Newly promoted Wits shocked Potchefstroom on Monday when they produced one of the great upsets of the Varsity Cup, deservedly winning 24-13.
Pukke had been overwhelming favourites to beat a Wits side that are newly promoted to the top tier of the Varsity Cup but played dull rugby while Wits were imaginative on attack and outstanding on defence.
It took 15 minutes of home pressure before the Wits defence cracked when a penalty kicked to the corner produced a try from the lineout drive.
The visitors soon replied with a brilliant break by outside centre Wandisile Simelane, who evaded six defenders on a 50m break that ended just short of the try-line. Wits earned a penalty from the resulting pressure and flyhalf Gianni Lombard jinked over when Wits elected to take a scrum in front of the posts rather than take a gift three points. Lombard converted his try for a 7-5 lead on 20 minutes that few would have predicted.
That stung Pukke into action and they besieged the Wits line for almost ten minutes before flyhalf Gianni Delicado settled matters down by kicking a straight-forward penalty, giving his side an 8-7 lead.
Wits were occasionally guilty of attempting too much attacking rugby from inside their 22 when the opportunities were not there and they were caught out on the half-hour mark when flank Marno Redelinghuys intercepted for his team’s second try, and a 13-7 half-time lead.
Five minutes into the second half Wits were forced to carry the ball over their line under severe pressure and from the resulting scrum and forward drives, the Pukke forwards were miraculously kept at bay for almost ten minutes by dogged Wits defence.
The dam wall seemed to have broken when Pukke No 8 Jeandré Rudolph crashed over after a great break by No 13 Elden Schoeman but the TMO ruled that the ball had been knocked on in the grounding.
Instead Wits scored the first points of the second half when the ever combative captain and lock Constant Beckerling bustled over from a lineout. Lombard missed the conversion to leave Pukke narrowly leading at 13-12 in the 63rd minute.
Pukke were not looking like a champions side and their discipline began to waver, with two players penalised for high tackles. Lombard nailed a penalty from one of those infringements to give his side the lead with 13 minutes remaining.
The upset was sealed five minutes from time when the forwards kept the ball through 17 phases before driving over for a score between the uprights. The conversion made it 24-13 to the visitors.
Earlier, there had been an unfortunate mismatch in Pretoria where Tuks overwhelmed CUT 100-0, the final humiliation for the Bloemfontein team coming in the 81st minute when Tuks scored their 14th try.