University of Fort Hare coach Simphiwe Mafene relishing Hollywoodbets Super League play-off against Mamelodi Sundowns

University of Fort Hare coach Simphiwe Mafene says his team’s first-place finish in the 2026 Hollywoodbets Super League Super Rise stream has filled him with pride.

The Baby Wolves secured top spot after beating City Lads Ladies FC 2-1 in Soweto, ending their campaign with 31 points from 14 matches.

Their reward is a play-off against defending champions Mamelodi Sundowns, with Mafene looking forward to the challenge after his side recovered from a slow start to the season.

Speaking to SABC Sport, Mafene said he was delighted to have won a stream for the first time and praised the progress made by his players.

“I am overwhelmed, it is my first time winning a stream. I think the impact that we brought in so far, I think it’s a good challenge,” he said.

“Right now I’m excited about the R2 million against Sundowns, I’m very much excited and checking again with how we’ve been coming up along winning 2-1 and 1-0.”

The coach said the narrow victories achieved by University of Fort Hare had also shown the team that it could not afford to become complacent.

“I think it’s one thing that we’ve noticed that we can’t be comfortable. So, we needed to craft even more than that,” Mafene added.

The University of Fort Hare side are in their debut Hollywoodbets Super League campaign, and Mafene believes their success has been built on finding the right combination of experienced players and younger members of the squad.

He said the senior players had provided important guidance, particularly by helping the emerging players understand the discipline and consistency required at this level.

“A bit of mixture with the seniors and the youth, I think we struck a little bit of a balance when you see a lot of senior players come on board and in terms of discipline we’re looking up to them to ensure that they groom these other ones that are still coming,” he said.

Mafene also highlighted the development of Keisha Hendricks, who he said adapted particularly well during the second half of the campaign.

“Even Keisha [Hendricks] you saw that she adapted very well especially towards the second round,” he said.

“It’s because now we had to sit down a lot with the analysis and make sure that each and every player understands their duties and responsibilities in the field of play.”