Determined Vikings will make UCT work

The foremost thing the FNB TUT Vikings will have in mind when they take on the Ikey Tigers on Monday, in the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International, is to make the home team work for every point.

"We are not going to Cape Town to just fulfil an obligation - far from it," said Alex de Kock, the FNB Vikings' head coach.

He told varsitycup.co.za that his team had taken a lot of heart from their performance against FNB Tuks earlier this week.

FNB TUT, playing at home, led for more than 50 minutes in this closely-contested Pretoria Derby, but four cards (three yellow and one red) took their toll in the end.

"In the time when we had fewer players than them on the field, we conceded 27 points. Otherwise we were very competitive and proved beyond any doubt that we belong in the Varsity Cup competition," added De Kock.

"The players were very disappointed with the result as they knew, as I still do, that we had Tuks against the ropes with the score at 24-12," he continued.

"We stood our ground against a very good team and that in itself will give us the much-needed self-confidence for the match against the Ikeys."

De Kock said his team was far from looking at their last league match, on March 15 against the bottom-placed NMMU, as the only one they can and need to win in order to avoid playing an end-of-season promotion/relegation fixture for the second successive year.

"Only losers think like that. We play to win every match and truly believe that it will happen sooner than later," he said.

He conceded, however, that it would take some doing to beat FNB UCT - who are second on the Varsity Cup log - at home on the Green Mile.

"They are a very composed side. At home they are particularly dangerous because they use the difficult playing conditions to their full advantage," added De Kock.

* Meanwhile, captain Emile Verster's hearing - after being red-carded (for foul language) against Tuks this past Monday - will take place at noon tomorrow (Friday).

TUT will announce their team, to face UCT, once they know about his availability.

By Morris Gilbert