Joubert and co. to bounce back?
The ghost of Matt Proudfoot will be haunting Rudy Joubert when the Puk Rugby Institute face the Shimlas in a FNB Varsity Cup present by Steinhoff International fixture in Bloemfontein on Monday night.
Joubert knows all too well that the predecessor, Proudfoot, never lost a match against his Free State archrivals.
Proudfoot left the Puk last year after a full house 10 out 10 victories against the Shimlas.
The Puk narrowly lost their first Varsity Cup match under Joubert last Monday and a loss in Bloemfontein could be a setback for their 2009 Varsity Cup title aspirations.
Joubert made four changes to the team that lost to Tukkies, including the very exciting fullback Willem Barnard and inside centre Wouter Watermeyer, but axing the young flyhalf WD Botha.
The first weekend of Varsity Cup rugby was ruled by the boot, in particular Tukkies’ Jean-Claude Roos, who scored 19 against Pukke and the self-same Botha, who scored 17 in the same game.
The goal-kicking responsibilities go to scrumhalf Kotze against Shimlas, who have moved flyhalf Lionel Cronjé to fullback and centre Neil Jacobs to flyhalf.
Cronjé joins the SA Under-20 squad in Argentina next Monday and won’t be available.
Maties scrumhalf Donald Stevens kicked all their points against the Ikeys. They have managed only one try against the UCT in nearly three hours of play.
While they will be the favourites, the UJ also have a few players that could change the game in an instant. Earl Lewis in particular could be one of the finds of the tournament.
The UJ could surprise the champions in Stellenbosch with the likes of Frikkie Maartens, new captain Hennie Killian and Rob Andrew the core of the pack.
Tukkies are riding high after their victory in Potch, but it won’t be plain sailing in Port Elizabeth, where the young Roos could find the wind tricky.
An upset of the Nelson Mandela Metro could be on the cards if they can contain the Tukkie midfield.
TUT could also throw a spanner in the works against Ikeys in Pretoria. Wouter Moore leads a good pack of forwards that could unsettle last year’s finalists.
Last week’s predictions were quite easy with Tukkies providing the only upset of Round One. To pick a winner is going to be much more trickier this time around with all four games capable of going either way.
