Can the Maties make it two from two?

It’s South Africa’s best university rugby side against the country’s best club team; it’s the 2009 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International Final between Maties and Pukke at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch.

Pukke, who hail from Potchefstroom, will be making the trip down to ‘Matie-land’ on Monday evening no doubt looking to emulate their fine 19-17 semifinal win over FNB UCT last week.

Although the visitors were outscored by three tries to one last week, Rudy Joubert’s side absorbed all the pressure thrown at them and converted their territory into points. As UCT assistant coach Robbie Fleck told varsitycup.co.za last week, Pukke played better “finals rugby”.

Maties head coach Chean Roux – who guided his team to the Varsity Cup title last year – agreed, telling varsitycup.co.za: “Finals are all about taking your chances; they’re one-off games and it’s all about converting territory into points.”

And then, of course, it’s about limiting mistakes – something the Maties seem to do better than most sides.

“We need to keep the ball in hand a bit more,” admitted Roux, “I thought we actually kicked a bit too much in the last 20 minutes of our semifinal against Tuks and it’s something we will need to improve ahead of the final.”

Whilst finals are always tough to call, the Maties – as defending champions – do have the advantage of having played, and won, the 2008 final against UCT; a game that was decided in the final seconds of injury-time when Morné Jooste dotted down.

Roux, however, does not believe that last year’s final will have too much of a bearing on tonight’s affair.

“A lot of the players in this (Maties) side are actually new,” said Roux. “Last year’s side had been with me for about three or four years, whereas this year, about 60-70% of this team hadn’t played a lot of rugby under me.

“As the season’s gone along we’ve learnt something about each other – the players and the coaches – and hopefully come Monday night it can all come together one last time.”

Whilst Pukke coach Rudy Joubert has more ‘big-game’ experience than Roux – having been to two World Cups (in 1995 and 2003) as an assistant coach – he admitted to being “very relieved” after qualifying for the final.

“It was a tough match against the Ikeys (in the semifinals),” he said of his side’s 19-17 win over UCT, before turning his attention to tonight’s away game.

“We are a very adept at adapting to different conditions,” he explained. “The Cape feels a bit like a second home at the moment and one has to remember that we are quite used to the Danie Craven Stadium nowadays.”

Of course, the Danie Craven Stadium is where Pukke beat Stellenbosch in the semifinals of last year’s National Club Champs – a game the Men from Potchefstroom won 23-20, before going on to clinch the National club title with a 17-12 win over KZN champions College Rovers.

“I guess they’re becoming our main rivals these days,” said Maties captain Wesley Wilkins, who admitted that the pressure of being a Maties player had also helped to spur on the defending champions in 2009.

He added: “Stellenbosch University has a very proud rugby history and although some people might see it as a distraction it makes us, as players, strive to always give our best in order to perform as well as possible.

“It might seem rather simple but if we can perform to our potential and play well, that should – barring any major misfortune – lead to us winning more games than we lose and, in the process, win a few titles along the way.”

The teams:

FNB Maties: 15 Adnaan Osman, 14 Morné Jooste, 13 Jéan Stemmet, 12 Dabeon Draghoender, 11 Wilhelm Loock, 10 Johan Sadie, 9 Donald Stevens, 8 Cameron Peverett, 7 Jonathan Adendorf, 6 Wesley Wilkins (captain), 5 Jaco Nepgen, Hugo Kloppers, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Mathew Dobson, 1 Johan Roets.
Replacements: 16 JP Koster, 17 Andrew Crausaz, 18 Jean Rossouw, 19 Marinus Pretorius, 20 Morné Hanekom, 21 Johan Herbst, 22 Lwellyn Winkler.

Head coach: Chean Roux

FNB Pukke: 15 Willem Barnard, 14 Andrew Van Wyk, 13 Wenstley Scott, 12 Wouter Watermeyer, 11 Lolo Waka, 10 Cecil Dumond, 9 Andries Mahoney, 8 Willem van der Wal (captain), 7 Savvas Nel, 6 Jaco Lötter, 5 Markus Fourie, 4 Grant le Roux, 3 Stephan Bezuidenhout, 2 Stoffel Duvenage, 1 BG Uys.
Replacements: 16 Lourens Botes, 17 Dewald Coetzee, 18 Victor Kruger, 19 Thabo Molete, 20 Theuns Kotzé, 21 Marcel du Toit, 22 Randall April.

Head coach: Rudy Joubert

Match details:
Kick-off: Monday, March 30, 6.45pm
Venue: Danie Craven Stadium (Stellenbosch)
Referee: Gareth Lloyd-Jones
Touch judges: François Veldsman, Dilbert November
Television Match Official: Shaun Veldsman
Time-keeper: Neville Heilbron