FNB Maties got their 2022 Varsity Cup campaign off to a winning start with a 9-19 victory over FNB UP-Tuks at Tuks Stadium in Pretoria on Monday evening (14 February).
A 70th-minute try by replacement hooker Sean Swart secured the win for the men from Stellenbosch, who dominated possession and territory but weren’t able to take their try-scoring chances in the first half. It was the only touchdown of match.
The Maroon Machine relied on captain and fly-half Adriaan van der Bank to keep the scoreboard ticking over, with opposite number Jandré Burger also kicking three penalties to make the score 9-9 at half-time.
The visitors’ bold decision to kick a late penalty to touch instead of at goal paid off as they won the line-out and rumbled over the try-line, with Swart the man to dot down.
Replacement Jurie Mathee kicked the conversion and added an 80th-minute penalty to seal the 9-19 win. Maties’ Juan Beukes was received the FNB Player That Rocks award post-match.
“We’re happy with the win. Tuks is never a easy game so we’re happy to start off the campaign with a win. I felt I missed a few crucial kicks at the time. If I slotted all the kicks we would’ve won a bit further,” said Van der Bank, post-match.
He added they definitely struggled with ball retention. “We struggled to keep the ball for more than 2 or 3 phases. We’ll have a look at them from Thursday. For now we’ll be focusing on ourselves and what we can improve on.”
“We’re very excited to be back home in round 3, but we know we have a job to do next Monday so we won’t be looking to far ahead.”
Next Monday (21 February), FNB Maties will travel to Bloemfontein to take on the FNB UFS Shimlas at Shimla Park at 19:00. The match will be televised on SuperSport channel 211.
