Cape Town - Maties were made to work hard for their first victory of the 2016 Varsity Cup when they beat Wits 26-14 at Danie Craven Stadium on Monday night.
Maties scored two quick tries at the beginning at the second half to break the Wits defence who held firm until half time. Maties held a slender 6-5 lead at the break but came out firing in the second half.
The men from Stellenbosch were dealt a massive blow in the 51st minute when flanker, Janco Venter received his second yellow card of the match and in the process a red card. This led Wits back into the match and they came into touching distance through the boot of Ruan Cloete as Maties led 20-14 at the second strategy break.
Ernst Stapelberg proved to be the difference in the end as he converted two more penalties to give Maties a 12-point victory.
Player That Rocks: Kobus van Dyk (Maties)
Scorers:
Maties: 26
Tries: Craig Corbett (five-point), Kyle Steyn (seven-point)
Con: Ernst Stapelberg
Pens: Stapelberg (4)
Wits: 14
Try: Jethro de Lange (five-point)
Drop goal: Ruan Cloete
Pens: Ruan Cloete (2)
Maties XV: 15 Craig Barry, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Kyle Steyn, 12 Braam Venter, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Ernst Stapelberg, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Kobus van Dyk, 7 Janco Venter, 6 Mitchell Carstens, 5 Ernst van Reyn, 4 Ian Groenewald, 3 Christiaan Hamman, 2 Craig Corbett, 1 Niël Oelofse
Substitutes: 16. HJ Luus, 17 Jake Blew, 18 Wikus Groenewald, 19 Saud Abrahams, 20 Devon Nash, 21 Logan Boonzaaier, 22 Chris Smith, 23 Michal Haznar
Wits XV: 15 Luxolo Ntsepe, 14 Peabo Ngema, 13 Johannes van Blerk, 12 Benjamin Hewitt, 11 Christian Jarvis, 10 James Gilbert, 9 Ruan Cloete, 8 Jeathro de Lange, 7 Constant Beckerling, 6 Ruan Macdonald, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 4 Johan Logan, 3 Phindile Pupuma, 2 CJ Conradie, 1 Jacobus Greeff
Substitutes: 16 Carl Brandon, 17 James Palmer, 18 Ludwig Snyman, 19 Conor-Terrah Brockschmidt, 20 Jarred Branco, 21 Lwazi Monakali, 22 Themba Mpemvu, 21 Ameer Williams.