East Cape clubs in Cup action

AFRICAN BOMBERS are expecting a capacity 4 000 crowd to watch their opening Cell C Community Cup rugby match against Welkom Rovers at the Zwide Stadium tomorrow (3pm).

"This will be a huge day for the club and we have been waiting a long time for the big kick-off,” Bombers general secretary Fezi Majola said.

The Eastern Cape’s other representatives in the competition, Gap Despatch, start their campaign with a tough match against College Rovers in Durban.

"I can promise our fans that we will play an attacking, open brand of rugby against Welkom,” Majola said.

"We have introduced several new players to the squad and we are well prepared. In our warm-up games, we beat Zwide United and PE Harlequins and lost to Despatch and Crusaders.

"Our home crowd always get behind us and the singing by our devoted fans will do a lot to lift the players to greater heights,” Majola said.

Meanwhile, Despatch have five practice matches under their belts and club secretary Vernon Rathbone said they were fired up for tomorrow’s fixture.

"There was a bit of stiffness on Monday and Tuesday,” Rathbone said, "but the guys are well prepared and in good spirits.”

Even though they will be facing the national club champions in their own backyard, Rathbone said they were looking forward to the encounter.

"We had a good game against them in the national club quarterfinals and were leading until near the end, so we will be looking for a little bit of revenge this weekend.”