That’s three Varsity Cups for Tuks
JOHANNESBURG: Given a sound platform by a dominant pack and a general at flyhalf in Tinus de Beer, Tuks were deserved 28-21 winners last night after out-scoring Maties two tries to one in the Varsity Cup final played at the LC de Villiers Tuks Stadium.
Tuks also won the league fixture between the teams earlier in the season, 13-9, played in round one, also in Pretoria.
With the victory, Tuks equal Maties’ record of having won three titles since the Varsity Cup started 10 years ago.
It was a tight affair throughout the 80 minutes, with few highlights. The first half was riddled with errors, but it was the home team that edged their opponents in the territory and possession stakes. But they still trailed at the break as they were unable to convert their possession into points.
Tuks were knocked back early when lock Jaco Venter ran a great line and took a good inside pass by centre Chris Smit to open the scoring with a nine-point converted try, but before Maties could celebrate they conceded a rather soft five-pointer themselves.
Captain and flank Chris Massyn dotted down for the hosts when their powerful scrum bullied Maties on the tryline. Things then got worse for the visitors when Venter was yellow-carded soon after for a tip tackle.
However, Maties stretched their lead with penalties by Chris Smith and Tiaan Swanepoel, but in the latter stages of the first half the home team got the reward for their overall dominance when De Beer slotted two penalties to make it a two-point game at the break.
But while Smith put the visitors six clear soon after the restart, Tuks powered into the lead for the first time in the match in the 46th minute when centre Divan Rossouw collected a chip kick into space by De Beer to score under the posts; the seven-point try and conversion putting the home team 22-18 up.
De Beer soon slotted another penalty for his team, and while Tuks were reduced to 14 men when replacement prop Jaco Holtzhausen was sin-binned for a shoulder charge on Maties hooker Craig Corbett and giving away three points from the penalty, they still held the upper hand as the game went into the final quarter.
De Beer slotted a fourth penalty in the 67th minute to put his team 28-21 ahead as they hung on for the victory.
Meanwhile, following the completion of the final a 23-man Varsity Cup Dream Team to face the Junior Springboks on 25 April in Stellenbosch was announced. The team was selected by a panel of independent selectors and will be coached by the winning Varsity Cup coach, Pote Human of Tuks. It’ll be captained by Maties fullback Craig Barry.
Craig Barry (Maties, capt), Sibahle Maxwane (Tuks), Aphiwe Dyantyi (UJ), Impi Visser (Tuks), Duncan Saal (Maties), Tinus de Beer (Tuks), Andrew Warner (Tuks), Kevin Kaba (Madibaz), Kobus van Dyk (Maties), Daniel Maartens (Shimlas), Loftus Morrison (Pukke), Aston Fortuin (Tuks), Neethling Fouche (Tuks), Wilmar Arnoldi (Pukke), Andrew Beerwinkel (Tuks). Replacements: Johannes Snyman (UJ), Luvuyo Pupuma (Wits), Nico du Plessis (UJ), Johan Momsen (Maties), Phumzile Maqondwana