The inaugural Varsity Netball challenge kicked off with a bang on Saturday, when Tuks and Maties produced impressive run-away victories, while Pukke and NMMU delivered the first upsets of the competition.
Tuks took the early lead on the log when they demolished their neighbours from TUT by 78-12 at the Rembrandt Hall in Hatfield on Saturday. The result came as no surprise, with TUT currently plying their trade in the USSA B division, whilst Tuks has built an impressive netball empire which is currently home to eight former and current Proteas players.
Even without national stars like Vanes-Mari du Toit, Chrisna Bootha and Erin Burger – who are currently either injured or on international duty in England – it was clear that Tuks would have too much fire power for the hapless TUT side. The visitors were never in the game, and Tuks sometimes played like they were simply on a practice run.
The big match at the Rembrandt Hall was the one between the Pukke from Potchefstroom and Bloemfontein’s Kovsies, which the team from North West won by 60-47.
The Free State team went into the match as favourites, thanks to their status as current USSA champion, but seemed out of sorts without the services of their Protea players, who will only return from England next week.
Many of the Pukke players represented North West South at the recent national netball championships, where they surprised friend and foe to eventually finish third. They were clearly still riding that same wave and outplayed Kovsies from the outset.
Pukke were leading by 16-8 after the first quarter. When they went into halftime with a lead of 36-18, the writing was on the wall.
The result puts Kovsies on the back foot ahead of their crucial match against Tuks on Sunday. It is quite clear they will have to lift their game against the Pretoria side.
Saturday’s other matches were contested at the NMMU Indoor Sport Centre in Port Elizabeth, where NMMU faced UJ and Maties were involved in a Cape derby with UCT.
Like TUT, UCT also plays USSA netball in the B division, making the result quite predictable. In the end Maties had no difficulty beating their neighbours by 62-22.
The other match was a humdinger, with the lead regularly changing hands.
In the end NMMU took the spoils, helped greatly by their rowdy home fans and the great character they displayed late in the contest. They prevailed by the slim margin of 57-52.
The action continues on Sunday and Monday.
The fixtures are:
At NMMU: Sunday: 14:00: NMMU vs Maties; 15:30: UCT vs UJ. Monday: 18:00: UJ vs Maties; 19:30: NMMU vs UCT.
In Pretoria: Sunday: 14:00: Tuks vs Kovsies; 15:30: Pukke vs TUT. Monday: 15:00: TUT vs Kovsies; 16:30: Tuks vs Pukke.
