The second round of play saw CPUT, UP-Tuks, NWU and Maties register big wins in the Varsity 7s tournament at the Pirates Club in Johannesburg.
UWC v Madibaz
The Madibaz struck early on and during a power play while they added another two tries with UWC scoring two of their own to go into the break trailing the Madibaz 24-10.
UWC made it a two-point game as Keagan Fortune crossed the chalk during a power play before Kurt-Lee Arendse scored his second five-pointer to hand his charges a 29-24 lead with time almost up.
The Madibaz ensured that the teams shared the spoils as they scored an unconverted try to draw 29-29 with UWC.
CPUT v WSU
WSU made CPUT pay for overcooking the opening kick-off as Snish Mpontshane walked over the tryline to open the scoring but his efforts were undone by Lucan Kirchner who scored a converted try.
It was Kirchner who was on hand to score his charges second try and CPUT added another just before half time to command a comfortable 21-5 lead.
CPUT crossed the chalk three times in the second half which included a power play try to claim an emphatic 47-5 victory over WSU in Pool A.
UJ v UCT
The reigning champions raced into an early lead as Odwa Nkunjana touched down for a converted which they followed up with tries to Jaundre Michau and Ronald Brown.
UJ secured their bonus-point try just before the break as they built up a 24-0 lead.
UCT needed to get themselves on the scoreboard which they duly did as the match resumed with Joel Smith collecting the five-pointer but disaster struck the men from Cape Town as UJ’s Martin van Wyk capitalized on a power play to score.
UCT managed to pull back a try of their own with seconds remaining on the clock but it was not enough as UJ secured a 34-12 win in Pool B.
UP-Tuks v Wits
A solitary try is what separated UP-Tuks and Wits at half time with UP-Tuks scoring through Dewald Naudé and Lourens Pretorius while Bin Kasende’s five-pointer allowed Wits to establish themselves on the scoreboard despite trailing their Gauteng neighbours 12-5 at the break.
Lorenzo Cloete was on hand to consolidate UP-Tuks’ lead in the second half which was followed up by Mihle Nelani as the latter secured their bonus-point try.
Wits had no answer in containing a rampant UP-Tuks outfit as they ran in a further two tries via Zandré Kruger and Cornel Korff as the men from Pretoria secured a 43-5 win in their second match of Pool B action.
NWU v Kovsies
Kovsies shot out of the blocks early on as Willem Barnard evaded several tackles to score the opening try within seconds after the kick-off but his efforts were undone by Diederik Oberholzer.
Kovsies and NWU both scored two tries on either side of the break (14-14) before NWU scored three more including an intercept try during a powerplay to run away with the score and register a 52-21 win in Pool C to continue the trend of big wins in the second matches of pool play.
Maties v UKZN
The Maroon Machine were in scintillating form in the opening exchanges of their Pool C match against UKZN as they scored two quick tries of which one was during a power play.
Siphelele Buthelezi pulled back an unconverted try for the men from Kwa-Zulu Natal and they continued to push hard on attack but it was Maties who finished the half on top as they scored another try to bump up their lead to 26-5 at half time.
Frederick van Zyl had a stellar second half as he crossed the whitewash no less than four times (one during a powerplay) while UKZN’s Thobekani Buthelezi dotted down once but his efforts proved to be a consolation try as Maties ran out 53-12 victors.
By Dan Lombard
