CUT punished an ill-disciplined UWC to claim a 35-21 victory, while there were also Varsity Cup wins for Maties, NWU and Tuks on Monday.
In their penultimate home match, UWC were once again let down by some poor discipline, having to play good portions of the match with 14 men after lock Jaen-Louis de Lange was red-carded for a tip-tackle in the first half, and scrumhalf Moegamat Kannemeyer yellow-carded in the second.
To their credit, Chester Williams’ team fought hard despite their numerical disadvantage, but still wasted their best opportunity to get their first win of the season, with tough matches against UJ, Maties and Wits to come.
CUT raced into a 14-0 lead thanks to tries from centre Ruan Wasserman and captain Ryno Nel, before UWC fullback Tristan Leyds went over.
De Lange then received his marching orders after tipping Heinrich Bitzi on to his neck. The men from Bloemfontein punished them, with hooker Anrich Alberts scoring a brace either side of half-time.
UWC fought back as Leyds scored a seven-point try, before wing Andre Manuel went over, but Hardus Nel then scored CUT’s fifth try to seal the win.
In the first of two non-televised fixtures, NWU shrugged off a red card to Gideon van der Merwe to claim a 32-17 win against UCT.
NWU flyhalf Schalk Hugo showed his composure by slotting three conversions and three penalties to ensure that the Potchefstroom team walked away with a victory to give them hope of finishing in the top four.
Meanwhile, defending champions Maties stayed unbeaten with a tough 24-13 win over UJ.
Flyhalf Jordan Chait kicked four second-half penalties to add to tries from fullback Anton du Toit and lock Jesse Johnson.
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Later in the day, Tuks beat Shimlas 27-14 in Bloemfontein to take another important step towards potentially hosting a Varsity Cup semi-final.
Round 6 results:
CUT (35) – Tries: Ruan Wasserman, Rayno Nel, Anrich Alberts (2), Hardus Nel. Conversions: Heinrich Bitzi (2), Marc Morrison (3). Penalty: Morrison.
UWC (21) – Tries: Tristan Leyds (2), Andre Manuel. Conversions: Aidynn Cupido (2)
NWU (32) – Tries: Reuben du Plooy (2), Botter Moloto, Edmund Rheeder. Conversions: Schalk Hugo (3). Penalties: Hugo (3).
UCT (17) – Tries: Joshua van Vuuren, Gary Porter. Conversions:Darian Hock (2). Penalty: Hock.
Maties (24) – Tries: Anton du Toit, Jesse Johnson. Conversion:Jordan Chait. Penalties: Chait (4)
UJ (13) – Tries: Malembe Mpofu. Conversion: Mashudu Raphunga. Penalties: Raphunga (2)
Shimlas (14) – Tries: Tries: Albertus de Bod, Zak Burger. Conversion: Lubabalo Dobela.
Tuks (27) – Tries: Lourens Pretorius, Stephan Smith, Erich Cronjé. Conversions: Tinus de Beer (3). Penalties: De Beer (2).
Photo: Kevin Sawyer/Varsity Sports
