second half of the original 80-minute contest.

Armentum will thus try their utmost on Monday not be level after 80 minutes again, but rather to have five log points in the bag when the whistle blows for full-time at Groote Schuur.

Monday's match - a curtain-raiser to the UCT-Shimlas Varsity Cup match - kicks-off at 4.45pm.

By Ruan Bruwer