"It is first match of the Premiership marathon," says Komphela upon touching down at Port Elizabeth Airport on Saturday afternoon. "We have done our training and travelled well. We received a warm welcome from the supporters at the airport."

Chiefs are here on a mission to start defending their Absa Premiership trophy. "Last season we started the stronger and continued to finish the league the strongest," refers Komphela to the undisputed and inspiring league and cup double win last season.

Chiefs clinched the 2014/15 Premiership with a resounding record 69 points, 12 ahead of the runners up Sundowns. Chiefs finished 42 points ahead of the automatically relegated Amazulu.

"We want to win with a combination of Chiefs flair and a bit of throwback to the traditional Chiefs character," motivates Komphela. "In the Mtn8 Cup match, I was amazed by the runs that Ekstein (Hendrick) was making. He reminded me of the legendary Donald Ace Khuse." Khuse made 174 career appearances for Chiefs between 1989 and 1993, and is still involved in the Chiefs Development setup.

"We have to replicate the great generations of Chiefs," adds Komphela. "The players are responding well. They like the Chiefs style of play. We are at an early stage of this project though."

"Chippa is closed book," says Komphela. "They know us, they might have seen us already when we played in preseason matches in Swaziland and in the Black Label Cup (both matches were televised live). They also saw us play against Maritzburg in the MTN8 Cup."

Chippa comes to this opener after surviving relegation last season but, Komphela remains cautiously optimistic, "Their coach Sikhakhane, knows us well and he is a good coach too."

"The supporters must come to the stadium to watch us play," encourages Komphela, urging the supporters to rally behind the team. "It will give the players confidence to see their supporters appreciating and accepting their play," concludes Komphela.

Statistically the history between the two teams is minimum - Chiefs beat Chippa twice before they were relegated in 2013/14. Chiefs continued their dominance over Chippa last season with home and away wins. Chiefs have dominated with seven goals recorded against Chippa without conceding a goal in the process.

The match is billed at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Sunday, Women' Day, 9th August. Kick-off is at 15:00.

Tickets for the match are reported to be selling like hot cakes at ticketpro (www.ticketpro.co.za) for R40. Ticketpro have affiliates at various outlets in the Eastern Cape, Edgars, Edgars Active, Jet, JetMart & CAN. Select Postnet outlets in the Eastern Cape as well as Post Offices in the Eastern Cape. There are ticketpro independents as well; including at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium and EP Cricket Ticket Office.For more info fans can call ticketpro offices at 0414088986/87.