Tries aplenty in Round Eight

Round Eight of the Varsity Sevens tournament brought about some interesting results as the race for playoff positions reached boiling point.

The biggest win of Round Eight went the way of UP-Tuks who ran in seven unanswered tries over UFH to claim a resounding 41-0 win while NMMU ended UWC’s hopes of advancing to the next phase when the Port Elizabeth students claimed a 28-12 victory to jump into third place.

NWU-Pukke kept their playoff hopes alive with a convincing 32-7 win over an unpredictable UWC while defending champions Maties bounced back from their earlier defeats to take down log leaders UJ.

NWU-Pukke 32-7 UWC

NWU-Pukke got off to the ideal start, scoring an early powerplay try to take a 10-0 lead. The Potchefstroom side continued to press and another two quick tries just before the break gave them a commanding 20-0 advantage at half-time.

That left UWC with it all to do in the second half, and they made early inroads with an opportunistic try from skipper Matthew Faught who stole a line-out ball and dived over.

The Cape side were cut down to six men when one of their players was shown a red card for a head-butt, and NWU-Pukke were able to cruise to a comfortable win in the end.

Maties 24-17 UJ

The Johannesburg side struck first, with a weaving run ending under the poles, but Maties hit back immediately through Mike Muller and it was not long before they grabbed the lead with Louis Jordaan forcing his way over from close range.

Maties took a slender 10-7 lead into the break, but they did not have it much longer as UJ called the powerplay at the start of the second half and scored a maul try in the corner to put themselves 17-10 up.

The Maroon Machine were not done there though, and came roaring back with a try from skipper Braam Venter levelling things up at 17-17 with three minutes left to play.

It would be Maties who finished strongest, with a late try clinching a hard-fought win.

NMMU 38-5 WSU

NMMU made early in-roads against a spirited WSU by scoring two tries in the opening minutes to take a 14-0 lead. The Madibaz continued to apply pressure on the WSU defence and were rewarded with the final play of the half when they ran in their third try to take a 19-0 lead into the half-time interval.

WSU came out strong i the second half but unforced errors proved to be their downfall which allowed NMMU to bring up their bonus point with a break away try under the posts to extend the lead to 26-0 with five minutes remaining in the match.

WSU would bring the crowd to their feet with two minutes remaining in the match when a blistering solo effort from the halfway line broke through the heart of the NMMU defence to grab a scintillating try.

That would be their only points of the match as NMMU struck back from the restart when they scored under the posts to claim a convincing win.

UP-Tuks 41-0 UFH

Tuks got off to the ideal start when they wasted no time in grabbing an early try under the posts. The Pretoria students maintained their dominance in the match and found reward with two quick tries in the final minutes of the half to take a 19-0 lead at the half-time break.

Tuks picked up where they left off and grabbed their bonus point in the opening seconds of the second half. It was not long before they grabbed another try under the posts to stretch their lead to 29-0 with four minutes left in the match.

UFH were being pinned inside their 22 for the majority of the half and found themselves further behind as Tuks scored try number six. There was no stopping the men from Pretoria as they scored at will to close out the match with seven unanswered tries.

NMMU 28-12 UWC

UWC came out firing in the opening minutes of the first half and NMMU were forced to defend for their lives. However, defence was soon turned into attack as NMMU ran in a try to score under the posts.

Their lead would be doubled in the final play of the half when they capitalised on UWC’s errors to head into the half-time break with a 14-0 lead.

UWC got themselves back into the contest in the opening minute of the second half but NMMU would hit back with two quick tries to knock the wind out the Bellville students’ sails.

With time running out, UWC displayed some amazing individual skills which saw them grab the final try of the match.

Standings after Round Eight

1	UFS Kovsies 7s	8	6	2	100	7	31
2	UJ 7s	8	6	2	140	6	30
3	NMMU 7s	9	6	3	3	3	27
4	UP Tuks 7s	8	5	3	73	4	24
5	Maties 7s	8	5	3	14	3	23
6	NWU Puk 7s	7	4	3	39	3	19
7	UWC 7s	9	4	5	-19	2	18
8	UCT Ikeys 7s	7	2	5	-23	3	11
9	WSU 7s	8	2	6	-59	3	11
10	UFH 7s	7	0	7	-192	0	0