Haw wings it for Ikey Tigers
Experienced utility back Pete Haw has been named on the left-wing for the Ikey Tigers for Monday afternoon’s Varsity Cup grudge match against FNB NWU-Pukke at the Green Mile in Cape Town.
Haw (pictured) – who missed out on the UCT matchday 23 at the 11th hour last week – will add plenty of experience to his team’s backs division, having already featured in two previous FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International campaigns.
“It’s a horses-for-courses selection,” explained UCT head coach John Dobson to varsitycup.co.za.
“Pete’s an experienced Varsity Cup campaigner, and performer, and although Paul Cohen [who drops out completely] is very, very unlucky, I have no doubt in my mind that we will see more of him in the tournament – this year already!”
Elsewhere in the Ikeys line-up, loose forward Yaya Hartzenberg replaces the injured Michael Morris in the No.7 shirt, with Greg Mallett – the cousin of Douglas – providing loose forward cover on the bench.
Hartzenberg made an impressive debut for the Capetonians last week – when he replaced Morris, who has a rib injury – whilst Greg Mallett will be hoping to get onto the field against Pukke in what would be his first-ever Varsity Cup appearance.
UCT and Pukke have met four times in the Varsity Cup – since 2008 – with the Men from Potchefstroom winning three times and UCT once.
Of course, the game the Ikeys won – the 2008 semifinal in Cape Town – will probably still rankle within the Pukke ranks… the Ikeys having fought back from 10-23 down at half-time, before winning 32-31 through a long-range Matt Rosslee penalty goal in injury-time.
Said Dobson: “History is not a big thing for us – it’s about next week’s game… and getting over the disappointment of the Shimlas match.
“Win or lose our games against Pukke have always been tight – I think the winner has never won by more than four or five points – so I am expecting another dog-fight against a quality team.”
The FNB UCT team: 15 Therlow Pietersen, 14 Marcello Sampson, 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Pete Haw, 10 Matt Rosslee, 9 Stu Commins (vice-captain), 8 JJ Gagiano, 7 Yaya Hartzenberg, 6 Nick Fenton-Wells (captain), 5 Martin Muller, 4 Don Armand, 3 Grant Kemp, 2 Dayne Jans, 1 Ash Wells.
Replacements: 16 Mark Goosen, 17 Chris Heidberg, 18 Greg Mallett, 19 Levi Odendaal, 20 Nic Groom, 21 Sean van Tonder, 22 Douglas Mallett, 23 Wes Chetty.
Head coach: John Dobson
Date: Monday, February 8
Venue: Groote Schuur
Kick-off: 4.30pm
Referee: Dilbert November
