The annual University Sports South Africa Rugby Week started on Monday and will come to a close on Friday 4 July.
The annual University Sports South Africa Rugby Week started on Monday and will come to a close on Friday 4 July.
Hosts Rhodes University take on University of KwaZulu Natal in the B section on Prospect Field at 9.40am. The A section final sees University of Johannesburg (UJ) take on University of Pretoria – TUKS on Rhodes King Field at 11.20am.
The top university rugby teams in the country descended upon Grahamstown and brought with them some serious talent. All 30 teams played entertaining, running rugby and did not disappoint fans, who were eagerly anticipating this tournament due to the prestige of some of the teams taking part.
While most of the matches were played in good spirit, it became clear very early on that the teams taking part did not come down to Grahamstown for a holiday. The objective of the Varsity Cup and Shield sides was to top their group and to make it into their respective group finals.
It has been a privilege to watch some of the top sides battle it out.
It was also thrilling to watch some of the lower-ranked sides face Varsity Shield opposition and produce some upset results – and fearlessly face them head-on.
Rhodes University, who hosted the festival, displayed this fearlessness and self-belief in bucket-loads.
Rhodes was placed into pool B, which contains predominantly Varsity Shield teams. They came up against Varsity Shield stalwarts, University of the Western Cape (UWC) and University of Fort Hare (UFH).
It’s clear that their pre-festival preparations paid off, as they were narrowly defeated by UWC and two days later managed to pick up their socks and produce a win over UFH in a David vs Goliath situation.
Rhodes certainly did not let their home fans down and the future seems bright for the club which has Varsity Shield ambitions.
Today every pool final will be played. The festival should be considered a great success as Rhodes University hosted well and the teams gave their all.
