There were two huge upsets in the fourth round of matches on Day one of Varsity Sevens when both UJ and the Maties lost their unbeaten tags.

UJ went down 24-22 to WSU in the final play of the game to lose their first match after winning three on the trot.

Earlier it was another Eastern Cape team in the form of NMMU Madibaz who caused an upset when they beat defending champions Maties 17-12 with a last minute try.

UP-Tuks bounced back after their defeat to Kovsies with a 15-7 win over NWU-Pukke, while Kovsies bagged their third win of the day after beating UWC 29-19

UCT got their second win of the day with a 33-17 win over Fort Hare.

NMMU 17-12 Maties

NMMU were under pressure from the kick-off and were stuck in their own half before a wonderful breakout saw them surprisingly open the scoring with a try in the second minute.

The lead did not last long however as a minute later it was the defending champions who hit back with a try of their own to level matters. Maties nearly went into the lead at the break, but the ball was lost forward with their being nothing to choose between the sides at 7-7.

Maties pressed hard in the opening minutes of the second half and were rewarded with try to take a five point lead with four minutes to play.

NMMU had all the possession in the final two minutes and after consistent pressure in the Maties half they eventually got the winning try in the corner with no time left on the clock.

UP-Tuks 15-7 NWU-Pukke

The match was a scrappy affair to begin with before UP-Tuks eventually opened the scoring in the fourth minute to take a five point lead.

The Pretoria side were the dominant team throughout the first half and they increased their lead on the half-time hooter with a well-worked try in the corner for a 10-0 score-line.

NWU-Pukke struggled to find a way through the UP-Tuks defence in the second half. They were soon further behind when Tuks scored their third try of the game off an inside move in the Pukke 22 to them a 15 point lead.

The Potch team did get a try back with half a minute still to play, but it was too little too late as UP-Tuks got a comfortable win.

Kovsies 29-19 UWC

Kovsies started the more enterprising and they took the lead in the second minute with a try.

UWC tried desperately to get back into the game, but crucial errors let them down when they were in good positions with Kovsies scoring a second try off a counter-attack to take a 10-0 lead.

The Bloem team then went further ahead with an intercept try with UWC trying to run the ball out from their own 22 and at half-time they had a 17-0 lead.

After dominating possession at the beginning of the second half UWC finally hit back with a converted try to reduce the margin to ten. However, Kovsies showed their class to score their fourth try soon after to make it a 15 point deficit.

With two minutes two go the game was all but over with Kovsies scoring another to put the game out of reach of the Cape side. UWC did manage a consolation try at the end in a power play to add some respectability to the score

WSU 24-22 UJ

UJ started the game well and took an early 7-0 lead after a try in the second minute. WSU then surprised with a great 30m try against the run of play, but a missed conversion meant they were still two points behind.

The Joburg team’s class then started come through in the final minutes of the first half when they got their second try for a 12-5 lead at half-time.

UJ started the second half the same way they ended the first and increased their lead after scoring two quick tries to take a 22-5 lead with four minutes to play.

WSU then showed some grit and scored a try themselves to reduce the margin before they got another in a power play on full-time to snatch the win after amazing conversion from a difficult angle.

UCT 33-17 UFH

UCT opened the scoring with a good try after taking the ball through multiple phases in the UFH 22.

The game then went into a bit of an arm-wrestle before UFH came back into the game with a breakout try to in all square at 7-7 at the break.

UCT then turned on the gas in the second half and regained the lead with two quick tries in the tenth minute of the match.

Both teams scored another try before full-time, but it was the Cape team who were comfortable winners in the end.