Maties, Up-Tuks To Battle For Varsity Cup Title
VARSITY CUP SEMIFINALS WRAP: FNB Maties will host FNB UP-Tuks in the 2019 FNB Varsity Cup Final after they won their respective semifinals on Monday.
In the early kick-off in Pretoria, UP-Tuks emerged victorious over FNB NWU-Pukke following a nail-biter – 24-18 the final score.
Despite being the home team, UP-Tuks had the historical odds stacked against them: the away team more often than not wins clashes between these two teams while none of the teams (Wits in 2018, Shimlas in 2017) who’ve had a Round Nine bye has gone on to win their semi.
However, Nollis Marais’ boys came out at Tuks Stadium determined to defy history, and a Pukke team who’d been in rampant form in recent weeks. So much so, that they stunned the visitors by racing into an 18-3 lead at halftime – thanks to two Ciaran Dayaram tries and eight points from the boot of Tinus de Beer which took him to the leading point-scorer in Varsity Cup history.
Jonathan Mokuena’s Pukke came out for the second half a more composed unit and were duly rewarded when Lungelo Gosa scored their first try, and Schalk Hugo knocked over a penalty.
De Beer stretched UP-Tuks’ lead to 10 points in the final quarter, but then a converted try from Wian Conradie brought the score back to 21-18 with a nervy 10 minutes left.
As it happened, De Beer knocked over another penalty to extend his record to 228 points and UP-Tuks’ defence held on to book their ticket to Stellenbosch – and a fourth final against Maties (who they’ve beaten in the previous three).
For their part, Maties had a far easier time of it, winning the late kick-off against FNB UFS Shimlas, 47-5.
Maties were overwhelming favourites to continue their winning run at Danie Craven Stadium and seal a fourth straight Varsity Cup final. Not only did history favour them, but they also seized the initiative early on to nullify any hopes which Hendro Scholtz’s team may have had about claiming an upset.
The hosts dominated possession and territory from the get-go. Inevitably, they made this superiority count with tries coming from Anton du Toit, Dan Jooste and Ben-Jason Dixon. The initial two were converted by Jordan Chait to make the half-time score 19-0 – just what coach Hawies Fourie was after.
There was more of the same in the second half as the ‘Maroon Machine’ ruled over for four further tries through captain Chris Massyn, a second from Du Toit, Edwill van der Merwe (which stretches his Varsity Cup record to 23) and HJ Luus. Chait converted two of them while Reinhardt Fortuin made no mistake with his two efforts to seal the rout.
Shimlas did score a consolation from Ruan Kramer following a rolling maul which blotted Maties’ copybook a little bit, and give food for thought for what will be an intriguing final come next Monday evening (18:45 SA time) at ‘The DC.
FNB UP-TUKS 24-18 FNB NWU PUKKE
The scorers:
For UP-Tuks:
Tries: Dayaram 2
Con: De Beer
Pens: De Beer 4
For Pukke:
Tries: Gosa, Conradie
Con: Hugo
Pens: Hugo 2
Teams:
UP-Tuks: 15 Vaughen Isaacs, 14 Irvin Ali, 13 Lourens Pretorius, 12 Erich Cronje, 11 Ciaran Dayaram, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Theo Maree, 8 Denzel Hill, 7 Hanru Sirgel, 6 Stephan Smit, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Marius Verwey (captain), 3 JP Smith, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Etienne Janeke.
Replacements: 16 Werner Fourie, 17 Jacobus Eloff, 18 Bart le Roux, 19 Brian Leitch, 20 Raegan Oranje, 21 Damian Bonaparte, 22 Xolisa Guma, 23 Ewart Potgieter.
Pukke: 15 Chuiner van Rooyen, 14 Lungelo Gosa, 13 Lincoln Daniels, 12 Evardi Boshoff, 11 Pienaar van Niekerk, 10 Schalk Hugo, 9 Chriswill September, 8 Edmund Rheeder, 7 Wian Conradie, 6 Gideon van der Merwe, 5 Danny du Plooy, 4 Johannes Retief, 3 Matimu Manganyi, 2 Louis ‘Chucky’ van der Westhuizen (captain), 1 Tshegofatso ‘Botter’ Moloto.
Replacements: 16 Marius Stander, 17 Nelius Theron, 18 Robert Hunt, 19 Reuben du Plooy, 20 Muziwandile Mazibuko, 21 Eugene Hare, 22 AK Nela, 23 Nkululeko Mcuma.
Referee: Griffin Colby
Assistant referees: Stephan Geldenhuys, Christopher Allison
TMO: Johan Greeff
FNB MATIES 47-5 FNB UFS SHIMLAS
The scorers:
For Maties:
Tries: Du Toit 2, Jooste, Dixon, Massyn, Van der Merwe, Luus
Cons: Chait 4, Fortuin 2
For Shimlas:
Try: Kramer
Teams:
Maties: 15 Anton du Toit, 14 Munier Hartzenberg, 13 David Brits, 12 Chris Smit, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Chait, 9 Logan Boonzaaier, 8 Stephan Streicher, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Chris Massyn, 5 Clee Sesink, 4 Zirk Jansen, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Dan Jooste, 1 Wayrin Losper.
Replacements: 16 HJ Luus, 17 Ricky Nwagbara, 18 Piet Strauss, 19 Mitchell Carstens, 20 Jesse Johnson, 21 Brendon Nell, 22 Reinhardt Fortuin, 23 Cornel Smit.
Shimlas: 15 Sechaba Matsoele, 14 Charl Pretorius, 13 William Eybers, 12 Tiaan Schutte, 11 Marnus Boshoff, 10 Lubabalo Dobela, 9 Zinedene Booysen, 8 Albertus de Bod, 7 Menzi Nhlabathi, 6 Jan Rossouw, 5 Sibabalo Qoma, 4 Nathan Jordan, 3 Ruan Kramer, 2 Wihan Marais, 1 Daniel Wessels.
Replacements: 16 Christian Wijburg, 17 John Fincham, 18 Mogau Mabokela, 19 Henk Pretorius, 20 Olehile Losaba, 21 Rewan Kruger, 22 Cham Zondeki, 23 Kurt Eybers.
Referee: Ruhan Meiring
Assistant referees: Divan Uys, Aimee Barrett-Theron
TMO: Joey Klaaste-Salmans
