CARLO COCK
Tuks students were introduced to a new sport on Thursday 15 March as Steers hosted the very first “Hugby Activation” at the university’s Hatfield Campus.
Hugby is touch rugby involving seven team members per side that have to hug their opponents, as opposed to touching them, while passing a teddy bear instead of a rugby ball. The sport is part of a Steers campaign to promote their new range of ice-creams and milkshakes, hence the slogan, “Get in touch with your softer side”. Steers recently overhauled its dessert menu, which included the revamping of its existing milkshakes and the introduction of three new flavours, while improving its existing Swirls and launching three new deluxe toppings – the so-called Super Swirls.
These desserts, combined with the original Soft Swirls (soft serve in a cone), now make up Steers’ Soft Side menu. The grass outside the Aula was transformed into a makeshift rugby field to cater for the event which saw a notable amount of teams entering. 5FM’s Poppy Ntshongwana attended and provided play-by-play commentary on what was an entertaining day of Hugby.
After a surprisingly intense preliminary stage, the final saw surprise package Team Ben 10 take on the much fancied Team Rag. Team Rag had impressed with their aggressive approach throughout the day and having gone as far as developing their very own “Haka”, they were definitely not taking the event lightly. With a R1 000 cash prize awaiting each member of the winning team, the final was a rough affair.
After some loving hugs, and at times not-so-tender embraces, Team Rag were declared the winners of the final. Team Rag captain, Kudzi Taiferi, said after the final that he thought it was a great event. He was not about to reveal what he was going to do with the money though, saying, “I don’t know, we’ll see.”
Photo: Bonita Lubbe
