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Cape sides top Varsity Cup

Tuesday, March 16 Western Cape rivals, the FNB Maties and the FNB Ikey Tigers, will - for the third year running - host next week's semifinals in the third edition of the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International.

However, the only difference from Years One and Two, in South Africa's fastest-growing rugby competition, is that Stellenbosch and UCT will face different opponents in this year's Last Four.

Whilst the Maties hosted Tukkies in 2008 and 2009, they will host the Pukke this year - the latter the biggest losers in the final round of league action. And the Ikeys, who hosted two dramatic semifinals against the Pukke in 2008 and 2009, will face up to Shimlas at the Green Mile this year.

The drama on Monday started when the FNB Maties beat a resilient NWU-Pukke side 33-17 in Potchefstroom - to become the first team in the history of this tournament to go through the league phases unbeaten.

FNB Pukke certainly made the Maties work for their victory and the margin was probably not a true reflection of the Potchefstroom outfit's efforts - an intercept try by Maties centre Charl Weideman, after the final whistle, ending Pukke's hopes of a win or bonus-point defeat, leaving the final score at 33-17.

Playing for second place on the log, and thereby a home semifinal, the Pukke were competitive in the first half - but undid all their hard work through some poor option-taking in the second stanza.

Afterwards, Maties coach Chean Roux told varsitycup.co.za: "I would like to believe that the Danie Craven Stadium [in Stellenbosch] is an intimidating venue - but, in saying that, when it comes to semifinals it is almost like T20 cricket where any team can win on any day...

"I believe it will go well if we stick to our structures and if the guys know what has happened up to this point means nothing."

The big winners on Monday were FNB Shimlas - following their 51-32 shut-out of a game FNB UJ in Bloemfontein - and, of course, UCT who, like Shimlas, leap-frogged Pukke on the Varsity cup standings.

The Shimlas-UJ scoreline was exaggerated by two home team tries in the final five minutes.

With the Shimlas leading 39-32, and UJ pressing for a match-tying try, which ironically would have knocked Pukke out - had the teams drawn, Shimlas pounced on a couple of errors from a desperate UJ team to add 14 points and bring up the half-century in the process.

That means Shimlas will play in their first-ever Varsity Cup semifinal, but have the unenviable task of taking on the impressive Ikey Tigers at their notorious home ground.

UCT booked their place in the play-offs - and, thereby, secured the home advantage - when they beat Tukkies 38-24 at a windy Groote Schuur in Cape Town. In a game in which both teams scored four tries, the boot of new starting No.10 Doug Mallett made the difference.

It is the first year that the Pretoria students, FNB Tukkies, did not make it into the Varsity Cup semifinals - having played against the Maties in 2008 and 2009.

In the only match that did not have an effect on the top half of the draw, FNB TUT and FNB NMMU went head-to-head in the battle to avoid the dreaded Wooden Spoon.

TUT eventually won 45-40 in Tshwane - their first victory in more than two years, having beaten the self-same Madibas 31-26 at the TUT Stadium back on March 3, 2008.

That leaves NMMU, who also finished last in 2008, to play in a promotion-relegation series - opponents to be confirmed! - later this year.

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