Excitement high for varsity rugby series

THE spotlight turns to varsity rugby’s second division tonight as the eagerly anticipated FNB Varsity Shield presented by Steinhoff International kicks off across the country.

With Eastern Cape teams Fort Hare, Walter Sisulu and Rhodes University all in action, interest in the competition in the province is set to be sky high.

A huge derby match between Fort Hare and Walter Sisulu is the perfect way to get the expanded competition up and running and it should be extremely exciting to watch.

“This is the perfect way to get our maiden campaign in the Varsity Shield going, with a derby against Fort Hare,” WSU coach Sipho Metula said.

“The guys are very excited, we are really looking forward to the match and we know it is going to be a fantastic atmosphere up in Alice.”

The last time these two sides met, WSU edged a close match in last year’s Border Super League club competition and tonight’s game should be another tight affair.

Fort Hare will want to get their season off to a good start after a difficult season last year saw them end the Varsity Shield bottom of the table, having won just one match.

“The WSU-Fort Hare game is a massive derby and you can’t have a better match to get the season started with,” Fort Hare director of rugby Elliot Fana said.

“Last year, we did not do so well, but our recruitment, led by head coach Lumumba Currie, has been superb and we have a quality team here that I expect to do extremely well and at the very least make the semifinals.”

Rhodes will face a daunting task against Varsity Shield regulars Tshwane University of Technology in their opening match.

“Traditionally all northern teams are very physical and with us playing at this level for the first time it has all the ingredients to be a very tough game,” coach Qondakele Sompondo said.

Rhodes have a clear plan of what they need to do this season and they will be aiming to reach the goals the coach and team management have set out.

“We have targeted winning all of our home matches in the competition and if we can manage that we should be in the playoff mix and from there anything can happen,” Sompondo said.

The other Varsity Shield match today will see an all-Cape derby as the University of the Western Cape and the Cape Peninsula University of Technology officially get this year’s competition under way with a televised match at 4.30pm.

Rhodes and TUT play at 6.30pm and the televised match between Fort Hare and WSU is on Supersport 1 at 7pm.