Victory is the cry that emanated from the IIE Varsity College camp as the final hooter brought the curtain down on an epic University Sports South Africa (USSA) rugby final against Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) at the WITS stadium in Johannesburg on Friday 7 July. The IIE Varsity College Rugby team recorded an historic 17-12 win in the final of the B section in an extremely tense and tight match. The IIE Varsity College beat all the Varsity Shield teams and move into A section for 2018, which is made up of all the Varsity Cup universities.
Said Captain Zwela Zondi (2nd year IIE BCom Pietermaritzburg): “This was by far the greatest feeling we’ve had all year. Indescribable really. I think everyone in the IIE Varsity College team left USSA week a better rugby player with more belief and excitement for the next rugby match as brothers and excitement for USSA in 2018. Players who weren’t part of the USSA tour were very supportive and showed a lot of love when they found out the news.”
Lihan Viljoen (1st year IIE DBME Durban North) was the Player of the Tournament in the B section.
With a less than perfect preparation, the Varsity College team began their campaign last Monday against a fired-up Cape Peninsula University of Technology. Despite a slow start and conceding the first try, the team soon got into stride and began piling on the points to win the game 31-7, securing a semi-final spot against arch rivals UKZN last Wednesday.
The first half of the UKZN game proved to be a closely contested affair, with UKZN staying in contention for the first half. A half time score of 14-10 to Varsity College pointed to a good contest. They proceeded to demolish UKZN, scoring 50 unanswered points en route to a massive 64-10 victory. “I was very impressed with how the team changed tactics for the second half and executed a huge team effort in playing to our strengths. This crushing victory had the spectators enthralled and certainly raised some eyebrows with the officials.” said coach Neil Kalify.
This victory saw the IIE Varsity College pitted against TUT in the final. Based on TUT’s victory against the strong NWU Vaal Pukke, there could be no doubt that this would be a tough one. Zondi, “Captain Fantastic”, led the team onto the field and the tension was palpable. Vice-captain Blessing Buthelezi (1st year IIE BCom Durban North) was first on the board with an unconverted try from a quick tap. This was cancelled out 20 minutes later by a TUT try. The IIE Varsity College immediately hit back with a powerful try by JP Grobler (2nd year IIE BCom Westville) to ensure a half time 10-5 lead.
Varsity College’s top try scorer Malcom Cele (1st year IIE BCom Durban North) opened his account 14 minutes into the second half with a great sprint for the line to score a try under the posts. The conversion took the score to 17-5 and the IIE Varsity College team looked as though they were starting to dominate. A defensive lapse saw the TUT fullback score in the corner and a successful conversion took the score to 17-12. Suddenly the game hung in the balance. However, superb defence by IIE Varsity College withstood a prolonged attack by TUT and forced them to make an error after the hooter had sounded. IIE Varsity College kicked the ball out to seal a memorable victory and the USSA 2017 B division trophy. It was a well deserved victory and one that will be remembered for some time to come.
The post EPIC PERFORMANCE DURING USSA appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
Cell C Sharks head coach Robert du Preez was disappointed at our side’s loss to the Lions in the final pool match of Vodacom Super Rugby, but suggested that a second chance this weekend might yield a different result.
In the post-match media conference, du Preez admitted that he wasn’t pleased with the team’s performance, saying, “The Lions outplayed us in every area of the game; that was a really disappointing performance.”
However, with a quarter-final clash with the Lions at Emirates Airline Park this Saturday, there was a wonderful second chance open to the team.
“There is certainly light at the end of the tunnel, and that’s a second chance on Saturday. But I’m not happy with the way we played, there just wasn’t enough effort.
“I don’t mind losing if you’ve give your best, I think everyone would be happy with that,” he said. “The fans too, but if you come out here and get beaten up like we were, and make so many errors, then that’s just not good enough from the Sharks.”
Du Preez admitted that the permutations that faced his side as far as where they would be playing their quarter-final match – either against the Lions in Johannesburg which was a much better prospect than travelling all the way to New Zealand to take on the Crusaders – that their focus may not have been where it needed to be.
He doesn’t believe that this is a poor side that can’t win matches.
“There’s no doubt that this is a good rugby team, I have no doubt that we have very talented rugby players.”
Asked to put a finger on what went wrong, he felt there may have been a combination of factors.
“We had two very good training weeks in the build-up to this match, I was really pleased with the way we prepared, so the effort was certainly there at training.
“Listening to the ref’s mike, I could hear that the Lions were so much more vocal than we were. I think we went into our shell a bit and just couldn’t get out of it.
“But you have to look at the mental state of mind and how switched on the players are. I guess, in the back of the players’ minds was the travel to New Zealand, that could have played a role. But not to the extent that it happened in this game.”
The message to the players will be all about redeeming themselves against the self-same Lions, a rare opportunity to make good.
“It’s do or die for us now, it’s a final,” he said. “It’s all to play for and everything that’s gone before is over now and we have one bite at the cherry. We have that opportunity, so it’s in our hands, in the players’ hands.”
Summing up the pool stages with nine wins from 15 pool outings, he felt that inconsistency was their biggest problem.
“We know there were games that we should easily have won, that’s the disappointment about these 15 games, that it was so up and down.
“We couldn’t build momentum. But we have a go at this and I believe that if the players really believe in themselves, we can win this game.”
The post A Shot at Redemption appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
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