Maties thrashed Tuks 52-10 in the final of the University Sport South Africa rugby tournament at Wits University on Friday. THEO GARRUN reports.
The Stellenbosch side completely dominated proceedings. They came out top in all of the forward exchanges, and their backs made good use of the glut of possession that came their way.
They scored six tries in the end and with their goal-kickers – Pierre du Toit and, later, Adriaan van der Bank – hardly missing a shot at goal all afternoon, the scoreboard marched on relentlessly and Tuks hardly had a look in.
Tuks were first on the scoreboard when Thinus de Beer slotted a penalty in the first minute, but they only got points again in the final minute of the half when Ewart Potgieter scored a try.
In between, Maties touched down three times, the first by SA U19 hooker Dan Jooste, and the others by No 8 Joa Swart and centre Anton du Toit. Du Toit added the conversions and slotted two penalties to put Maties 27-3 up before that last-minute try of the half for Tuks.
After the break, it was all Maties. They added three tries to their tally and two more penalties and Tuks, who had a forward red-carded with 10 minutes to go, simply had no answer.
Swart was rewarded with the Forward of the Tournament trophy. The best back was Kurtley Arendse of UWC.
Wits took third place after beating Shimlas 36-30 in the playoff. The A2 section was played as a round-robin competition and was won by UWC. The B section title went to Cape Peninsula University of Technology and the C section to the University of Zululand.
Maties (52) – Tries: Dan Jooste, Joa Swart, Anton du Toit (2), Duncan Saal, Adriaan van der Bank. Conversions: Pierre du Toit (3), Van der Bank (2). Penalties: Du Toit (3), Van der Bank.
Tuks (10) – Try: Ewart Potgieter. Conversion: Thinus de Beer. Penalty: De Beer.
Section A1 results:
Final: Maties, 52 Tuks 10
Third-place playoff: Wits 36 Shimlas 30
Fifth-place playoff: NMMU 22 UJ 17
Seventh-place playoff: Pukke 40 CUT 7
Final standings:
A1 – 1 Maties, 2 Tuks, 3 Wits, 4 Shimlas, 5 NMMU, 6 UJ, 7 Pukke, 8 Central University of Technology
A2 – 1 UWC, 2 UCT, 3 Varsity College, 4 Vaal Pukke
B section – 1 Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2 Fort Hare, 3 Tshwane University of Technology, 4 UKZN, 5 Rhodes
C section – 1 Zululand, 2 Durban University of Technology, 3 Vaal University of Technology, 4 Limpopo, 5 Venda
Photo: Theo Garrun
