This rugby rocks, says Bok legend
Former Springbok captain, Dr Hannes Marais, believes the FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International has brought a new lease of life to varsity rugby in South Africa.
And Dr Marais is convinced that the success of the Varsity Cup will be seen in years to come, as young players continue to emerge through the varsity ranks to the highest level.
Just last year, for instance, UCT produced a Sevens Springbok in Kyle Brown, a full USA Eagles Test player in JJ Gagiano and an England Sevens representative in the form of Mat Turner.
To top that, 74 players from the 2008 Varsity Cup competition have since earned provincial contracts at various levels since then, whilst the average age of players in last year's competition was a youthful 21.2 years old.
"I remember playing in the Ted Sceales competition for UPE (now NMMU) against top varsity teams like Wits, Tukkies and the Ikeys," Dr Marais told varsitycup.co.za.
"This was something special for a small university like UPE at the time, but we managed to topple the likes of Wits, who had several Springboks in their ranks at the time, as well as Tukkies.
"The Varsity Cup has now taken it to a new level and the players are highly motivated in their desire to succeed," he added.
Dr Marais was in attendance at the NMMU-UCT Varsity Cup encounter in Port Elizabeth on Monday night and was highly impressed with the way the Ikey Tigers team supported the man in possession and their ability to drive that man - in possession - over the advantage line.
He also singled out the play of powerful UCT centres Sean van Tonder and Pieter Engelbrecht - both of whom scored tries for the now second-placed UCT side.
"They were always prepared to take on the opposition's defence with strong-running tactics and this played a major role in their team's (36-17) win," said Dr Marais.
However, Dr Marais also believes that NMMU has benefited greatly from the competition and he believes their standard of play has shown vast improvement throughout 2009.
"Though NMMU have limited resources at their disposal they have shown good form and their recent victory over TUT is ample proof that they can compete at this level," the 67-year-old former Bok captain added.
Doc Marais was also highly impressed by NMMU's scrumming power, as well as the form displayed by No.8 Jaco Swanepoel and flank Andre Goosen.
NMMU face a major hurdle when they take on champions Maties in Stellenbosch on Monday, March 9 (kick-off 4.45pm).
Meanwhile, Dr Marais believes that the Steinhoff Koshuisrugby Championships has also given young players the opportunity to parade their talents at a higher level.
The 8-5 victory gained by the Barbarians over the UCT Cobras - as a curtain-raiser to Monday's main game - indicates that there is considerable talent coming through the NMMU ranks.
By Stan Terblanche