Barry's four sends Maties into semis
The victory took Maties to the top of the standings but they will need to wait another week before knowing whether or not they will host a semi-final or not. The Stellenbosch students ran in a total of nine tries and took their foot off the gas in the final minutes that allowed the Ixias to score a total of five tries.
CUT got the ball rolling when Martin Jacobs slotted a penalty for the first points of the game to hand the home side a 3-0 lead after four minutes but Maties replied a few minutes later when wing Edwill van der Merwe dotted down a seven-pointer.
Tiaan Swanepoel added the extras to ensure a 9-3 lead. Jacobs reduced the deficit in the ninth minute with a second successful penalty but then came two Maties tries to give themselves some breathing space.
Captain Craig Barry dotted down in the 12th minute before Johan Momsen handed his side a second seven-point try in the 20th minute. Swanepoel added both conversions to hand the visitors a 25-6 lead at the first Strategy Break.
Jacobs grabbed another three points for the Ixias after the resumption of play to reduce the deficit to 9-25 before Barry secured the bonus point for the visitors when he raced away for an 80-metre runaway score. Swanepoel added the extras to stretch the lead to 34-9 after 29 minutes.
Van der Merwe grabbed his second try of the match in the 31st minute for another seven-point try. Swanepoel's conversion ensuring a 43-9 lead. CUT had the final say of the half though as they dotted down a converted score to head into the break trailing 16-43.
Maties were not taking their foot off the gas in the second half as Mitchell Carstens added his name to the scoresheet in the 44th minute. Swanepoel maintained his 100 percent kicking record to stretch their lead to 50-16.
Barry then completed his hat-trick two minutes later thanks to another seven-point try. Swanepoel failed for the first time from the kicking tee but Maties now had a 57-16 lead. CUT hit back with their second converted try of the match in the 49th minute to trail 23-57 at the second Strategy Break.
Barry added his fourth try in the 67th minute that went unconverted before Iver Aanhuizen added his side's final try of the match. Swanepoel's conversion stretching their lead to 73-23 after 69 minutes.
CUT hit back with three tries in the final seven minutes of the match to secure a four-try bonus point. Ruben Heymans, Brendan Verster and Olwethu Ndakisa – a seven-pointer – adding their names to the scoresheet. Jacobs slotted all the conversions to conclude the match.
Scorers:
For CUT:
Tries: TBC 2, Heymans, Verster
Cons: Jacobs 4
Pens: Jacobs 3
For Maties:
Tries: van der Merwe 2, Barry 4, Momsen, Carstens, Aanhuizen
Cons: Swanepoel 7
Teams:
CUT: 15 Waldo Putter, 14 Mosego Toolo, 13 Gert Cronje, 12 Ruan Wasserman, 11 Olwethu Ndakisa, 10 Martin Jacobs, 9 Ruben Heymans, 8 Stefan Kruger, 7 Vincent Maruping, 6 JP Smal, 5 Brendan Verster, 4 Kian Skippers, 3 Chrisjan du Toit, 2 Henco Smit, 1 Kabous Van Schalkwyk.
Replacements: 16 Stefan Jacobs, 17 Kyle Ess, 18 Francois du Toit, 19 Andre Venter, 20 Sylvester Makakole, 21 Dean Jacobs, 22 Denver Kleu, 23 Diederick Muller.
Maties: 15 Tiaan Swanepoel, 14 Craig Barry (captain), 13 Michal Haznar, 12 Jan Venter, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Reinhardt Fortuin, 9 Albertus de Wet, 8 Stephan Streicher, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Mitchell Carstens, 5 Johannes Momsen, 4 John Groenewald, 3 Jacobus van der Merwe, 2 Craig Corbett, 1 Niel Oelofse.
Replacements: 16 Shane Farmer, 17 Wesley Adonis, 18 Carel Swart, 19 Ruben de Villiers, 20 Nicholas Edberink, 21 Brendan Nell, 22 Theo Stapelberg, 23 Duncan Saal.
Referee: Ricus van der Hoven
Assistant referees: Local
