Tuks only wake up in the second half against Ikeys
The Tuks Varsity Cup rugby team showed their character on Monday night when they had to fight back from an unenviable position to prevent a defeat on their home ground in Pretoria against Ikeys.
That Tuks’ Varsity Cup rugby team can fight back is the one thing that became abundantly clear during last night’s Varsity Cup encounter when the home team ended up playing to a 26-all draw against Ikeys.
From a Tuks perspective, the match will be remembered as one of the best comebacks in a long time. Few would have given the home team a chance of salvaging any pride after being 26-0 down at halftime.
However, there is also the question as to how Tuks allowed itself to be totally outplayed during the first 40 minutes?
For the whole of the second half Tuks was involved in a race against time to wipe out the deficit. Tinus de Beer (fly half) only managed to level the score with a penalty goal when there was a mere minute of game time left on the clock.
One possible reason why Tuks was made to dig deep could be because the coaching management decided to experiment a bit given that some players have been warming the bench for a while now. They had the luxury of doing so because Tuks had already secured a home semi-final.
By adding nine points (3 conversions and a penalty goal) to the Tuks’s tally, Tinus de Beer ensured that he is now jointly the leading point’s scorer in the history of Varsity Cup rugby. He and Matthew Rosslee (Ikeys) have both got 219 points to their name. If nothing unforeseen happens, De Beer should make the record his own during the semi-finals which will be played in two weeks.
As to what brought about the change during halftime Johan Grobbelaar (hooker) compared the words coach Nollis Marais spoke as the “slap” they as players needed to wake up.
Denzil Hill (number-eight) added that after the first 40 minutes they as players were faced with the choice of continuing to play as they did and risk losing by more than 50 points or up their game.
“We chose the latter. I can honestly say there was never a time that we panicked. We back ourselves against any team. The most important thing we have learned during this Varsity Campaign is that we execute ‘The Plan’ and make the most of our scoring opportunities the result will take care of itself,” said Hill.
Tuks will be playing a home semi-final (8 April). As things stand at the moment, they will in all probability face Pukke from The University of Northwest. Tuks was victorious during the first encounter winning 28-0.
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