Chester: We are going to struggle if we don’t improve

AFTER a promising performance in their opening Varsity Cup encounter last week, yesterday the University of Western Cape were taught a lesson in how tough life really can be in the top-tier of student rugby in their first home match.

Former champions Shimlas, fresh off a bye last week, came to Bellville intent on making a statement against the tournament newbies with a crushing 47-25 bonus-point victory. The Free Staters ran in seven tries, while UWC managed only three in reply.

Shimlas controlled possession, showed slick handling, and also played the conditions perfectly through intelligent use of the grubber kick when faced with the gale-force like wind blowing in their faces.

In contrast, UWC coach Chester Williams’ only blessing on the day is that he doesn’t have any hair to pull out in frustration due to his team’s lack of discipline. They home team lost both flank Reece Bocks and prop Justin Theys to the sin-bin.

Theys, in particular, may come in for the hair-dryer treatment from the former Springbok wing after the loosehead was yellow-carded for the second week in a row.

“It was disappointing. We’re going to struggle if we don’t improve. The referees are going to keep a close eye on us now,” Williams said.

The game started a frenetic pace with Shimlas opening the scoring within the first two minutes through a try by fullback Sechaba Matsoele on the far right corner.

UWC responded with a try of their own by scrumhalf Clayton Daniels. It remained a tightly-fought contest for the remainder of the first half with UWC utilising the wind at their backs through some brilliant range kicking from fullback Tristan Leyds.

Both teams traded further blows with Lyle Hendricks slotting over a couple of penalties for UWC before Marnus Boshoff dotted the first of his two tries. Again UWC struck back when flyhalf Aidynn Cupido intercepted inside his own half and ran virtually 60 meters to score under the Shimlas poles.

UWC paid dearly for the sin-binning of Bocks with Sibabalo Qoma barging over to give Shimlas a slender 21-20 lead at the halftime break.

The 2015 champions never surrendered the lead again for the remainder of the match. Unlike UWC, they were composed playing against the wind and added a further four tries in the second period. UWC’s only reply came through left wing Andre Manuel.

“We did want to kick the ball a bit more, particularly when we played with the wind. But not against the wind. We wanted to keep the ball in hand more,” Williams said. “We must just keep our heads up. We still have six games to go. It is not over yet.” Varsity Cup Scores: UJ vs Tuks (postponed due to loadshedding), Wits 25 CUT 15, Ikeys 5 Maties 66.