JOHANNESBURG – It was the battle of the Varsity Cup’s last two winners, but it was the Shimlas from the University of the Free State who came out on top, beating the Pukke from North West University 35-23 in Bloemfontein on Monday night.
In a match that was marred by ill-discipline which saw four men – two from each side – sin-binned, 2015 winners Shimlas dominated the encounter and were fully deserving of coming out on top.
Defending champions Pukke simply couldn’t keep up with the pace and intensity of the home team and will now do well to make the playoffs.
The visitors, though, were the first team to put points on the board and it was a telling score; a seven-point try dotted down by wing Jimmy Mpailane, who finished off a move that started inside Pukke’s half of the field.
The conversion by Schalk Hugo made it 9-0 to last year’s champions, but that would be the only score for the men from Potchefstroom in the first half.
Not long after Mpailane’s try, the Shimlas hit back through lock Raymond Woest, who powered over from a lineout drive and then the home team took full control of the match, and the visitors fell to pieces in a sense.
They first lost hooker Louis van der Westhuizen to the sin-bin, then conceded a seven-point penalty try after bringing down a Shimlas scrum close to the tryline, and then scrumhalf Chriswell September was sent to the bin for an early tackle.
The home team was very much the side in charge at the break, with Pukke giving away plenty of penalties and having to make tons of tackles, but Shimlas will feel they should have scored more points in a dominant first half, especially when Pukke were down to 13 men late in the first period.
But they did make it count after halftime, with converted tries by scrumhalf Dian Badenhorst and Daniel Maartens, the latter a superb effort after the flank had stepped his way past several defenders to touch down.
But just when it seemed the Shimlas were going to run away with the tie, they lost try-scorer Woest to the bin, and then Pukke were rewarded for a good period of play when Wandile Mazibuko went over from close range.
It wasn’t long though before the home team restored their dominance in the match with a try by No 8 Nardus Erasmus, but the Shimlas would end the game with 14 men when Phumzile Maqondwana became the fourth man to be sent to the cooler.
Pukke got a late consolation try by replacement prop Morné Strydom, but they’ll know they were outplayed by a far stronger Shimlas team.
In other matches, Maties scored seven tries to one to down Ikeys in the Cape derby 47-16, Tukkies beat Wits 25-9 in Pretoria, and also in Bloemfontein, UJ beat CUT 73-20.