Tuks pull away from CUT

The Pretoria side was 21-25 down at half-time, but scored 47 unanswered points in the second half for the win.

The team from Pretoria had most of the possession in the opening few minutes and it counted in their favour when fullback Duncan Matthews scored the game's first try after sustained pressure in the CUT 22. 

Tuks increased their lead in the 18th minute when wing Duhan van der Merwe crashed over the tryline for his team's second score with Joshua Stander converting to make it 14-0

CUT then found themselves right back into the game after wing Henry Immelman evaded a number of Tuks tacklers to feed his flyhalf Darron Baron who sprinted in for a nine-point try.

That try seemed to spark Tuks back into action and wing Riaan Britz extended the Pretoria side's lead once again with a try in the corner.

With ten minutes left before half-time, CUT reduced the deficit once again when big No.8 Jasper Wiese crashed over for a try with Baron converting.

The Bloemfontein then turned the game on its head when Vincent Maruping kicked a loose pass ahead and gathered the ball to sprint away for try just before half-time. Baron was unable to convert but CUT lead 25-21 at the break. 

After an error-ridden opening ten minutes in the second half, Tuks found themselves in front again after Britz scored a try after he was put into space from a scrum.

The wing then completed his hat-trick when he ran in a nine-point try to give his team a big lead going into the final 20 minutes.

The game was all but over a few minutes later when scrumhalf Andre Warner scored a try, of the nine-point variety, to extend his team's lead even further.

Tuks did managed to get another try in the last 15 minutes in what was a dominant display

The scorers:

For UP-Tuks:

Tries: Matthews, Van der Merwe 2, Britz 3, Warner, Van Der Smit

Cons: Stander 7

For CUT-Ixias:

Tries: Baron, Wiese, Maruping

Cons: Baron 2

UP-Tuks: 15 Duncan Matthews, 14 Riaan Britz, 13 Dries Swanepoel, 12 Toko Maebane, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Joshua Stander, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Clyde Davids, 7 Marco Van Staden, 6 Ruan Steenkamp, 5 Eli Snyman, 4 Aston Fortuin, 3 Neethling Fouche, 2 Corniel Els, 1 Andrew Beerwinkel.

Replacements: 16 Jan Enslin, 17 Genis du Toit, 18 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 19 Luke Van Der Smit, 20 Carlo Engelbrecht, 21 Tinus De Beer, 22 Max Calitz, 23 Justin Forwood.

CUT-Ixias: 15 Meyer van Tonder, 14 Ruan Wasserman, 13 Charles Hitchcock, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Henry Immelman, 10 Darron Baron, 9 Dean Jacobs, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Vincent Maruping, 6 Dean Rossouw, 5 Rayno Nel, 4 Wikus Davis, 3 Niel Schoombee, 2 Len Noort, 1 Gerard Baard.

Replacements: 16 Cameron Van Heerden, 17 Jan Volkwyn, 18 Sylvester Makakole, 19 Junior Burger, 20 Marius Grobler, 21 Jahann Grundling, 22 Lethole Mokoena, 23 George Marich.