UWC stunned UJ 29-17 to claim their first-ever Varsity Cup victory, while there were also wins for CUT, Wits and Tuks on Monday.
Chester Williams’ team had lost all of their fixtures coming into this one. However, in their final home game of the season in Bellville, the Capetonians claimed a memorable win over last year’s semi-finalists.
As a true mark of their resilience, UWC restricted UJ to just two tries in the match, one of which was scored by wing Tatendaishe Mujawo after the hooter had sounded.
UWC were also at their attacking best, with flyhalf Aidynn Cupido scoring a try, kicking three conversions and adding a penalty for a personal haul of 14 points.
Junior Bok centre Lyle Hendricks, tighthead prop Justin Theys and scrumhalf Labib Kannemeyer added tries for UWC.
Meanwhile, CUT beat Shimlas 38-35 in the battle of Bloemfontein. An end-to-end first half saw Shimlas go 21-14 ahead thanks to tries from Jan Cloete, Hanno Snyman and Tiaan Schutte, but CUT made it 21-21 at the break through a try from wing Dimitrio Tieties.
CUT came out of the shed fired up and dominated the second half, opening up a 38-21 lead as Rayno Nel and Edward Davies crossed for tries either side of a penalty from flyhalf Heinrich Bitzi.
However, Shimlas added some respectability to the scoreline as Justin Taylor scored in the 75th minute, before Schutte went over for a seven-point try three minutes later.
In other results, a brace from Wits centre AJ van Blerk gave the Johannesburg side an entertaining 30-29 win against UCT, while Tuks thrashed NWU 28-0 in Potchefstroom to climb to the top of the table.
Round 7 results:
Wits (30) – Tries: AJ van Blerk (2), Sicelo Champion. Conversions: Chris Humphries (3). Penalty: Humphries.
UCT (29) – Tries: Gary Porter, Josh Moon, Joshua van Vuuren. Conversions: Darian Hock (2). Penalty: Hock.
UWC (29) – Tries: Aidynn Cupido, Lyle Hendricks, Justin Theys, Labib Kannemeyer. Conversions: Cupido (3). Penalty: Cupido.
UJ (17) – Tries: Adrian Bester, Tatendaishe Mujawo. Conversion: Mashundu Raphunga. Penalty: Raphunga.
CUT (38) – Tries: Hardus Nel, Cohan Jasper, Dimitrio Tieties, Rayno Nel, Edward Davids. Conversions: Henrich Bitzi (4). Penalty: Bitzi
Shimlas (35) – Tries: Jan Cloete, Hanno Snyman, Tiaan Schutte (2), Justin Taylor. Conversions: Lubabalo Dobela (2).
NWU (0)
Tuks (28) – Tries: Johann Grobbelaar, Damian Bonaparte, Brian Leitch. Conversions: Tinus de Beer (3). Penalties: De Beer (3).
Photo: Kevin Sawyer/Varsity Sports
