Pukke claim Varsity Cup at the death

Cape Town - Pukke are the 2016 Varsity Cup champions!

The Potchefstroom based outfit claimed the trophy with a 7-6 win over Maties at the Danie Craven stadium. 

In a closely fought encounter, both teams defended like trojans throughout the match, with the Pukke defence in particular keeping the Maties out from their line on a number of occasions in the first-half. 

The teams went into the break deadlocked at 0-0.

In the second half, Maties took advantage of an early period of territorial advantage to finally put points on the board through two penalties by flyhalf Chris Smith, a late replacement in the team after regular pivot Theo Stapelberg picked up an injury during the warm-up. 

Maties continued to have most of the territorial dominance as the half came to an end with Smith missing a crucial penalty attempt at goal. 

With two minutes remaining however, Pukke though they had stolen the match at the death after replacement winger Dean Stokes chased a kick and seemed to go over in the corner.

After numerous replays, the TMO ruled that he had knocked the ball on. 

Pukke were awarded a penalty from the resulting defensive Maties scrum, electing to take another scrum with just a minute left in the game.

After a number of reset scrums and further penalties to Pukke, they eventually took the ball wide, receiving yet another penalty after a Maties player played the ball on the ground. He was sent to the sin-bin for his indiscretion. 

The Maties then lost another player when scrumhalf Remu Malan was sent to the bin for a tackle from an offside position. 

Pukke made the pressure eventually count when Manro Redelinghuys forced his way over from close in.

Ryno Smith converted from right in front to give the visitors an incredible victory. 

Scorers

Maties 6

Penalties: Chris Smith (2)

Pukke 7

Try: Marno Redelinghuys

Conversion: Ryno Smith

Teams

Maties: 15 Craig Barry, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Paul Streicher, 12 Chris Smit, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Remu Malan, 8 Kobus van Dyk, 7 Janco Venter, 6 Beyers de Villiers, 5 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 4 Ian Groenewald, 3 JE van der Merwe, 2 Freddie Kirsten, 1 Niel Oelofse

Replacements: 16 Marko Janse van Rensburg, 17 Wesley Adonis, 18 Robey Labuschagne, 19 Saud Abrahams, 20 Bjorn Bernardo, 21 Kyle Steyn, 22 Brandon Asher-Wood, 23 Boeta Kleinhans

Pukke: 15 Ryno Smith, 14 Lucian Cupido, 13 Johan Deysel, 12 Henko Marais, 11 Sylvian Mahuza, 10 Barend Janse van Rensburg, 9 Malherbe Swart, 8 Jeandre Rudolph, 7 Marno Redelinghuys, 6 Jaco Jordaan, 5 Walt Steenkamp, 4 Neil Morrison, 3 Bart le Roux, 2 Wilmar Arnoldi, 1 Cornelius Mafela

Replacements: 16 Louis van der Westhuizen, 17 Joe Smith, 18 Ruan Venter, 19, Tiaan Liebenberg, 20 Percy Williams, 21 Lonwabo Nela, 22 Dean Stokes, 23 Lawrence Mabokela