There were wins for Wits, Maties, Shimlas and Tuks at the University Sports SA rugby tournament on Monday. THEO GARRUN reports.

Stellenbosch were the most impressive side on view in beating CUT 35-7. They scored five tries in a dominant display, which saw their forwards win most of the possession on offer and their backs run the opposition ragged. Their handling let them down on a few occasions in the cold conditions, otherwise the scoreline could have been bigger.

CUT’s only try came via a long-range interception by Masego Toolo. HJ Luus, Joa Swart, George Lourens, Frederick van Zyl and Munier Hartzenberg got the Maties tries, all converted by Pierre du Toit.

The Wits vs UJ clash was a much closer affair, eventually won 26-21 by the hosts. Wits got two early tries by AJ van Blerk and Jethro de Lange, both converted by Brandon Hewitt.

UJ hooker Naas du Plessis then pounced on a dropped ball to pull one back and Mashuda Raphunga’s conversion made it 14-7 to Wits at the break.

Wits got the next two scores – mobile loosehead prop Siya Nzuzo scored a try, converted by Hewitt, before Daniel Kaepula chased down a kick ahead to make it 26-7.

Wits then had a player sin-binned, which changed the game. UJ began to take control up front and they ran everything at Wits. They got tries by flanker Edwin Jansen and replacement prop Andre Meyer to get to five points behind and Wits were holding on at the end.

In earlier A-section matches, Tuks were made to work hard for their 18-14 win over Pukke, while Shimlas scraped home 36-33 against the NMMU Madibaz.

Monday’s results mean that Wits face Maties and Tuks meet Shimlas in semi-final clashes on Wednesday, while Pukke play NMMU and UJ play CUT for the bottom-four placings.

Results:

Tuks 18 Pukke 14
Shimlas 36 Madibaz 33
Maties 35 CUT 7
Wits 26 UJ 21

Photo: Theo Garrun