Maties cruise past Tukkies
23 Mar 2009
Maties will face Pukke in next week’s Varsity Cup final after they beat Tukkies 38-14 in Stellenbosch.
Chean Roux’s men were in complete control from start to finish as they saw off the Pretoria students without much fuss, running in six tries.
The first half was end-to-end stuff as both sides looked to run the ball. But while Maties were clinical in possession, Tukkies squandered a number of opportunities and were guilty of missing crucial tackles as the hosts began to cut loose and out-scored their opponents by four tries to one to take a commanding 26-14 lead into the break.
With the wind at their backs in the second half, Maties would have been confident of seeing out the next 40 minutes to secure a home final against Pukke. But the defending champions were not satisfied to simply sit back and wind down the clock as centre Jean Stemmet grabbed his second and his side’s fifth try of the game with just four minutes gone in the second half.
Tukkies tried to get themselves back into the encounter, but solid defence and some brilliant tactical kicking kept the visitors pegged back in their own half. Maties grabbed their sixth try through Dabeon Draghoender to put the result beyond any doubt.
Despite missing some of their stars through provincial commitments, Maties were the better team in almost every department and will surely go into next week’s final as firm favourites.
By Andrew Worling
14 Comments
23 Mar 2009, 21:35 pm
Well done
23 Mar 2009, 21:35 pm
cool win
23 Mar 2009, 21:37 pm
woo hoo!
23 Mar 2009, 21:42 pm
Just a thought – where are the Natal Universities – Durban and Pietermaritzburg? Are they THAT ****?!
24 Mar 2009, 01:23 am
#4 spooner: That’s an easy one… the answer is YES.
24 Mar 2009, 02:32 am
Natal never had any players. Always have to buy…
24 Mar 2009, 03:18 am
#6 gerhard:
What’s your point… Manchester United has almost no local born lads in their squad… and that applies to the English premier league as a whole… this is the professional era… if you run your union like donkeys you’ll continually prop up the bottom of the S14 with players leaving in droves…
In saying that there is plenty of good young local talent coming through the prodigious Sharks Academy (not to mention youngsters from other provinces being developed there a-la-Steyn, Ruan, Rory) and KZN schools make up 30plus % of the top 25 RSA rugby schools… so to suggest there would not be a competitive Uni side shows the level of ignorance out there…
24 Mar 2009, 08:34 am
Well played, Maties.
And I’ll be there next week, cheering you on.
24 Mar 2009, 08:39 am
#7 money_man:
Moeilik again?
24 Mar 2009, 09:29 am
Pukke are going to get slaughtered in the final.
24 Mar 2009, 09:30 am
#4 spooner:
I dont think these 2 universities will be producing any players of note anymore or even have any more players registered with them.
The students are too busy causing a ruckus on campus these days. They were surprised that they were not allowed back this year either because
A) they never passed last year or
B) they never payed their fees.
Its a shame really when you think of who has played for these 2 once very competitive Varsities. Namely Doc Louw, Craig Jameson, Tich Smith, Gary Teichman, Mark Andrews, John Smith etc for Maritzburg Varsity and
Joel Stransky, Tony Watson, Guy kebble, Errol Stewart, Andrew Aitken etc for Durban Vastity
24 Mar 2009, 11:20 am
#4 spooner:
The truth is that although Natal has produced some great locally bred players in the past, the VAST majority of Natal’s players over the years have been imports. See : Freestate.
It’s a simple truth: rugby teams are dominated by Afrikaner players and Natal are not big on Afrikaner stocks. In this light it’s quite obvious that Natal universities are not going to be strong enough to compete.
24 Mar 2009, 11:51 am
#12 brandmerk:
What hogwash…. How many young people from Mpumalanga,EC,NC,etc go to University at Maties and Tukkies??? If a team from Natal gets involved with the Varsity cup then there will be alot more interest from aspiring Rugby bplayers….
24 Mar 2009, 13:51 pm
#13 THE MAULER:
I see your point, although I still think you are referring to a minority of students. How many Afrikaans students do you think are enrolled at DBN or PMB? I’m sure it’s below ten percent of total. Compare that to Tukkies, Maties, Pukke?
You have to agree that Natal does not produce enough local quality. A team like Maties, Tuks or Pukke hardy need to scout for talent or lure players: year on year there will be copious amount of talent, fed from the many local rugby powerhous schools.
Even if the Natal universities do compete they’d have to rely heavily on imported players who might otherwise have gone to a local university – that would be difficult to sustain.
See also : Rhodes Univ.
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