UJ maintain winning ways

Log leaders UJ continued their fine form on Day Two of the Varsity Sevens to remain one of the teams to beat in the tournament.

The Johannesburg students made light work of UCT-Ikeys to run in four unanswered tries as they grabbed a 24-0 bonus point victory.

In the big upset of the early round, UWC claimed the scalp of the defending champions Maties when they ran in three tries to Maties’ one to walk away with a tough 17-7 win while Kovsies got their day off to a winning start when they ran in four tries over the dangerous newcomer Walter Sisulu University with a 26-17 victory.

NMMU left it late to claim a narrow 19-17 victory over UP-Tuks as they fought back after being seven points down after the final hooter had sounded. They managed to grab a try to level matters and it was up to Tythan Adams to land the all-important conversion for a two-point victory.

Kovsies bagged another bonus point victory in their second match the day when they ran in six tries to overcome NWU-Pukke 41-12 in an eight-try feast.

UFS-Kovsies 26-17 WSU

Kovsies got their day off to a flying start when they ran in three first half tries to take a comfortable 21-0 lead over newcomers WSU.

They stretched their lead to 26-0 early in the second half but that would be the end of their scoring as WSU hit back with two tries of their own, one of which coming in a powerplay, to add 17 points of their own but it be too little too late as Kovsies held on for a 26-17 win.

Maties 7-17 UWC

UWC started – and ended – the opening stages of the strongly to bag two first half tries, either side of Maties’ only score of the half, to take a slender 12-7 lead in to the interval.

UWC continued their momentum in the second half to grab their third try through some silky skills. That would prove to be the only points scored in the second half as UWC bagged a hard-fought 17-7 victory over the defending champions.

UJ 24-0 UCT

UJ picked up where they left off to run in three unanswered first half tries over a under-fire UCT-Ikeys and took a 17-0 lead into the halftime break.

UJ grabbed an early second half try to put more light between themselves and Ikeys. Try as they might, nothing was working for the Cape students as they were handed a 0-24 defeat.

NMMU 19-17 UP-Tuks

NMMU were doing much of the early running and were rewarded with an early converted try. Tuks struck back toward the end of the half when they grabbed a try in the powerplay to take a 12-7 lead into the break.

The Port Elizabeth students hit back early in the second half to level matters with five minutes left in the contest. It was not long before Tuks regained the lead when they claimed their second try of the match.

NMMU finished the match to claim a late try to level matters. Tythan Adams slotted the pressure conversion to hand the Madibaz a tight 19-17 victory.

UFS-Kovsies 41-12 NWU-Pukke

Kovsies called a power play early in the encounter and it proved to be well-timed as they grabbed a try to take a 12-0 lead after the opening three minutes. It was all Kovsies from that point on as they ran in a further three tries to stretch their lead to 29-0 at the half-time interval.

Pukke came out firing in the second half and went on the attack straight away and found success when they scored under the poles from a five metre penalty. However, their joy would be short lived as Kovsies bagged another try to take the score to 34-7 with two minutes left in the match.

Pukke made a late surge to claim their second try of the match in the final minute of the match it proved in vain as Kovsies ran in another try from the restart to close out the match 41-12.

Updated log after Round Six

1	UJ 7s	6	5	1	106	6	26
2	UFS Kovsies 7s	7	5	2	70	5	25
3	Maties 7s	6	4	2	34	2	18
4	UWC 7s	6	3	3	17	2	14
5	NWU Puk 7s	6	3	3	14	2	14
6	UP Tuks 7s	6	3	3	5	1	13
7	NMMU 7s	6	3	3	-62	1	13
8	UCT Ikeys 7s	5	2	3	22	2	10
9	WSU 7s	6	2	4	-21	2	10
10	UFH 7s	5	0	5	-110	0	0