Tuks impress with ‘never say die’ attitude against Shimlas

Losing by one point to Shimlas is undoubtedly not how Tuks would have liked to start their defence of the Varsity Cup title, but still, there are some positives they can take from the game.

The one thing that became clear last night is that this Tuks team has guts. They never give up. Only a few teams would concede 21 points in the first 12 minutes of a game and then stage a fightback. Ultimately, Shimlas had to pull out all the stops to win 26-25.

Tuks head coach, Nico Luus, still tries to understand what happened in those first 12 minutes on their home turf.

“It was as if we erred in everything we had discussed and planned. The worst of it was missing vital tackles. But credit must go to the Shimlas. They played brilliant rugby and deserved to take the lead,” Luus remarked shortly after the final whistle

According to Luus, the players should not take the sole blame for what happened.

“Nerves did play a role. In those first few minutes, it could have been that the moment was too big for a few players. But there is more to what happened. I will have to look at what I did wrong as a coach. It will be challenging to win games if you are ten and more points down after a few minutes all the time,” he said.

Asked to explain what he said to the players during the first 20-minute break, Luus said, he told them to calm down and start focusing on specific aspects of the game. And that they should not even think about the game’s outcome. All that matters is the next 20 minutes.

Tuks’ players certainly took their coach’s words to heart. In the last 60 minutes, they scored 25 points, while the Shimlas could only add another five points to their tally.

Luus admits to being happy with how his forwards played in the game’s latter stages.

“I got the idea that we started to put pressure on the Shimlas in the scrums and lineouts. Our backs were also playing with more confidence in getting the ball to go down the line. Our captain, Lincoln Daniels, was, as far as I am concerned outstanding,” he commented.

Tuks’ new signing Kyle Syster (fullback), proved that he certainly can impact during the Varsity Cup Tournament. He scored Tuks’ first try proving his captain correct. Daniels predicted that Syster would score Tuks’ first try in the tournament. It was Syster’s eighth try in 11 Varsity Cup games. Last year he played for the Madibaz.

There is a lot of speculation about Tuks setting all kinds of new Varsity Cup records. Luus is having none of it.

“Statistics always makes for interesting reading. But that is all. In reality, Tuks is one of the teams that lost against Shimlas in their first Varsity Cup encounter. Next Monday’s encounter against Ikeys is now a must-win game. It is going to take a lot of work. I don’t think our players have played Ikeys on their home turf yet,” Luus concluded.

Although the defending Varsity Cup champions started the 2023 version of the tournament with a (narrow) defeat on their home ground, their fighting spirit to the end was a positive sign for the rest of the season.

Tuks’ fight-back effort against Shimlas showed a lot of character for the team.

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