Maties claim top spot

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Maties beat Shimlas 59-14 in Bloemfontein on Monday to secure first place on the Varsity Cup log. DYLAN JACK reports.

The visitors took full advantage of Tuks’ stunning 26-26 draw against UCT earlier in the day by claiming a full house of log points at Shimla Park. Tuks, who are three log points behind Maties, have a bye in next week’s final round of league matches.

The defending champions started in ominous fashion, grabbing two quick-fire tries from powerful driving mauls. But they were well matched by Shimlas until the final 15 minutes of the game, when the floodgates opened.

Johann van Niekerk opened the scoring and then firebrand hooker Dan Jooste went over to give Maties a 10-0 lead, before Chris Massyn and Piet Strauss scored in the second half to secure the bonus point.


Jooste, in particular, put in a powerhouse performance, making plenty of ground with ball in hand, while also being credited with a couple of turnovers and more than holding his own at the set piece.

While Shimlas looked threatening on the counter-attack, they were given no space by an aggressive Maties defence and generally struggled to clear their lines when asked to put boot to ball.

For all of Maties’ dominance, they would have been frustrated to only have 10 points to show for it at the break, having allowed the home back into the match.

The Maroon Machine did extend their lead shortly after half-time, though, when Jooste took them close with another strong carry before Massyn was driven over from close range. However, they were under their posts a couple of minutes later when William Eybers burst through and offloaded to centre partner Christiaan Schutte, who scored Shimlas’ first try.

Shimlas would have hoped to build on that score, but were again forced on to the back foot, with Maties prop Strauss barging over for the bonus-point try.

The end-to-end nature of the game continued as speedster Charl Pretorius broke the line off an offload from Zak Burger and slid in under the posts.

However, Maties took control of the final quarter, and after he added a penalty Jordan Chait scored a brace, with replacement scrumhalf Brendon Nell and Munier Hartzenburg adding tries to round off a convincing win.

Maties – Tries: Johann van Niekerk, Dan Jooste, Chris Massyn, Piet Strauss, Jordan Chait (2), Brendon Nell, Munier Hartzenburg. Conversions: Jordan Chait (4), David Brits. Penalty: Chait.
Shimlas – Tries: Christiaan Schutte, Charl Pretorius. Conversions: Lubabalo Dobela (2).

Shimlas – 15 Sechaba Matsoele, 14 Charl Pretorius, 13 Christiaan Schutte, 12 William Eybers, 11 Marnus Boshoff, 10 Lubabalo Dobela (c), 9 Zak Burger, 8 Albertus du Bod, 7 Menzi Nlhabathi, 6 Janco Cloete, 5 Mervyn Roos, 4 Sibabalo Qoma, 3 Ruan Kramer, 2 Hanno Snyman, 1 Thembinkosi Mangwana.
Subs: 16 Wihan Marais, 17 John Fincham, 18 Mogau Mabokela, 19 Sihle Diniso, 20 Jan Rossouw, 21 Rewan Kruger, 22 Cham Zondeki, 23 Kurt Eybers.

Maties – 15 Anton du Toit, 14 Munier Hartzenberg, 13 Cornel Smit, 12 Chris Smit, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Chait, 9 Logan Boonzaaier, 8 Johann van Niekerk, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Chris Massyn, 5 Bernard Jansen, 4 Ernst van Rhyn (c), 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 Daniel Jooste, 1 Wayrin Losper.
Subs: 16 Schalk Erasmus, 17 Ricky Nwagbara, 18 Piet Strauss, 19 Jesse Johnson, 20 Mitchell Carstens, 21 Brendon Nell, 22 Adriaan van der Bank, 23 David Brits.

Photo: Varsity Sports

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Dylan Jack