CUT will play in the 2015 Varsity Cup after beating UKZN in the Varsity Shield Final, while Shimlas upset the unbeaten Tukkies to clinch the Young Guns trophy.
The Men from Bloemfontein are champions for the second consecutive year and the third time in total, but for the first time they can celebrate promotion up to the Varsity Cup.
All is not lost for UKZN, though, as they have a promotion/relegation game to play against UJ, who came second last in the Varsity Cup, in Potchefstroom next week.
UKZN had a strong wind at their back in the first half but it was CUT who got the early territory with clever kicking from scrumhalf Stephan Grisel. A nervy start from both sides resulted in plenty unforced errors in the early exchanges, though.
The men from KwaZulu-Natal were guilty of making more mistakes, though, and the Ixias were aggressive at the breakdowns, resulting in turnovers that hurt the Impi.
A lost lineout in the ninth minute lead to the first try of the game. Johan van Schalkwyk popped a great ball to Duan Pretorius who had wrapped around at pace and found fullback Charles Hitchcock, who timed his pass brilliantly to send right wing Alec Mhlanga over in the right hand corner.
Just four minutes later the Ixias were in to score again through flyhalf Noel Marx Pretorius who cantered over and then added the conversion.
The UKZN scrum was working well though and they won two further scrum penalties as they dominated the setpiece. The visitors started to put the very strong wind at their backs to good use as flyhalf Duncan Campbell unleashed a massive touch finder from inside his own half.
The Impi set up the five metre lineout in the 33rd minute and after the maul didn’t work out, they sent it wide and Campbell stepped through the defence to score near to the posts before chipping over the extra three points to leave his side trailing by just 8-13 at half-time.
CUT were almost made to rue an early second half error as they knocked on from the kick off and Zwela Zondi went over to score, but on review the TMO determined that there had been obstruction and the Ixias got the penalty and a reprieve.
A penalty gave the hosts a 15-8 lead after 47 minutes, but the Impi scrum continued to work wonders for them, and just two minutes later, as they forced a penalty on CUT’s feed and set up a five metre lineout.
This time their maul was successful and they rumbled over the line for hooker Dean Muir to dot down. Campbell added the tricky sideline conversion to put UKZN into the lead for the first time.
The sides traded penalties and then a moment of magic from Griesel saw him break away from a CUT scrum just inside the Impi 22, step past the covering tackle and score a vital try. Pretorius added the conversion to give the Ixias a 25-18 lead with 15 minutes to play.
The Impi hit back via a Deon Carney try to give them a 26-25 lead with 10 minutes left.
Pretorius was not done, though and the CUT inside centre broke away from his own half to beat a few defenders before Hitchcock went on a an amazing run, skipping past more Impi players and offloading to Fanie Coetzer, who went over for the try to make it 33-26 to the Ixias with eight minutes to go.
CUT flyhalf Noel Marx added a long-range drop-goal from close to 40 metres out after to seal the game for the home side.
While in Pretoria … the Shimlas Young Guns claimed the title after beating defending champions Tuks Young Guns in a dramatic kick-off after extra time in Pretoria.
Tuks had never lost a Young Guns game heading into this clash, but they were pushed to the limit by a determined UFS side that played the last 15 minutes of regular time and 20 minutes of extra time with just 14 men.
Tuks went into a an early 8-0 lead, but the UFS scrum was clearly dominant, giving them a good platform, and after an extended period of pressure Stephen Rautenbach slotted a penalty to reduce the gap to 8-2 at the first strategy break.
The Shimlas pack continued to dominate the set-pieces, but their backline was not able to take advantage, with a number of basic errors creeping into their game.
Shimlas lock Andre Venter was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle, and Tuks flyhalf Marais knocked over the easy penalty over to give his side a 10-2 advantage at the break.
The Bloemfontein side eventually got some reward when Rautenbach slotted a long-range penalty, but the home side responded immediately as a Marais penalty took their lead to 12-4.
However, Shimlas continued to press and they were finally rewarded when lock Justin Basson forced his way over from close range to level the scores at 12-12.
The visitors had all of the momentum heading into the final stages, but a second yellow card (and resultant red) for Venter after another dangerous tackle put them under serious pressure. The Bloemfontein side did not back off though, and the match went into extra time.
It was not long before the defending champions were back in front with wing Keanan van Wyk racing over in the corner to score their second try, giving them a 17-12 advantage with just 10 minutes left on the clock.
However, there was one more twist as Rautenbach scored in the corner in the last minute, sending the game to a kick-off to decide the champions.
The UFS kickers did the job, leaving the two-time champions to consider what might have been after a truly dramatic match.
The scores and scorers:
CUT 35-26 UKZN
For CUT:
Tries: Mhlanga, Pretorius, Griesel, Coetzer
Cons: Pretorius 3
Pens: Pretorius 2
DG: Marx
For UKZN:
Tries: Campbell, Muir, Carney
Cons: Campbell 3
Pen: Campbel
CUT: 15 Charles Hitchcock, 14 Alec Mhlanga, 13 Johan van Schalkwyk, 12 Duan Pretorius, 11 Kholo Ramashala (captain), 10 Noel Marx, 9 Stephan Griesel, 8 Dean Kouprianoff, 7 Vincent Marupeng, 6 Frans Sisita, 5 Lyvette Shikwambana, 4 Fanie Coetzer, 3 Danie van der Merwe, 2 Deon Gouws, 1 Len Noort.
Bench: 16 Daniel de Jager, 17 Gerhard Baard, 18 Moeka Bolofo, 19 Johann Grundlingh, 20 Marius Grobler, 21 Johan Nel, 22 Theuns Truter, 23 Hanro Liebenberg.
UKZN: 15 Hendrik Groenewald, 14 Shayne Makombe, 13 Brandon Bailing, 12 Kurt Mavrodaris, 11 Hendrik Lategan, 10 Duncan Campbell, 9 Cameron Wright, 8 Deon Carney, 7 Zwela Zondi, 6 Lwazi Ngcungama (captain), 5 Johan Wagenaar, 4 Adam Wessels, 3 Stefan van Schalkwyk, 2 Dean Muir, 1 Henri Boshoff.
Bench: 16 Mikyle Webster, 17 Bartholomeus le Roux, 18 Gideon Koegelenberg, 19 Sanele Malwane, 20 Nelson Makhanye, 21 Gavin Nyawata, 22 Yandisa Mdolomba, 23 Sizwe Kuhbeka.
Tuks 17-17 Shimlas (Shimlas won via a kick off)
For Tuks:
Tries: Van Zyl, Van Wyk
Con: Marais
Pens: Marais 2
For Shimlas:
Tries: Basson, Rautenbach
Con: Rautenbach
Pens: Rautenbach 2
Yellow cards: Andre Venter (Shimlas, 39 – Dangerous tackle), Venter (Shimlas, 64 – Dangerous tackle), Two yellows meant the second was also a red card.
Tuks: 15 Wyatt Murphy, 14 Dimitrio Tieties, 13 Marquit September, 12 Adrian Maebane, 11 Keanan van Wyk, 10 Kobus Marais, 9 Ivan van Zyl, 8 Hanro Liebenberg, 7 Chris Massyn, 6 Heinrich Viljoen, 5 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 4 Abongile Nonkontwana, 3 Pierre Schoeman (captain), 2 Arno van Wyk, 1 Piet Strauss.
Bench: 16 Francois Steyn, 17 Njabulo Gumede, 18 RG Snyman, 19 Corne Cooper, 20 Kobus Wolmarans, 21 Simon Bolze, 22 Jurie Linde, 23 Matthys Basson.
Shimlas: 15 Stephen Rautenbach, 14 Donovan Gissing, 13 Pieter Faber, 12 Stephan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Charlton Koopman, 10 Ruan Potgieter, 9 Zee Makhabela, 8 Andries Kriek, 7 Boela Venter, 6 Steven Meiring, 5 Andre Venter, 4 Justin Basson, 3 Conrad van Vuuren, 2 Reinach Venter, 1 Ox Niche.
Bench: 16 Anrich Alberts, 17 Petrus Senekal, 18 Daniel Maartens, 19 Refuoe Rampetha, 20 TJ Goodard, 21 Herman Share, 22 Lorenzo Gordon, 23 Gunter Janse van Vuuren.
Referee: Lesego Legoete
Assistant referees: Jan Venter, Wilko Esterhuizen
TMO: Willie Vos
