Scant consolation for Ikeys
It was a tale of two days, as the Varsity Cup finalists – Stellenbosch and UCT – were at each other again on Wednesday night.
This time it was the two non-Varsity Cup teams clashing in a virtually empty Craven Stadium – a far cry from Monday’s sold-out final.
Officially, the fixture was UCT ‘A’ versus Victorians which was the best of the two great clubs’ non-Varsity Cup players and players over the 25-year age limit.
Victorians were led out by veteran loose forward Bennie Booysen who captained the Maties in the dramatic 2008 Varsity Cup Final between the two teams. The only player in action who did duty in Monday’s final, won 17-14 by Maties, was powerful reserve Matie front rower Andrew Crausaz.
It is scant consolation – but UCT A ran out 28-15 winners on Wednesday evening, having led 14-10 at half-time at a windy Craven Stadium.
The home team had the upperhand in the lineouts and converted this and their offensive mauls into points, but UCT were far more imaginative in open play with some dynamic movements – where former schoolboy centre star Adrian Kritzinger and WP Under-19 outside back Paul Cohen, who played a few matches in the 2010 Varsity Cup, were outstanding.
Booysen was instrumental for the big Vics side who drove impressively on the night, and at 10-14 down at the break must have backed themselves for a win. But a brilliant try by Zandy Macdonald, son of UCT president and former Bok No.8 Dugald, meant that the Ikey Tigers were pretty much two scores ahead for the remainder of the game.
It would have pleased UCT to see their depth in such fine fettle, but there is no doubt which match they would rather have won – in fact, the result would have been very little consolation for the loss in the final and the upset that they felt over their star No.8 JJ Gagiano not winning the Player that Rocks (Varsity Cup Player of the Tournament) Award.
* Meanwhile, in a shock WP Super League encounter on Thursday evening, False Bay – who are back in the top-flight this season – beat the National Club champs, Hamilton’s, by 20-16 in Constantia.
Hamilton’s, of course, deposed Maties as the WP Super League champions last season, before – also – going on to win the National Club Championships title later in the year.
By James Kingston
