Duncan Saal scored a hat-trick as Maties beat Tuks 29-16 in round three of the Varsity Cup, while there were also wins for UJ, Shimlas and Pukke.
Maties maintained their place at the top of the log after defeating Tuks in Stellenbosch. The Maroon Machine led 20-9 at half-time.
Tuks opened the scoring with a nine-point try through winger Keanan van Wyk, before his opposite number Duncan Saal scored a nine-point try of his own five minutes later to tie the scores for Maties. Saal scored a second nine-pointer before the break with flyhalf Ernst Stapelberg adding the extras to give the hosts an 11-point lead.
Tuks hooker Cornelius Els scored early in the second half to reduce Maties’ lead to just four points, but Saal would have the last word as he went over for his hat-trick try with nine minutes to play. Stapelberg added the extras to seal the victory for the hosts.
In other matches on Monday, UJ beat CUT 14-0 to maintain their unbeaten record, Shimlas thumped NMMU 46-19 in Bloemfontein to claim their third successive win and UCT suffered their third straight loss when they went down 22-6 to Pukke in Cape Town.
Maties and Shimlas now both have 14 log points, followed by UJ with 12 and Pukke with 11. The rest of the teams, CUT (four), UCT, NMMU and Tuks (two each) have some catching up to do if they are to reach the semi-finals.
In the Varsity Shield, Wits crushed UWC 42-2 in Johannesburg, while Fort Hare edged TUT 18-14 in Alice for their first win of the season.
Varsity Cup results (Round 3):
UJ (14) – Tries: Emmanuel Morowane, Peter-John Walters. Conversions: Divan Nel.
CUT (0)
Shimlas (46) – Tries: Stephan Janse van Rensburg, Marco Mason, Mosolwa Mafuma, Renier Botha , Arthur Williams, Chase Morrison. Conversions: Marco Mason (4).
NMMU (19) – Tries: Kevin Kaba, Jeremy Ward, Keanu Vers. Conversion: Simon Bolze.
UCT (6) – Penalties: Hilio de Abreu, Joel Smith.
Pukke (22) – Tries: Wilmar Arnoldi, Joe Smith, Walt Steenkamp. Conversions: Rhyno Smith (2). Penalty: Rhyno Smith.
Maties (29) – Tries: Duncan Saal (3). Conversion: Ernst Stapelberg (2).
Tuks (16) – Tries: Keanan van Wyk, Cornelius Els. Conversions: Joshua Stander.
Varsity Shield results (Round 4):
Wits (42) – Luvuyo Papuma (3), Kwanele Ngema (3). Conversions: Warren Gilbert (4).
UWC (2) – Penalty: William Cupido.
UFH (18) – Tries: Mandaba Aziyena, Asiphe Fihla, Athenkosi Makaleni. Conversion: Alandre Sias.
TUT (14) – Tries: Apsalom Mthethwa. Conversions: Lukas Van Zyl. Penalties: Van Zyl (3).
Photo: Petri Oeschger/Gallo Images
