The University of Pretoria have already silenced their critics by making it to the 2017 Varsity Football final after a slow start to the tournament but that is not enough for the Stripe Generation as they look to lift the trophy for the third time.
UP-Tuks captain, Lawrence Ntswane, who recently returned from the 2017 Summer Universiade where Team SA struggled to match their international university opponents, losing to Ukraine and Argentina while they drew with South Korea. But despite their results, Lawrence is adamant that the experience has made them better players.
“While we are disappointed in the results, the UP-Tuks contingent learnt a lot during the tournament which we brought back to camp and shared with the team. In a way, we have all benefitted from the experience,” said the final year education student.
Ntswane missed two matches during the round robin stages of Varsity Football and he paid homage to stand-in captain, Simbongile Njokwe, while setting the tone ahead of the final.
“Simbongile did an amazing job in leading the team in my absence and got the results we needed to get this far. That is the beauty of our relationship as leaders. We complement each other and we are able to lead in each other’s absence,” he exclaimed.
“In terms of the final, we are ready. We have put in the hours and worked on the things we need to fix. Last time out we drew with TUT. This time we plan on beating them,” said a confident Ntswane.
UP-Tuks will make the short trip to the Tshwane University of Pretoria on Thursday, 28 September for the Varsity Football final. Kick-off is scheduled for 18:00 with the match being televised on SuperSport.
By Dan Lombard
