It’s a famous win for Wits students

JOHANNESBURG: In a pulsating game played in front of a noisy crowd in Braamfontein, Wits University scored a famous Varsity Cup win against defending champions, the University of Pretoria, romping home 25-19 in front of their home fans yesterday.

It was the men from Pretoria who struck the first blow yesterday; centre Toko Seerane finishing off after running a perfect line, but before the visitors’ celebrations were over, Wits struck right back.

Centre Sicelo Champion went over after his captain Constant Beckerling had called a “powerplay”, the home side making the most of their numerical advantage. The seven-point try and the touchline conversion by Christian Humphries put Wits in front by 9-7 and while the next 20 minutes were scrappy, the home team struck the next blow.

Kwanele Ngema rounded off a counter-attack that started deep in his own half, and after Humphries had shown a clean pair of heels to outstrip the defence and send the wing on his way. The conversion made it a second nine-point score and left Wits 18-7 up.

Tuks though closed the gap to just four points at the interval when wing Xolisa Guma finished off in the corner on the stroke of halftime.

The ding-dong battle continued after the restart with Wits wing Bin Kasende Kapepula going over in the corner for his team, just to be followed onto the scorer’s list by fellow wing Guma, who got his second try of the match moments later for Tuks.

They did launch a lastgasp effort, but excellent Wits defending kept Tuks out, resulting in the home team registering a famous win.

In Port Elizabeth, in their first outing this year, Nelson Mandela University went down to Ikeys, who won 27-17, while Stellenbosch University beat Shimlas 56-21 and the University of Johannesburg beat the Central University of Technology 48-21.