Trustco United faces a big task this weekend as they look to reach the semi-finals of the Windhoek Lager Rugby Premier League.

United, the defending champions, travel to Rehoboth tomorrow to face FNB Reho Falcon in their final league match. They need to win by at least 49 points if they are to beat FNB Grootfontein into the knockout stages.

Grootfontein have already completed the league season and are in fourth place with 45 points. United are in fifth place, six points behind and with an overall deficit of 48 points.

If United are to dislodge Grootfontein from fourth place and reach the semi-finals, they will need to score the maximum bonus points by scoring at least seven tries and win by at least 49 points – a tall order.

Although the odds against them are very slim, United manager Robbie Dickson believes they can still do it.

“I still believe we can make it to the semi-finals – we have the team, we have the structures and now we just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that the boys turn up on Saturday,” he says.

“Last weekend against Rehoboth, we didn’t pitch in the first half, but we were much better in the second half, which has been a regular occurrence this season. So we need to pitch from the start.”

United’s semi-final hopes suffered a major blow last weekend when they lost 32-26 to Rehoboth.

Dickson believes the referees’ performance was below standards.

“I never like to blame the referee, but I feel like he didn’t call a lot of Rehoboth’s violations last weekend, especially the breakdown when their players illegally fell over the ball. That’s an old Rehoboth thing, they don’t stay on their feet and fall over the ball, and when players illegally fall over the ball, they can get hurt,” he says.

“We dominated the scrums but couldn’t take advantage. In the end we broke up their scrums but they weren’t penalised. But in the end we have to blame ourselves, we just didn’t throw,” he added.

Reho Falcon, who are in sixth place in the table, have no chance of a place in the semi-finals, but Dickson expects a strong attack from them.

“Even though they have nothing left to play for, we expect the Falcons to put pressure on us. They’ve had a good season, they’re playing for pride and want to end it with a win. But we’ve done all the hard work, now the players just have to shoot.”

Meanwhile, FNB Kudus will also travel to Rehoboth to face FNB Rehoboth in their last league game of the season.

The result is not of great importance as third-placed Kudus are already in the knockout stages, but they can expect a tough match against Rehoboth. They have had a mediocre season, winning six games and losing nine. Although there is nothing at stake, they will play with passion and pride as they showed against United last weekend.