Varsity Cup
Maties retain unbeaten record
2009-02-24 07:25
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Cape Town - The University of Stellenbosch (Maties) retained their unbeaten Varsity Cup record with a 31-10 victory, and a bonus point, against the University of the North West (Pukke) at the Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch, on Monday evening.
The Maties lead 17-3 at the break after their flyhalf Coenie van Wyk scored all his side's points.
The Maties enjoyed a dream start which saw them run in two tries in the opening nine minutes.
A first minute dropped pass in the Pukke's backline was neatly scrambled by the Maties. They played wide where fullback Adnaan Osman made some 30m down the touchline before feeding Van Wyk who collected his kick-ahead for the first try of the match.
Van Wyk was the scorer again after his grubber past the Pukke defence was recycled and he was handily placed to round the move when he dived in at the corner flag. Scrumhalf Donald Stevens converted both tries.
Pukke opened their scoring through a seventh minute penalty by scrumhalf Theuns Kotze (14-3).
The early setbacks seem to fire the visiting Pukke who produced several strong drives into the Maties half but their efforts came to nought as they infringed repeatedly at the breakdowns and the resultant penalties brought relief for the Maties.
Towards the end of the first half the Pukke continued to make inroads into the Maties' half but they conceded a few turn-overs which offered the Maties counter-attacking opportunities.
Moments ahead of the halftime whistle Van Wyk snapped over a drop-goal to give the Maties a commanding 17-3 lead at the break.
The second half started off on a rousing note as both sides preferred to keep ball in hand and play see-sawed from one end of the field to the other with the Pukke coming close to scoring on two occasions.
However, with so much enterprising play it was inevitable that a breakthrough was inevitable and just on the hour mark the defences on either side each leaked a try in the space of four minutes.
Morne Jooste snatched one for the Maties and Dewan Eckard responded for the Pukke. Stevens (Maties) and Kotze (Pukke) were on target with their conversion attempts (24-10).
Despite the sweltering humid conditions there was no let up on the intensity by both sides who made some big hits on defence, much to the enjoyment of the 11 000-strong crowd.
Just when the match seemed to heading for a final scoreline 27-10, the Maties ran in a try through Jaco Nepgen from a five-metre penalty two minutes into injury time to bag a valuable bonus point. Once again, Stevens' conversion was true (31-10).
Scorers:
Maties, Tries: Coenie van Wyk (2), Morne Jooste and Jaco Nepgen. Conversions: Donald Stevens (4). Drop-goal: Van Wyk.
Pukke, Try: Dewan Eckard. Conversion: Theuns Kotze. Penalty: Kotze.