Battle of Eastern Cape in Varsity 7s clash

The Madibaz and Walter Sisulu University will clash in the pool stages of the Varsity 7s at Pirates Greenside on Friday and Saturday.

The Eastern Cape sides have been placed in Pool A along with Western Cape teams Cape Peninsula University of Technology, and 7s heavyweights University of the Western Cape.

It is a battle of the Eastern Cape and Madibaz captain Riaan Esterhuizen believes that though Walter Sisulu are a brave side, Madibaz should come out on top.

“I think they showed some guts at [University Sports SA] against big teams, so they do have big-match temperament,” Esterhuizen said.

“It will also be a nice pregame for the Varsity Shield next year, and [Walter Sisulu] will probably try to prove a point against us.

“But we are going to show them what we’re made of.”

Esterhuizen, who also captained the Madibaz Varsity Cup side earlier this year, is feeling positive about the Varsity 7s despite some preseason hiccups.

“We had a decent run-out a week ago in Margate in the USSA tournament.

“We didn’t play as well as we wanted to, but we did what we could and, as the tournament progressed, we as a team progressed as well.

“Going into the Varsity 7s, we’ve lost a few players to injuries and one or two guys [who] don’t have the credits.

“We also have some guys coming back from Currie Cup who have Varsity 7s experience and they’ve slotted into the team very nicely.

“So, I think we are very well prepared for the Varsity 7s.”

Walter Sisulu captain Chumani Mjacu is ecstatic they get to play their Eastern Cape rivals in the Varsity 7s pool stages.

“We and the Madibaz are the two best teams the Eastern Cape has to offer and it’s always a massive derby when we clash,” Mjacu said.

After their recent promotion into Varsity 7s, Mjacu is realistic about his side’s ambitions but excited nonetheless.

“We are super-excited about the promotion. We failed to be promoted last year, so we went back to the drawing board.

“Our goal is to compete, and push ourselves and we want to have fun while doing so.”

All games will be televised on SuperSport with commentary in Xhosa, Afrikaans and English. –