Tuks still on track to Varsity Cup home semi-final
Tuks remained on track to a Varsity Cup home semi-final with a rare win against the Shimlas at home in Bloemfontein on Monday night.
Nollis Marais’ Tuks team on Monday night managed to beat Shimlas only the second time on home turf in Bloemfontein since 2013.
Unfortunately, Tuks could not get a winning bonus point as they only scored three tries to beat Shimlas by 27-14.
The positives Tuks can take from the game are that they dominated having a territorial advantage. They were brilliant in the line-outs and their defence was rock solid, while Tinus de Beer and Theo Maree are possibly from a tactical perspective the most ingenious halfback combinations in the competition.
Hooker Johan Grobbelaar is also arguably one of the best hookers in the tournament at the moment and it will be no surprise if the former Junior Springbok gets a call up by Pote Human for Super Rugby duty in the near future.
Apart from his brilliant tactical kicking abilities, De Beer is also busy establishing himself as one of the top point scorers in the history of the Varsity Cup rugby. This season he has already notched up 62 points. Overall his tally stands at 197 which place him fourth on the all-time list. With two, maybe four games to play, there is a real chance that he could top the rankings at the end of this competition.
In Tuks’ last two games De Beer missed only with one of his 16 attempts kicking for the posts. The Tuks fly-half only needs 23 points to overtake Matthew Rosslee (Ikeys) who has scored 219 points in the competition.
One of the most exciting aspects of Tuks’ play was the way their forwards kept on bashing the ball forward applying the pressure forcing mistakes on the Shimlas.
Captain Marius Verwey praised his teammates for how they were able to remain calm when under pressure. With only 20-minutes remaining Tuks had a comfortable 20-0 lead. But then Shimlas scored twice within five minutes. With the score being 20-14 it seemed as if the home team could still win.
However, the Tuks players stuck to their game plan proving they got big match temperament. It led to Erich Cronje scoring in the 73rd minute. De Beer converted ending any last hopes of a Shimlas victory.
The Tuks performance was not entirely faultless. They again messed up scoring opportunities with handling errors at crucial moments, which could have resulted in at least two more tries, while the forwards also battled in the scrums.
Next Monday Tuks travel Potchefstroom to play UNW-Pukke. This result will be vital if they want to ensure a home semi-final.
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