The University of Johannesburg (UJ) recorded the biggest ever Varsity Cup victory in the five-year history of the tournament, as they beat the TUT Vikings by a whopping 93-0 in Round Five action in Johannesburg on Monday evening.
Aside from UJ’s record-breaking 12-try romp – which included a 33-point haul for Worsie Kotze and four tries for fellow Namibian RWC star Chrysander Botha, there were also fifth-round wins for Maties and UP-Tuks, whilst UCT and NWU-Pukke played out to a dramatic 29-29 draw.
The Ikeys had led by 29-13 with less then 10 minutes remaining in Cape Town, but the men from Potchefstroom scored two tries to come away with a draw – probably putting an end to UCT’s semi-final aspirations in the process.
The Maties converted a solid enough 18-0 half-time lead into a 42-26 victory over NMMU in PE – the Madibaz outscoring them 26-24 in the second half – whilst Tuks kept up with the log-leading men in Maroon, and UJ, with a comfortable enough 48-18 win over an injury-hit Shimlas team. Tuks led 24-10 at half-time, scoring three tries in each half.
As things stand now, UCT – the defending champions – are in sixth place on the Varsity Cup log with nine points from five matches.
The Madibaz are a point ahead on 10, with Pukke on 14 points, UP-Tuks on 20 points, UJ on 20 points (ahead of Tuks on points difference), with the unbeaten Maties in first position on the log with 22 points. Shimlas are in seventh place on six points, with TUT on zero log points in eighth position.
FNB Varsity Cup LOG |
||||||||||||
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD | TF | TA | BPts | Pts |
| 1 | Maties | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 151 | 69 | 82 | 21 | 8 | 2 | 22 |
| 2 | UJ | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 228 | 74 | 154 | 30 | 10 | 4 | 20 |
| 3 | Tuks | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 173 | 69 | 104 | 21 | 9 | 4 | 20 |
| 4 | Pukke | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 139 | 107 | 32 | 20 | 14 | 4 | 14 |
| 5 | NMMU | 5 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 112 | 164 | -52 | 16 | 22 | 2 | 10 |
| 6 | UCT | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 141 | 121 | 20 | 20 | 15 | 3 | 9 |
| 7 | Shimlas | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 108 | 157 | -49 | 12 | 22 | 2 | 6 |
| 8 | TUT | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 303 | -291 | 1 | 41 | 0 | 0 |
With TUT the obvious contenders for automatic relegation at this stage (with the winning Varsity Shield side gaining automatic promotion), one of Shimlas, UCT or the Madibaz could still be forced to play in the promotion/relegation game against the team that loses in the Varsity Shield Final.
Shimlas still have to play against TUT, a game they should win, and NWU-Pukke, with UCT set to travel to Stellenbosch next week to take on the Maties before finishing their league campaign against Tuks on March 19. The Madibaz face TUT in the final round of league action, with a Round Six assignment in Pretoria (to take on Tuks) next on their agenda.
* Meanwhile, there was also a stalemate in Varsity Shield action as Fort Hare and Wits played out a thrilling 10-10 draw in a highly physical encounter in Alice. Defending champions CUT demolished the UKZN Impis by 42-4 in Bloemfontein.
* In Varsity Young Guns action it took an incredible fightback from UP-Tuks’ Under-20s to claim a 36-33 victory over the University of the Free State’s Under-20s.
* Finally, in Koshuisrugby Championships action, defending champions Patria (from NWU-Pukke) went down 25-28 to a determined Cobras (from UCT) in Cape Town. In other Koshuis action, a dominant Vishuis side inflicted a 26-18 defeat on Mopanie.
Varsity Cup results on Monday: (Half-time scores in brackets)
UCT 29 (24) NWU-Pukke 29 (5)
UP-Tuks 48 (24) Shimlas 18 (10)
NMMU 26 (0) Maties 42 (18)
UJ 93 (16) TUT Vikings 0 (0)
Ireland have climbed one place to seventh in the latest IRB World Rankings despite letting an 11-point half-time advantage slip by the wayside to draw 17-17 with France at the Stade de France in their rearranged RBS 6 Nations match on Sunday.
The draw was just enough to lift the Irish above Argentina, albeit only by two hundredths of a rating point, and away from their lowest ever position since the IRB World Rankings were introduced in October 2003.
The draw on home soil not only ended France’s hopes of a second Grand Slam in three years, but also saw them surrender third place to South Africa to re-establish the southern hemisphere top three broken by Les Bleus’ reaching the RWC 2011 Final.
France still remain in the top four, a position their European rivals are all coveting to avoid the prospect of being drawn in the same pool as defending champions New Zealand, Australia or South Africa at the RWC 2015 Pool Allocation Draw later this year.
That top four spot will again be under threat when France welcome England to the Stade de France this weekend in the penultimate round of the Six Nations, which also sees Italy take on unbeaten Wales at the Millennium Stadium and Ireland host Scotland at the Aviva Stadium.
I was at UJ stadium last night, and I must say it was the most entertaining game I have seen there.
Although the fist half was fairly dull, TUT did look like a much better outfit than from the weeks before. After they failed to score after camping in UJ’s 22 for nearly 5min and UJ scoring two quick tries before halftime, I’m sure they felt deflated.
As soon as the second half started the floodgates opened. UJ finally showed how well they can play attacking open running rugby and kept the crowd thoroughly entertained.
It was the best atmosphere I have ever experienced at UJ stadium.
I look forward to the clash with Maties on the 19th in what could be a very vital win for both sides looking for a home semi
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