It was heart-breaking for the hordes of Maties fans, but as a senior figure in the coaching world said: “Semi-finals are a different animal.” And so it proved as the Varsity Hockey semi-final went the way of UP-Tuks in a nail-biting muscle-up with the hosts at Maties Astro Monday night.

The lone goal of this high-class clash, described by a hockey fan who has watched hundreds of matches featuring the best teams in the world, as “awesome in its intensity”, was scored by the man who seems to bring something special out of the stick bag for the big occasion, Tuks striker Stephen Cant.

The decisive strike came three minutes from half-time, Cant conjuring up his unique brand of magic to breach the goalline.

Apart from this hugely talented forward, Tuks’ hero was underrated goalkeeper Estiaan Kriek, whose contribution was immense, exemplifying the contention that your shot-stopper is key to keeping a team that’s under the cosh in the game.

Another factor in Tuks’ success was their ability to maintain structure and composure through the three lines of defence, midfield and forwards. In their defensive make-up Tuks were simply brilliant and the contribution of the tower of strength that is Kewan Harries cannot be emphasised enough.

An enthused SuperSport television viewer WhatsApp’ed from Randburg that it was the best game of this superbly organised-and-presented Varsity Sports SA competition to date, high praise indeed from one of the most knowledgeable hockey fans you will find… and a man who is not easily pleased; you’ve got to earn his praise.

Another fan who watched from the comfort of his TV lounge phoned through to say that the passion in the game was “palpable”.

“You could almost reach out into the screen and touch it,” said his teen-age daughter.

Her dad said Tuks keeper Kriek “had a complete blinder”.

“There was also great control from the umpires [Cape Town-based international umpire Sean Rapaport and Pretoria-based official John Wright, who is going to his fourth Olympic Games come Rio in August)”.

“John and Sean were crucial to the spectacle as they made sure that the needle in the match wasn’t extinguished through over-zealous interventions with the whistle, which must have been quite tempting at times, such was the physicality and pace of the game.”

Our Randburg enthusiast said the words of SA’s legendary world record goalscorer Pietie Coetzee, who was alongside another SA hockey great in Gregg Clark in the SuperSport commentary box, summed up the essence of this memorable match perfectly.

“Pietie said it all in just five words, ‘Extreme action all the time’.”
To be fair, the superb defending from Tuks kept the competition’s form team, Maties, at bay and, on another night – and perhaps against the same Tuks team (the league-phase game saw Maties destroy Tuks 6-1 just three days back) the Stellenbosch lads might have scored in customary fashion.

In closing, our Randburg fan added: “When Tuks keeper Kriek saved from the penalty spot at a critical point in the game you kind of knew it just wasn’t Maties’ night.”

FNB Player of the Match: Hendrik Kriek (Tuks)

Samsung Super Striker: Stephen Cant (Tuks)

By Jonathan Cook