Maties’ relatively young and inexperienced team, with five debutants, was left silenced on 27th February at Danie Craven Stadium as the underdogs prevailed. CUT kept their cool to win a thrilling game in Stellenbosch.
Early in the game already Maties’ discipline was lacking with CUT (Central University of Technology) getting a penalty and taking a 3-0 lead from the boot of Tyler Sefoor. CUT’s forwards kept building the pressure, which eventually lead to their first converted try of the match by TokeloNtaopane. This gave CUT a 10-0 lead. Maties’ discipline ensured that CUT stayed in front as there was a high tackle in the 20th minute of the game that gave CUT the opportunity to get a penalty, furthering the score to 13-0.
Maties finally came on the scoreboard when a try was scored by MckyleVolmoer, and converted by the captain, Jurie Matthee. This meant that the score was 13-7 for the visitors. But after the try from Maties, CUT followed up by scoring a try of their own from AsekhoMarubelela. Making the score 20-7 in favour of CUT by halftime.
Maties showed some true fighting spirit in the second half of the game by keeping the ball in hand. But handling errors prevailed again, as with their game last week against UCT, with the score staying the same for almost 25 minutes of the second half. Maties finally broke through the defence of CUT by Francois Breytenbach, reserve hooker, scoring a try but Matthee failed to convert. CUT kept the score out of reach with another penalty kick, which made the score 23-12.
The final minutes of the game were extremely exciting as it looked as if the home team may snatch a famous win. As a try was scored by Ammaar Burton which was converted by Matthee, with the score still 23-19 for CUT. Maties kept the ball in hand in the final minutes as they went through the phases. But at the end of the game, Maties just had their selves to blame. In the final few minutes of the game, Maties won two penalties and both times kicked to the sideline. In both these instances, CUT snatched the ball from them in the lineouts – a gutsy performance from CUT’s pack of forwards. For a third time, Maties were only meters away from the try line in the final minutes but a gutsy performance from CUT ensured a penalty in their favour as the final whistle blew. The final score was 23-19 for CUT.
Scorers:
FNB Maties19 (7) - Tries: McKyle Volmoer, Francois Beytenbach, Ammaar Burton. Conversions: Jurie Matthee (2).
FNB CUT23 (20) - Tries: Tokelo Ntaopane, Asekho Marubelela. Conversions: Tyler Sefoor (2). Penalties: Tyler Sefoor (3).
FNB Player that Rocks: Xavier Swartbooi (FNB CUT).
Article by - Ané Havenga
