Joburg universities struggle against vibrant opponents

Round three Varsity Cup action that rocks.

February 20, 2019

Annette van Schalkwyk 3 minutes read

BIG WIN FOR SHIMLAS: Wits went down at the hands of the Shimlas during their Varsity Cup match played at Wits rugby stadium on February 18. Photo: News@ruggas

The two Johannesburg-based universities University of Johannesburg (UJ) and Witwatersrand (Wits) struggled through their matches and could not rake in wins in the Varsity Cup played on February 18 and sponsored by FNB.

Shimlas make it a thrilling win over Wits

The crowd at the Wits rugby stadium this time around were treated to an amazing game of running rugby that saw the visitors, the Shimlas, secure a late 33-26 victory over a passionate Wits team.

The game was evenly poised in the opening few moments, with both sides showing great caution, to see the score at 0-0 inside the first 10 minutes. The hosts then struck just after the 14-minute mark, with Cal Smid crossing over to give the Witsies an early 7-0 lead after fly half Kurt Webster made no mistake with the conversion.

The game continued to see Wits get a better grip of the match, with the home side dashing over from close range, thanks to some great strength shown by hooker CJ Conradie. Webster stepped up once more and sent his attempt through the sticks to make it 14-0.

That was the last of the points for Wits in the half, with the Shimlas having the final say after Jan George Rossouw dotted down for the visitors. The sides went into the break with Wits enjoying a slender 14-5 lead.

The second offering saw the game light up even more, with the men from the Free State coming out the starting blocks the quickest with two converted tries inside the first 10 minutes from Henk Pretorius and Izak Burger. With the score now seeing the visitors up 19-14, Wits had to be next to score and they did just that, when tight head prop Reynard Cronje burrowed his way through the Shimlas defence from close range, only for Webster to miss the conversion and see the sides deadlocked at 19-19.

About seven minutes later Marnus Boshoff had a moment of magic when he put the visitors up again through a well-worked team try that Lubabalo Dobela converted with ease. Wits hit back very quickly, from close range again, this time with the feisty Ruan Cloete diving over for a converted try that levelled matters at 26-26 with a few minutes to go. The dying moments of the game belonged to the Shimlas, who turned the heat up a little, snatching a late try that saw them off to a thrilling 33-26 win over Wits.

CUT scrapes home in historic win

Central University of Technology (CUT) Ixias scored their first-ever win over UJ in Bloemfontein, by turning over their trailing by 17-19 at half time into a historic win by 27-26. UJ won the try tally by four tries to three, including a seven-point try midway through the second half.

And what a cliffhanger it was! Most of this frantic CUT crowd were chewing their nails right into the referee’s optional time with the visiting UJ on the attack.

This clash could have gone either way, but perhaps this result will help CUT motivate themselves for next week’s visit by the Maties giants.

UJ opened the score in the fourth minute with a try by Odwa Nkunjana, the exciting full back, converted by Jeanluc Cilliers.

CUT hit back with a penalty by Heinrich Bitzi, sixth minute, and a try by hooker Anrich Alberts nine minutes later, also converted by Bitzi.

UJ caught fire with two more tries, by Nkunjana and Stephen Bhasera, of which one was converted by Cilliers.

UJ led 19-17 at the break. The second half turned into a much tighter affair with low scoring.

Bitzi replied with yet another penalty in the 53rd minute, but when replacement hooker Ruben Cross crashed over for CUT’s third try, the crowd went crazy to see their team take an eight-point lead over the more fancied Egoli opponents.

To add to the thrills, winger Shaun Williams scored near the corner to crown a seven-point try, but Jack Hart could not convert to take the valuable win. While UJ is still winless after three rounds, the CUT Ixias will be celebrating this hard-earned win, something which does not happen too often in the Varsity Cup.

Other results are:

Maties enjoyed a fantastic 26-24 (half-time 12-14) victory over their Pretoria nemesis, Tuks, in their round-three Varsity Cup clash at the Tuks Rugby Stadium on Monday evening.

NWU’s first home game of the season proved all it was made out to be and more when NWU beat UWC 37-21 at the Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds on Monday.