Maties may have edged the Madibaz at the Danie Craven stadium, but it was the boys from PE who stole hearts with their sheer passion and guts.
Yet in the cold light of day, the Maties continued their unbeaten start to the 2013 Varsity Cup with a tense 13-8 victory over a gutsy NMMU side in Stellenbosch on Monday.
There was a great fighting spirit, especially in their defensive efforts, to the visitors, who pushed the three-time champions all the way before a late try from lock Reniel Hugo secured the victory for the home side.
It was NMMU’s first defeat of the season after their draw with UCT, and victory over Wits, leaving the Men in Maroon as the only unbeaten team in the competition after three rounds of action thus far.
Earlier, defending champions Tukkies scored three tries on their way to a 23-12 victory over Shimlas in Bloemfontein. No.8 Jean Cook got over for two tries for the visitors who pushed hard for a four-try bonus point but had to be content with a valuable win on the road.
It was the second consecutive home defeat for the Bloem boys following their loss to Maties last week, with their only try of the match coming late in the game when Tuks had already built up a commanding lead. There was plenty of endeavour to their rugby, though, but were let down far too often by mistakes in the tackle or final pass. They need to tighten up their finishing.
In Johannesburg, Pukke ran in five tries on either side of half-time to dismantle Wits 71-25, who are looking just a little out of place in the top flight of this tournament. Fullback Hoffman Maritz scored a hat-trick of tries, while SJ Niemand and Luther Obi scored a brace each. The heavy defeat will be a demoralising one for the newcomers, who did show plenty of heart to run NMMU close last week.
In Cape Town, UJ recorded a valuable win on the road, coming back from 13-18 down at half-time to claim a 42-26 win over the injury ravaged Ikeys. The game was locked at 26-26 as the teams went into the final strategy break but a double from UJ captain Justin Wheeler saw the Joburgers come away with their second win of 2013.
The Ikeys, now, remain winless – after losing away to defending champions, Tuks, last weekend and drawing 5-5 with the Madibaz. They will be pretty relieved to know that the relegation sword of Damocles remains in the closet this year.
Meanwhile, CUT continued their unbeaten start to the Varsity Shield season with a 24-16 victory over the winless TUT in Pretoria. In Alice, Fort Hare scored 12 unanswered points in the second half to clinch a dramatic 24-23 victory over UWC.
Round 3 scores and scorers:
Wits 25-71 Pukke
Wits: Tries: Mavundla, Greeff, Erasmus, Cons: Blom 2, Pens: Blom 2
Pukke: Tries: Maritz 3, Niemand 2, Grobler, Nortier, Lusaseni, Obi 2, Cons: Nortier 7
UCT 26-42 UJ
UCT: Tries: Willemse, Penalty try, Ambunya, Cons: Jones-Davies 3, Pen: Jones-Davies
UJ: Tries: Marx, Botha, Esterhuizen, Steenkamp, Wheeler 2, Cons: De Kock 4
Shimlas 12-23 Tuks
Shimlas: Try: Hugget, Con: Scheepers, Pens: Scheepers 2
Tuks: Tries: Cook 2, Blommetjies, Cons: Schoeman 2, Pen: Schoeman
Maties 13-8 NMMU
Maties: Tries: Gericke, Hugo, Con: Grant
NMMU: Try: Pretorius, Con: Van Staden
The log after round three:
1 Maties 14
2 Tuks 10
3 UJ 10
4 Pukke 9
5 NMMU 7
6 Shimlas 6
7 Ikeys 3
8 Wits 1