NWU Pukke and Maties were delighted to hear that they will play a varsity netball rematch after a previous decision to share the points has been overturned.

The Varsity Sports Executive Committee, in consultation with Stellenbosch University (Maties) and North-West University (NWU-Pukke) agreed on Tuesday that the third round match in this year’s Varsity Netball Tournament between Maties and NWU-Pukke is to be replayed on Wednesday, 30 September 2015.

The previous game, which took place on 14 September in Potchefstroom, was unexpectedly interrupted by unscheduled load shedding during the third quarter of the match.

The rematch will now take place at the NMMU Indoor Centre at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. “The initial decision to declare the unfinished match a draw had to be revisited because of the influence it might have on the semi-final positions,” says Duitser Bosman, CEO of Varsity Sports.

“Over the last week we’ve had many discussions to find the perfect solution in order to ensure that the sport of netball is the overall winner,” he added.

NWU Pukke redeemed themselves on Monday as they destroyed VUT 67-21 in the fourth round of varsity netball action in Pretoria.Pukke were way too strong as they picked up an easy bonus point victory.

This boosted the confidence of these ladies who lost the previous night’s crunch encounter 58-51 against UP Tuks. Jeante Strydom and Renske Stolz were the best players for Pukke this week with Stolz netting a final score at the end of the match against Tuks to give her team a well-deserved bonus point.

Pukke are still in touching distance of the top four despite the bittersweet results in the past two matches. Pukke will now need to up their game in their next match at home against the University of Cape Town before playing against Maties again later that week.

Nothing less will suffice for this side that pride themselves on playing attractive winning netball. Dorette Badenhorst’s side is currently in fifth position on the log behind NMMU and will be hoping to win their remaining matches with bonus points for an ideal result heading into the play-off stage.

Pukke has two home matches left to remedy their campaign. “We need to focus on working as a team and once confidence kicks in, we do better. We are not playing bad netball, we are just inconsistent,” said Badenhorst, who believes that her team is still in a building phase this season.

Fixtures:28 September: NWU Pukke vs UCT – 18:0030 September: NWU Pukke vs Maties (NMMU Indoor centre) 5 October: NWU Pukke vs NMMU – 17:30