UJ Koshuis League off to a flyer
The Steinhoff Koshuis League at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) kicked off with a bang last Wednesday.
This year, the teams will compete in two divisions in UJ’s Steinhoff Koshuis League. The first division consists of the first teams of Dromedaris, Bastion, Kanniedood, Afslaan and Oppierif. These teams will all face each other twice in the season.
The second division introduces three new teams into the league; the Lions Rugby Factory, Majuba (from UJ’s Bunting road campus) and Team DFC (from UJ’s Doornfontein campus) are all getting their first taste of Koshuis League rugby.
The rest of the second division teams, that will compete for the cup, are the first team of Vorendag, and the second teams of Dromedaris, Bastion, Kanniedood, Afslaan and Oppierif. There is also a possibility that the Chiropractor’s may enter a team.
The first bit of second division action presented some tough games with Afslaan and Kanniedood playing to a scoreless draw, Dromedaris beating Bastion 13-7 and the Rugby Factory beating DFC 14-10.
Amigo Ngcaiciana, of DFC, told varsitycup.co.za: “I’m happy with the guys’ performance after they had just one practice, and taking into account that the Factory has played a couple of games together already.”
Majuba made a big impression in their first appearance by beating Vorendag 34-0. Majuba’s Jomo Mashinga told varsitycup.co.za that “the game was a breeze for our team. I think Vorendag was too unfit”.
The first division started with the repeat of last year’s final between Dromedaris and Bastion (pictured, top right).
‘Drom’ won the league last year and wanted to build on their great form when they represented UJ in the 2009 Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships and lost their only match in the final against the rampant Huis Armentum from the University of Bloemfontein.
The Men from Bastion had other plans though on Wednesday night. They came out to prove a point and won a very physical match 7-0.
Bastion’s Francois Conradie told varsitycup.co.za that “both teams made plenty of mistakes, we just used our only chance and converted it to points”.
According Etienne le Roux of Dromedaris: “We played players out of position, and that cost us dearly.”
In the other first division game, Afslaan moved into a higher gear in the second half to beat Kanniedood 26-6 after leading by just 7-6 at half-time.
Kanniedood converted early pressure into points when flyhalf Bertus Wessels slotted two penalties. Afslaan created acres of space for their quick wingers when they got the ball and managed to score their bonus point try just before the end of play.
“Our lack of fitness is the reason why we couldn’t get rhythm and we completely lost focus in the second half,” Wessels said afterwards.
Oppierif’s teams had a bye for the first week of play.
More physical matches are expected this week when Dromedaris face Oppierif and Kanniedood face Bastion.
Le Roux told varsitycup.co.za: “The varsity’s two most physical teams are playing. It’s going to be a tough one.”
A new derby will kick-off tonight (Wednesday, May 6) when Majuba play DFC. Both teams are expected to give it their all and put their bodies on the line to win the match. Ngcaicana said that “we have a surprise for Majuba. We’re going out to win”.
Afslaan’s first team has a bye this week.
By Riaan Bam
