FNB Maties were on the receiving end of a spirited FNB NWU Eagles team in the teams’ opening 2024 FNB Varsity Cup encounter at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch on Monday evening (19 February).
The defending champions ran in two tries on their road to a 12-23 victory. The Maroon Machine also managed to score two tries in front of a packed stadium.
Despite it being a rather low-scoring affair, the Eagles were full value for being the more industrious attacking team. The visitors also put up a staunch showing on defence to shut out a Maties attack that at times seemed toothless and without any real X-factor.
It was the Eagles who had all the right moves, with the playmaking pair of Aphelele Mdaka (scrumhalf) and Zinedine Robinson (flyhalf) pulling the strings. The men from the north also played with a bit of reckless abandon, with Robinson not afraid to send the ball out wide for his wingers to chance their arm. The attacking pressure eventually paid off in the 21st minute, when Robinson threw a lovely inside pass to left winger Naiden Jaarts to score the Eagles’ first try and silence a partisan Maties crowd (0-7).
Nine minutes later the Eagles extended their lead when Ezekiel Ngobeni crashed over for the visitors’ second five-pointer to make the score 0-14.
In the 35th minute, changes by Maties coach Kabamba Floors paid dividends when Vernon Matongo crashed over after a pick-and-go in front of the Eagles try-line (half-time: 7-14).
The start of the second stanza mirrored that of the first, with no team able to get an early breakthrough in terms of points scoring. The only difference was that Maties seemed to have the upper hand, with the Eagles having to soak up the pressure with desperate defence.
A second Robinson penalty in the 67th minute would add to the scoreboard pressure, with Maties running out of answers on attack (7-20). And when Charles Williams slotted a third penalty to further extend the Eagles’ lead, the writing was on the wall (7-23).
Not even a consolation score by Zuko Poswa in extra time could hide the disappointment on his Maties teammates’ faces (full-time: 12-23).
This coming Monday (26 February), Maties will look to overturn their fate when they travel to the Southern Suburbs to face FNB UCT Ikeys in a derby at the Green Mile at 19:00.
- Other Round 1 results: FNB UFS Shimlas 32-38 FNB UCT Ikeys; FNB CUT 23-19 FNB UJ; and FNB UWC 10-66 FNB Wits.
