Maties survive Tuks scare

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Maties were made to work hard for a 26-24 victory over Tuks in an end-to-end Varsity Cup match in Pretoria on Monday. DYLAN JACK reports.

An enthralling clash, which initially got off to a scrappy start, saw Tuks push the defending champions to the brink and highlighted just how much this young side has improved since last season.

Maties, however, once again found a way and a will to win when they were severely tested by having to defend with a man down for much of the second half.

Tuks started aggressively, taking the game to Maties early on, but struggled to secure their ruck ball against the dangerous Maties loose trio.

The home side was especially impressive at the set piece, disrupting Maties at the lineout and winning a penalty at the scrum, which was missed by the experienced Tinus de Beer.

They took the lead after a good five minutes of pressure ended with big loosehead prop Etienne Janeke crashing over the line.

However, that seemed to awaken the defending champions and they created two linebreaks through Edwill van der Merwe and Chris Smit. It was after Smit’s break that wing Munier Hartzenberg went over out wide for a seven-point try.

Maties then took the lead when a maul saw hooker HJ Luus cross, despite protests from the Tuks players of obstruction in the buildup to the try.

When Tuks heads could have dropped, some wonderful creative play between Dewald Naude and Vaughen Isaacs resulted in a breakaway that brought them into Maties territory. Young hooker Werner Fourie was then on hand to shrug off an attempted tackle and score, giving the hosts a two-point half-time lead.

Looking to regain the lead, a fired-up Maties started to put Tuks on the back foot as they sustained a pressure attack for the opening minutes of the second half. After a 5m scrum, flyhalf Jordan Chait threw a dummy and sprinted through a gap for a self-converted try.

De Beer responded with a penalty which cut down Maties’ lead to just two points. It was then Tuks’ turn to pressure the Maties line, and after the visitors conceded a plethora of penalties, Cornel Smit was shown a yellow card for an intentional knock-down.

However, De Beer unusually hit the post with his short-range penalty. The Maroon Machine then went upfield into Tuks’ 22, with Junior Boks hooker Dan Jooste doing brilliantly to twist and ground the ball over the line.

There was more late drama as Maties flank Johann van Niekerk was yellow-carded for a high tackle. De Beer again missed his penalty to leave Tuks trailing by nine points with three minutes to go. Tuks lock Ruan Nortje thought he had finally scored for his side but the TMO spotted a knock-on in the buildup.

The hosts did, however, salvage a bonus point as they won a turnover from the next scrum, with tighthead prop Bart le Roux muscling over for a try after the hooter.

Tuks – Tries: Etienne Janeke, Werner Fourie, Bart le Roux. Conversions: Tinus de Beer (3). Penalty: De Beer.
Maties – Tries: Munier Hartzenberg, HJ Luus, Jordan Chait, Dan Jooste. Conversion: Chait (2).

Tuks – 15 Vaughen Isaacs, 14 Dewald Naude, 13 Lourens Pretorius, 12 Erich Cronje, 11 Ciaran Dayaran, 10 Tinus de Beer, 9 Theo Maree, 8 Denzel Hill, 7 Ewart Potgieter, 6 Stephan Smit, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 Marius Verwey (c), 3 Jean-Pierre Smith, 2 Werner Fourie, 1 Etienne Janeke.
Subs:  16 Llewellyn Classen, 17 Jacobus Eloff, 18 Bart le Roux, 19 Brian Leitch, 20 Raegan Oranje, 21 Damian Bonaparte, 22 Irvin Ali, 23 Hanru Sirgel.

Maties – 15 Edwill van der Merwe, 14 Duncan Saal, 13 Cornel Smit, 12 Chris Smit, 11 Munier Hartzenberg, 10 Jordan Chait, 9 Logan Boonzaaier, 8 Stephan Streicher, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Johann van Niekerk, 5 Johan Momsen (c), 4 Sesink-Clee Jordan, 3 Piet Strauss, 2 HJ Luus, 1 Ricky Nwagbara.
Subs:  16 Dan Jooste, 17 Wayrin Losper, 18 Leon Lyons, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Mitchell Carstens, 21 Brendon Nell, 22 Reinhardt Fortuin, 23 Adrian Seerane.

Photo: Catherine Kotze/SASPA

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Dylan Jack