UP-Tuks men’s sevens rugby side showed there is truth in the saying about a certain ‘Fat Lady’ needing to sing before anything can be considered a done deal when they won the USSA 7s Tournament in Margate over the weekend.
The ‘boys’ as their captain, Dewald Naude, refers to his teammates won by beating UJ 7-5 in the final. On Sunday evening Naude still battled to find the right words to describe their on-field heroics. Every so often, he can’t resist using the word ‘unbelievable’ when explaining how they pulled off a victory in the dying seconds.
MEMORIES OF VARSITY 7S 2018
With less than a minute to play, UJ was leading 5-0. In the rainy and muddy conditions, few would have tipped Tuks to still be able to spring a surprise. Then it happened. The ‘big man’ Stephan Coetzee got hold of the ball. There was no way anyone was going to stop him. He crashed over to level the score. It meant it was left to WJ Strydom to put the final nail in the coffin which he did by succeeding with the conversion.
Similarities between this USSA Final and last year’s Varsity 7s final are uncanny. The Stripe Generation and UJ were the main protagonists in both instances. During last year’s Varsity 7s final, UJ was also in the lead with the stopwatch relentlessly ticking down. It was only the never say die attitude that led to UP-Tuks scoring the winning try in the dying minutes.
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“It is absolutely crazy and amazing to have been part of the team where every player was prepared to put his body on the line for his team. I know it is cliché but, after this USSA Tournament, I truly know there is no ‘I’ when spelling team,” said an elated Naude who can’t help himself but use the word unbelievable again.
KNOCKOUTS MADE UP-TUKS SWITCHED ON
UP-Tuks’s semi-final encounter against UWC was also a closely contested affair. With about a minute’s play left on the clock, the score was tied at 7-all. Cornell Korff dotted down to ensure his team got to contest the final.
During their quarterfinal encounter, UP-Tuks outplayed Wits to win 40-15. Another highlight was beating Maties 28-0 in a pool game.
An interesting statistic is that in the buildup to the USSA Tournament, the eventual champions only trained together on five occasions. The training officially started the Saturday before the USSA Tournament.
“All credit should go to our coaches. They left absolutely nothing to chance. It was their passion that motivated us to step up when it mattered,” explains Naude.
According to Naude, the last time UP-Tuks was able to win the USSA Tournament was in 2014. Last year they won the plate final and the year before they had to settle for playing out for the ninth place.
Tuks USSA winning squad: Irvin Ali, Timothy Allias, Michael Amiras, Stephan Coetzee, Luke Haynes, Cornell Korff, Marco Labuschagne, Dewald Naude (captain), Mangaliso Ntimba, Enrique Oranje, Jaco Snyman, WJ Strydom.
Varsity 7s will be broadcast live on SuperSport 211 on Friday, 4 October and SuperSport 210 on Saturday, 5 October 2019. Tickets are already on sale and can be purchased via the Varsity Sports App (iOS and Andoid) or here: https://varsitysportsa.plankton.mobi
By Wilhelm de Swardt (TuksSport Media)
