Varsity Cup, Round 2

Week one in this year’s competition gave us our first upset as Shimlas went to Cape Town and UCT a proper beating by 38-10. The second round gets underway tonight and we can look forward to four matches, each with their own little twist.

by Jacques

The first game to be televised tonight we will see Tuks take on TUT. Tuks will not be taking this game lightly as TUT surprised them last year by beating them 46-36 in one of the games of 2011.

Tuks recorded an impressive 23-8 win against UJ last week and are favourites for this game. It will be difficult for TUT after last week’s 52-2 thumping dished out by Maties in their first game but hey, you never know.

Maties will move onto Potchefstroom this week were they will be received by the current National Club Champions. It was Pukke who shocked Maties out of the semifinal of the same tournament last year September.  This game will be televised by SuperSport at 7pm. Pukke had a four-try win over NMMU last week but had to work hard to keep NMMU out after leading 26-8 at half time.

“They’ll be confident with that win (over us in the Club Champs) in mind,” warned Maties head coach Chean Roux.”That said, the Varsity Cup is an age-group competition, so there’s that unknown factor. But I’ve got confidence in my players and if we stick to our plans we will have a chance (of winning).”

In Johannesburg we will have UJ and UCT take each other on. Both were last year’s two top teams on the log and both lost last week in their opening game.

Both teams have a powerful line-up with UJ recalling a fit Worsie Kotze who played in last year’s world cup for Namibia. UCT was able to call up Don Armand and Tiger Bax. UCT will go into the game with some kind of history of never losing a game against UJ in Johannesburg.

In the other game we will have Shimlas taking on MNNU. With the win last week over the current champions I cannot see Shimlas messing this one up, but stranger things have happened before. Shimlas were made to work hard for victory the last time these two sides met with a narrow win of 17-13 for the men from Bloemfontein.

Varsity Cup fixtures and team line-ups for Monday, February 13:

FNB TUT v FNB Tuks
TUT Stadium (Tshwane)
Kick-off: 5pm (Live on SuperSport One)

The teams:

TUT: 15 Hagen Mumba, 14 Craig Pheiffer, 13 Rikus de Beer, 12 Brahm du Preez, 11 Ruan van Loo, 10 Hansie Graaff, 9 Nico Smuts, 8 Wikus Botes, 7 Yves Basiya, 6 Ryno Coetzee, 5 JJ Breett, 4 Gavin Engelbrecht, 3 Dandre van der Westhuyzen, 2 Johan Pieterse (captain), 1 Coert van Gerve.
Replacements: 16 Zandre Grobler, 17 Nico van den Heever, 18 Peter Matthews, 19 Ryno Lopes, 20 Melcolm Griffiths, 21 Craig van Rooi, 22 Thabo Mangena, 23 Nathi Sethusse.

Tuks: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Deon Helberg, 13 Jerome Pretorius, 12 Dabeon Draghoender, 11 Hayden Groepes, 10 Wesley Dunlop, 9 Lohan Jacobs, 8 Jono Ross (captain), 7 Jacques Verwey, 6 Okkie Kruger, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Mike Williams, 3 Grant Kemp, 2 Jacques Momberg, 1 Sabelo Nhlapo.
Replacements: 16 Chris Crous, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Lean Schwartz, 19 Jono Janse van Rensburg, 20 Clayton Stewart, 21 Willie du Plessis, 22 Riaan Britz, 23 Basil Short.

FNB Pukke v FNB Maties
Fanie du Toit Sports Grounds (Potchefstroom)
Kick-off: 7pm (Live on SuperSport One)

The teams:

Pukke: 15 SW Oosthuizen, 14 Andrew van Wyk, 13 Hennie Scorbinski, 12 Joubert Engelbrecht (captain), 11 Joe Seerane, 10 Gerhard Nortier, 9 Tiaan Dorfling, 8 Juan ‘Spanner’ Pretorius, 7 Ernie Strydom, 6 Philip de Wet, 5 Victor Kruger, 4 Siyanda Ndlovu, 3 John-Roy Jenkinson, 2 JC Oberholzer, 1 Henry Scharneck.
Replacements: 16 Marius Fourie, 17 Zander de Kock, 18 Lodewyk Uys, 19 Siya Mdaka, 20 Andries Botha, 21 Ruan Jacobs, 22 Terswin Raubenheimer, 23 Mashudu Mafela.

Maties: 15 Ryan Nell, 14 Dean Hammond, 13 Stokkies Hanekom, 12 Louis Jordaan, 11 Tythan Adams, 10 André Kemp, 9 Boela Abrahams, 8 JP Swanepoel, 7 Helmut Lehmann (captain), 6 Sam Mabombo, 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Grant Hattingh, 3 Hein van der Merwe, 2 Rob Herring, 1 Alistair Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Gareth Light, 17 Brummer Badenhorst, 18 Reniel Hugo, 19 Nicolas de Jager, 20 Donald Stevens, 21 André Smith, 22 Wessel Coetzee, 23 Mike De Neuilly-Rice.

FNB UJ v FNB UCT
UJ Stadium (Johannesburg)
Kick-off: 7pm

The teams:

UJ: 15 Theuns ‘Worsie’ Kotze, 14 JR Esterhuizen, 13 Luan Steenkamp, 12 Divan van Zyl, 11 Chrysander Botha, 10 Guy Cronjé, 9 Rudi Paige, 8 Justin Wheeler (captain), 7 Jaco Kriel, 6 Johan van Deventer, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 Shane Kirkwood, 3 Jaco Vermeulen, 2 Francois du Toit, 1 Ruan Dreyer.
Replacements: 16 Shaun Malton, 17 Niabulo Mkize, 18 Marnus van Huyssteen, 19 Dylan Peterson, 20 Jacques Pretorius, 21 Justin St. Jerry, 22 Aubrey McDonald, 23 Heinrich Terblanche.

UCT: 15 Dillyn Leyds, 14 Damian de Allende, 13 Tiger Bax, 12 Adrian Kritzinger (vice-captain), 11 Mark Winter, 10 Nick Holton, 9 Liam Slatem, 8 Greg Mallett, 7 Don Armand, 6 Ntsolo Setlaba (captain), 5 Levi Odendaal, 4 James Kilroe, 3 Adriaan Botha, 2 Matt Page, 1 Wes Chetty.
Replacements: 16 Dayne Jans, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Rayn Smid, 19 Zandy Macdonald, 20 Nick Farrar, 21 Michael Morris, 22 Nathan Nel, 23 Bonga ‘Mini’ Bhengu.

FNB Shimlas v FNB NMMU
Xerox Shimla Park (Bloemfontein)
Kick-off: 7pm

The teams:

Shimlas: 15 Shaun Davids, 14 Nico Scheepers, 13 Cameron Jacobs, 12 Rynhardt Erwee, 11 Robbie van Schalkwyk, 10 Erick Colyn, 9 Kevin Luiters, 8 Fanie van der Walt, 7 Oupa Nohoje, 6 Pieter Labuschagnè (captain), 5 JC Astle, 4 Joubert Horn, 3 Ian Potgieter, 2 PW van Vuuren, 1 Charles Marais.
Replacements: 16 JC van Wyk, 17 Kevin Stevens, 18 Wilken Heyns, 19 Armand Koster, 20 Pieter Rademan, 21 Franna du Toit, 22 Earl Snyman, 23 Carl van Heerden.

NMMU: 15 Gerrit Smith, 14 Mayibuye Ndwandwa, 13 Quinton Crocker, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Anton Verster, 10 Martin du Toit, 9 Charlie Purdon, 8 Jaco Swanepoel (captain), 7 André Goosen, 6 Ulrich Pretorius, 5 Louis Fourie, 4 Mzwanele Zito, 3 Ross David-Anderson, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Roy Godfrey.
Replacements: 16 Kobus Greeff, 17 Gareth Hartley, 18 Schalk Oelofse, 19 Thomasau Forbes, 20 Marlin Ruiters, 21 Bradley Kretzman, 22 Devon Lailvaux, 23 Phillip Nel.

My Predictions:

• Tuks vs. TUT – Tuks with a win of 20 points or more. Cannot see TUT come back after last week’s hammering and Tuks is now a round off team.
• Maties vs. Pukke – This is a hard one to call but I will go with my team and say Maties by 12 points. But this one can go either way.
• UCT vs. UJ – UJ looked bad last week as did UCT but I believe there is just too much quality in this UCT team to loose two games in a row. Win for UCT with 13 points.
• Shimlas vs. MNNU – Get the cricket scoring book out here, because this will be a big one. Shimlas by plenty

**Additional information was supplied by www.varsitycup.co.za