UWC continue to topple the big sides at Varsity 7s, while Maties look to be the favourites and Kovsies look shaky.

Tuks vs WSU

It was all Tuks in the opening match of the day.
PJ Uys opened up the scoring for Tuks, straightening to find a gap and split the WSU defence.

It was a scrappy affair in the first half and Lourens Pretorius grubbered through a loose ball to dot down between the posts. Tuks went into half time 14-0.

WSU struggled to get the ball out of their own 22 in the second half.
Clever thinking by Jaco Snyman, who dropped the ball after the tackle and picked it up again, allowed him to run through for Tuks’ third.

Shortly after that Tuks executed a training ground move as they switched play and went through to score after the ball was knocked back by WSU, who were caught napping.

Tuks’ Brendan Owen was too strong for the WSU defenders, bundling over after the hooter and his team ended with a 33-0 victory.

Pukke vs UWC

Gideon van der Merwe took a quick tap after extended pressure on UWC’s tryline led to a penalty, and they couldn’t stop him from opening the scoring. Tuks led 7-0 after the first minute.

A brilliant try by UWC levelled it up when UWC countered through Clinton Herbst, who rounded the blindside, chipped ahead and UWC’s Morne Langeveldt held off his defender to score his team’s first try.

A scintillating run by Nieyaas Johnson was agonisingly close to ending in a try, but he knocked it on over the tryline and his team trailed 7-5 at the break.

Jacquin Moses put UWC into the lead early in the second half, when his teammate spun out of a tackle at put him through on goal. Moments later, Nieyaas Johnson popped the ball out for a Sonny-Bill Williams-like offload and Rohaan Adams scored to extend UWC’s lead.

Timmy Prince scored to pull it back to 17-14, but it was too late, as UWC continued to cause upsets, winning 17-14.

UJ vs Maties

It was a clash between two of the quickest teams at Varsity 7s in 2016 when UJ met Maties on Day Two.
The first half was dead even, both teams remaining strong on defence. But it was UJ who opened the scoring when Aphiwe Dyanti scored after Ronald Brown almost botched UJ’s opening try, trying to cut in to score between the posts when he had a clear route to the corner flag. UJ led 7-0 at half time.

In the second half UJ went down to six men after a yellow card for an offside player and when the ball went loose, Pieter Schoonraad kicked it through and Tanner Lightfoot levelled it at 7-7.

The Power Play was taken with three minutes to play and Josh Moon capitalised on Maties’ one-man advantage, crashing through his tacklers to score 10 points and take Maties to a 17-7 lead and that’s how it ended.

UCT vs UFH

UCT finally hit their straps on Day Two. They were rampant against UFH. A brilliant switch by UCT’s captain put Jesse Wilensky through for an opening five-pointer and conversion.

Joel Smith extended UCT’s lead soon after that. Zanoxolo Qwele scored for UFH after Athenkosi Makeleni took out two defenders and slipped the ball inside, out the back of his hand. UFH trailed 14-5.

Jesse Wilensky rounded off another try for UCT after they maintained possession for a number of phases and UFH couldn’t hold out on defence.

UCT led 19-5 at half time. In the second half, Joel Smith extended UCT’s lead to 26-5 with an easy try, slipping through a gap in UFH’s defence.
UFH’s Zanoxolo Qwele pulled one back during the Power Play to make it 26-17, but it wasn’t enough, as the match ended that way.

Kovsies vs Madibaz

The defending Varsity 7s champions showed guts to win it in the dying seconds against Madibaz.

Kovsies opened the scores when Pieter Faber scored for his side and the defending champions looked good early on. But a bit of luck for Madibaz, when the ball popped off Christiaan Willemse’s chest and landed in Steven Hansel’s hands, set him through for his side’s first try.

Dundre Maritz scored on the stroke of half time to take Madibaz into a 12-5 lead at the break. Kovsies received a yellow card for cynical play on their own tryline and Madibaz’s Bryce Rennie took advantage to score and extended Madibaz’s lead.

Late in the second half the Kovsies fight back begun, as Donovan Gissing scored with a breakaway try and they trailed 19-10.
Then, with clever use of the Power Play, Murray Bandesio crashed over after the hooter for a 10-point try and Kovsies stole it away from Madibaz, winning 20-19.

Results:

Tuks 33-0 WSU

Pukke 14-17 UWC

UJ 7-17 Maties

UCT 26-17 UFH

Kovsies 20-19 Madibaz