All Blacks march into home semi
Tshwane go down as rain pours at BCM Stadium
THE Walter Sisulu University All Blacks are through to the Varsity Shield competition semifinals after they beat the Tshwane University of Technology Vikings 15-8 at a rainy BCM Stadium on Thursday night.
With this win the All Blacks secured a home semifinal set to be played on March 26.
The All Blacks continued with their great form since losing their first match of the competition to UWC 42-5, who their coach Sipho Metule said they were hoping to meet in the finals.
“In the first game we played against them it was equally poised. At half-time the score was 0-0.
“They know that WSU will be a good contender, so our aim is to work hard preparing,” said Metule.
The All Black coach was ecstatic to have picked up their fifth win in a row.
“We are delighted to have won this game because the boys from Pretoria really played well, and now that we are going into the semifinals we decided to give the guys that were not playing a chance.
“That might have been a factor that might have affected our scrum performance. The rain made it difficult for us to maintain the pressure but TUT were able to do that.
“Also at the breakdowns we were also slacking a bit, but then again we said that it wasn’t going to be a good brand of rugby playing in these wet conditions. Even so we needed to work harder.”
Metule said preparing for the worst in case it rains again during the semifinals was the best thing moving forward.
“When it rains any game won’t produce the type of rugby that you want [as a coach], so the only thing you can do is to be more tactical.
“Make sure that you kick the ball more to your opposition so that they commit mistakes on their half, and then you can start capitalising.”
The WSU mentor said he only took one positive from their hard-won game and that was conquering a strong a side in wet weather conditions they didn’t prepare for.
“Going back to the drawing board, we need to be two-minded by preparing ourselves for wet and dry weather conditions,” he said.
After picking up their fifth win in a row, the All Blacks will be looking to dominate in one more pool round against three other teams that are also still in the running for the semis.
The Vikings in third, the University of KwaZulu-Natal Impi in fourth and the University of Fort Hare Blues in fifth are only separated by two points.
The Blues put up a brave effort, but were ultimately no match, going down 39-18 in Cape Town against the seemingly unstoppable defending champs the University of the Western Cape. They claimed their fifth bonus point win, sealing top spot in the process.
Hence the final round with the Vikings hosting the Blues in Pretoria promises to be an interesting one. The winner of that game will confirm their place in the semifinals.
The other deciding match will be between Central Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) and the Impi.
CPUT had battled previously in the competition, losing all four of their games, but a big 50-10 victory over Rhodes University in Cape Town on Thursday has given them a small chance of waltzing their way into the semis.