Maties to meet Pukke in VC Final

Defending champions Maties will meet Pukke in the 2009 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International Final at the Danie Craven Stadium, Stellenbosch, next Monday.

FNB Maties qualified for the grand finale when they smashed FNB Tukkies 38-14 at the same venue on Monday - outscoring them by six tries to one.

The result also means that Maties will play in their second successive final - only this time against Pukke, who beat the Ikeys 19-17 in Monday's first semifinal. The Ikeys, of course, were Stellenbosch's opponents in last year's final.

A game played in a strong wind, that asked for great skill and plenty of guile, it was Maties who used the conditions to greater effect to beat a Tukkies team that just a week ago sneaked a win in Stellenbosch.

And trailing by just 14-26 at the half-time break, Tukkies would have felt their still had a chance of another upset. But with the conditions in their favour in the second half, the Maties shut them out of the game and scored another 12 unanswered points.

Maties, who had survived an early charge down, produced the first score of the match. It came in the 12th minute, when flyhalf Johan Sadie collected the ball at pace from a line-out and busted through a couple of feeble tackles to go over for the first try. Donald Stevens added the conversion for a 7-0 lead.

Tukkies seemed to be stirred into action by the score and the next try when Maties failed to control the ball and Tukkies hacked ahead - with scrumhalf Christian van den Berg on hand to pick up and dive over for the try. Marnitz Boshoff couldn't add the extras, but Tukkies had opened their account.

In the 21st minute Tukkies had another chance, when Maties were penalised for offside play, and Boshoff made no mistake with the penalty - giving his team a 8-7 lead.

The ding-ding battle continued as minutes later Maties captain Wesley Wilkins  - who last week knocked on with the tryline and victory begging - collected a pass on the right wing and sprinted 30 metres, crashing through three defenders, to score his team's second try. Stevens' conversion made it 14-8.

But within minutes Tukkies took the scoreline to 11-14, when Boshoff landed another penalty.

Wilhelm Loock continued the trend when he scored Maties' third try and the left corner, after quick hands caught the Tukkies defence short out wide. Stevens couldn't add the extras, but with just under 10 minutes left the lead had increased to 19-11.

Not that Tukkies were about the buck the trend. With six minutes of the first half left No.11 Clayton Blommetjies landed a sweetly-struck drop-goal to make it 14-19.

The Maties' fourth try, and probably the most crucial score of the game, came right on half-time - when outside centre Jéan Stemmet split the Tukkies defence with a string run and went over under the upright.

Stevens added the conversion to give his team a 26-14 lead at the break.

Stemmet, just like he ended the first half, started the scoring after the break by flummoxing the Tukkies defence to go over for try number five. Stevens' conversion attempt hit the upright, but at 31-14 Tukkies were left with a huge mountain to climb.

The Tukkies, under tremendous pressure, found playing into the wind a tall order and was it not for Maties' poor executing there would have been a flood of tries.

Tukkies did have their moments, such as when right wing Kruger van Heerden used his blistering pace to get clear - only for Maties flyhalf Johan Sadie to drag him down centimetres short.

Maties' elaborated passing and poor execution continued to rob them of chances against a Tukkies team that were forced onto the back foot more frequently.

And with Maties now also turning Tukkies' set pieces into a lottery, the next score had to come - with centre Dabeon Draghoender going over in the tackle. The conversion made it 38-18.

Tukkies looked demoralised and while they tried, they now clearly lacked commitment to what was a lost cause. Their high turnover rate, 20-odd of those, certainly didn't help either.

And as a result of a rush of replacements on both sides, of which very few were injury related, the game lost both its structure and appeal - leaving Maties to go away deserved winners.

The scorers:

For Maties:
Tries: Sadie, Wilkins, Loock, Stemmet 2, Draghoender
Cons: Stevens 4

For Tukkies:
Try: Van den Berg
Pens: Boshoff 2
DG: Blommetjies

The teams:

FNB Maties: 15 Adnaan Osman, 14 Morné Jooste, 13 Jéan Stemmet, 12 Dabeon Draghoender, 11 Wilhelm Loock, 10 Johan Sadie, 9 Donald Stevens, 8 Cameron Peverett, 7 Jonathan Adendorf, 6 Wesley Wilkins (captain), 5 Hugo Kloppers, 4 Marinus Pretorius, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Mathew Dobson, 1 Johan Roets.
Replacements: 16 JP Koster, 17 Andrew Crausaz, 18 Jean Rossouw, 19 Eric Laubscher, 20 Morné Hanekom, 21 Johan Herbst, 22 Lwellyn Winkler.

Head coach: Chean Roux
Assistant coach: Warren Adams

FNB Tuks: 15 Shaun Davids, 14 Kruger van Heerden, 13 Luvuyo Mhlobiso, 12 Piet Swart, 11 Clayton Blommetjies, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Christian van den Berg, 8 Daniel Nicholls, 7 Devin Oosthuizen, 6 Willie Nel, 5 Peet Botma, 4 Johan de Bruin (captain), 3 Jacques Botha, 2 Corné Fourie, 1 Ettienne Breytenbach.
Replacements: 16 Peet Vorster, 17 Rossouw de Klerk, 18 Duncan Naude, 19 Danie Crous, 20 Ignick Windvogel, 21 Jaco Oosthuizen, 22 Sampie Mastriet.

Head coach: Freddie Grobler
Assistant coach: Cecil Botha