On 14 February, UP-Tuks played their first game of the Varsity Cup season against FNB Maties. This was the first game spectators were able to attend since 2020, which allowed UP students to pull through loud and proud.
The game was played on UP’s home turf, but UP supporters were presented with an unpleasant surprise when Maties scored first from a penalty. Thankfully, UP’s Jandré Burger scored off of a penalty soon after levelling the score, before UP pulled into the lead with of score at 6-3. In the 22nd minute, Maties were awarded a penalty near the try line, which was easily cleared by Matie’s fly-half, Adriaan van der Bank. The score was level for another 20 minutes, but Maties were awarded a penalty right before half-time, leaving the score at 6-9 to Maties.
UP-Tuks pulled through and levelled the score at the 49th minute, but unfortunately, this is where the score remained for UP-Tuks. Maties scored the first try of the game, which was converted, changing the score to 9-16 in favour of Maties. When another penalty was awarded to Maties the possibility of UP-Tuks winning subsided. The final score was 9-19 to Maties, but despite this, UP’s fans stayed right until the last minute, and backed their boys despite the 10-point difference.
Although, both teams received yellow cards, UP-Tuks’s lack of discipline cost them the game. UP-Tuks captain, Lincoln Daniels, agreed that the mistake on UP-Tuks’ behalf was their “execution”. The FNB Player Who Rocks award went to Maties’ own Juan Beukes. UP-Tuks has since faced off against NMU’s Madibaz and the UCT-Ikeys, taking home a win in both matches.
UP-Tuks current standing in the 2022 Varsity Cup log, at the time of publication, is 4th place. UP-Tuks is set to play their next match against the NWU Eagles on 7 March.
Photo: Jaime Lamb