Tuks scores an impressive Varsity Cup victory over Shimlas
On Monday evening Tuks' Varsity Cup team made it four out of four in their 2020 campaign when they beat the Shimlas from Bloemfontein.
With four Varsity Cup victories secured in four games and an added four bonus points to top the log, TuksRugby head coach Nico Luus had reason to be smiling on Monday night.
Tuks were brilliant at times in the way they went about beating Shimlas 43-33, after they again had to play catch-up. Shimlas started like a house on fire and after only eight minutes of action they were 14-0 ahead on the score board after two tries.
Fans of the home team in the Tuks Rugby stadium might have thought ‘here we go again’. But Tuks recovered from the visitors early Blitzkrieg and towards the end of the first half. They started to dominate, scoring two tries in the 30 minutes of play before half time to bring the score to 17-19.
After the break Tuks took control and scored four more tries, while playing some of their best rugby thus far this season in the process.
Luus joked afterwards saying it seems as his team first has to take a “knock to the chin” to get them to start playing good rugby.
“Overall, I am happy with the way we played. There were definite moments where we played our best rugby of the season. It was exciting to seeing the players opting to play the ball wide. It shows they are gaining confidence,” said Luus.
Tuks’s left-winger, Kabelo Mokoena, come to his own every time Tuks took the ball wide. His try in 43rd minute was as if out of a textbook. He did everything expected of a winger – sidestepping the flailing arms of desperate Shimla defenders over 40 metres.
It was his fourth try in four games. Mokoena refuses to take sole credit for any of the tries he scored.
“It is a team effort. As a winger, my job is to finish what we started. I got to give credit to my coaches. They told me to back myself, and that is what I am doing,” he remarked.
Luus was impressed with the passion and fire with which lock Marcel Barnard played.
“From the very first moment, Marcel gave it his all and never relented. Our loose forwards – Karools Smit, Hanru Sirgel and Jaco Bezuidenhout – were also brilliant. It would be wrong also not to mention our two props, Andre van der Merwe (loose head) and Jean-Pierre Smith (tighthead). They laid the foundation for our victory,” commented the coach.
Smit deservedly got the man of the match award. He is possibly the loose forward with the highest work rate in the Varsity Cup. On average, during a game, Smit would make 15 or more tackles. Often you would see him bouncing back on to his feet as he has executed a tackle to go at it again immediately.
Once he has got the ball in his hands, it is hard to stop him and on Monday night he scored twice. Smit could be compared to the legendary Duracell Bunny who never runs out of energy.
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