At the Danie Craven Stadium, the University of Stellenbosch Maties beat the ill-disciplined Shimlas 41-37. The Shimlas conceded no fewer than four yellow cards, and they will want to address this before hosting Wits next week.

While the Shimlas’ discipline was not up to scratch, on the flip side of the coin, Maties were exceptionally lucky not to have received a single yellow card, especially after conceding penalties repeatedly in the danger zone when the team from Bloemfontein was on the attack.

Henri van Heerden. Photo: Luigi Bennett/Asem Engage

The team from Bloemfontein will take heart in the fact that they kept fighting to the bitter end. With a little luck on their side, they might have pulled off a win at a field that is a fortress for Maties rugby.

On Monday at 19:00, the Shimlas will host Wits at Shimla Park in Bloemfontein.

Scorers:

Maties: Tries - Elridge Jack (seven-point try), Grant de Jager, Luan Botha, Armand Combrink, Joel Leotlela (seven-point try), penalty try Conv. - Christiaan van Heerden-Smith Pen. - Van Heerden-Smith

Shimlas: Tries - Kirwin du Preez (2 seven-point tries), Henri van Heerden, Dubs Dlamini, Stiaan Genis Conv. - Bradley Giddy 4

Fafa Bester. Photo: Christiaan Kotze/Asem Engage

Over in Johannesburg, the Central University of Technology Ixias beat UJ 29-13 in bucketing rain.

Meanwhile, the match between UCT and the North West University Eagles was postponed until today due to student protests in Cape Town.

Ixias applied the pressure from the word go and raced to a good lead in the difficult weather following tries by Jan-Hendrik Bessenger and Tokelo Ntaopane, giving the visitors a 14-3 lead at half-time.

Handled conditions well

While UJ were much better in the second stanza, the damage was done early in the game, and Ixias headed back to Bloemfontein with five points in the bag before facing the University of Cape Town at home next week.

The Ixias’ forwards coach and former Springbok prop, Ollie le Roux, told OFM Sport he was proud of his charges’ effort, although they are far from the complete package.

“I'm very pleased with the win – five points in the bag is already a big achievement,” said Le Roux.

“The conditions were atrocious, but thank God the farmers among us need this rain, and at least it kept the forwards cool. We handled the conditions quite well, and I think we had a couple of moments where we could have been much, much better. So, there’s still a lot of hard work ahead of us. But I think our team is taking a nice shape.”

On Monday at 19:00, the Ixias will entertain UCT at the CUT Stadium.

Scorers:

UJ: Tries – Adriano Jackson, Liam Rowan Pen. – Mihle Matinise

CUT: Tries – Jan-Hendrik Bessenger, Tokelo Ntaopane, Devinto Vergotine, Juan Smith, Malcom Lamont Conv. – Juan Smith

Meanwhile, the tournament’s scheduled opening match between the University of Cape Town Ikeys and North-West University Eagles at the Green Mile in Cape Town was postponed. The match was called off at the 11th hour due to student protests on the campus. The match has been rescheduled to be played on Tuesday behind closed doors at an undisclosed location. 

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek cg