Dobson: 'Not just about the result'

Whilst pleased with his team's crushing 65-9 Varsity Cup victory over NMMU on Monday night, FNB UCT head coach John Dobson was even happier with 'other' aspects of the Ikey Tigers' performance.

The Men from Cape Town - who are now in second place on the log and, along with the Maties, the only other unbeaten side in the 2010 Varsity Cup - scored nine tries to nil in their third successive win over NMMU.

But more important than the result was the magnitude of last night's fixture - the game doubling up as the annual Monte Taljaard Trophy match between the University of Cape Town and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University; this fixture, of course, being played in honour of the late Monte Taljaard.

Taljaard, born and raised in Port Elizabeth, attended the University of Cape Town in 2007 and 2008 and played for the UCT first team.

Sadly, the talented flanker passed away in a car accident in September 2008 - although his spirit lives on to this day; given the huge impact he made in PE and Cape Town, and also through the Monte Taljaard Bursary - the first of which was awarded to a UCT student this week.

"We were quite pleased with last night as we felt, in the second half certainly, we produced a performance that honoured Monte, which for us was what it was all about, and that after a shoddy first half," Dobson told varsitycup.co.za.

"At one stage with 'Hurricane Edna' looming in the build-up to the game we thought that we might be in for a very long night at the office, but we managed to find some rhythm, eventually, and I was happy with the end result," he added.

"To get a result like that with some frontliners resting was great, but last night for us was not about the result... (but) rather about something far more fundamental."

Next up on the Varsity Cup fixture list for the Ikeys are the TUT Vikings at the Green Mile on Monday, February 22 (kick-off 4.30pm) in a Round Four clash.

Dobson will announce his starting XV later in the week, with captain Nick Fenton-Wells - and other key men - likely to return after being rested from the PE encounter.

If you would like to find out more about the Monte Taljaard Bursary, click HERE.

By James Kingston