Tuks ready for Varsity Cup action
Tuks' Varity Cup team finished their practice games and the team's coach believes they are ready to tackle the tough tournament with confidence.
Tuks rugby’s head coach, Nico Luus, is fully aware that the results of warm-up games mean nothing, but still he can’t help to have a little more confidence after seeing how his team played in a friendly match against UJ.
Tuks dominated winning 50-7 over the weekend. Luus is the first to admit that it was not a perfect performance. What excited him, however, was how the players managed to execute what they had trained to perfection.
“We made some mistakes, but it was nothing serious. We shall be able to sort it out before our Varsity Cup-encounter in two weeks,” said Luus.
It is still early days, but it seems as if the Tuks backline might have the ability to change the outcome of any game at any moment. Luus can’t help but be excited as to how Sango Xamlashe performed playing at outside-centre.
“He is an unbelievably special player. I have not seen a player who communicates the way he does. For the duration of the game, he was organising the backline, strategizing. I was also impressed by how he and Wian van Niekerk combined as a centre pairing,” the students’ coach explained.
Last year Van Niekerk, who is Tuks’s vice-captain, received the Bulls award as the best under-21 backline player.
Luus predicts that Fiela Boshoff, who has taken over from Tinus de Beer at flyhalf for Tuks, could be one of the revelations of the Varsity Cup Tournament. Captain Marius Verwey, JP Smith (tighthead) also impressed against UJ.
Tuks start their Varsity Cup-campaign on 3 February playing NWU-Pukke at home.
“It is going to be tough as there is rarely such a thing as an easy Varsity Cup game. Pukke was impressive recently with the way they went about beating a Sharks provincial team during a warm-up match. Andre Pretorius, who is their new coach, is a brilliant tactician. I am sure he is going to have some ace up his sleeve,” said Luus.
Luus seems to have a Midas touch. Since 2018 Tuks has not lost one game in the Carlton Cup or Volcano Cup-leagues. With Luus as the head coach Tuks managed to win 31 out 32 games. The team’s only blemish last year was a draw this year against Centurion. Tuks also managed to pull off a spectacular win in Stellenbosch against Maties during the USSA-final.
He admits that winning is important but immediately added that with this Varsity Cup-campaign a new era is starting for Tuks rugby.
“In the past, we had rugby players who may be studied, now we have university students who play rugby. The players must realise that there is a time limit to any rugby career; therefore completing their studies are essential,” Luus concluded.
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