TUKS Ladies are Varsity Sevens Champs 2019

Real passion and commitment led to the Delta Drone Tuks sevens team yesterday winning the inaugural Varsity Women’s Sevens Tournament in Johannesburg.

Tuks possibly played one of their best games of the season when they beat Fort Hare in the final 46-0. From the very first moment they took to the field, it was clear they are playing to honour Tuks’s coveted “Stripes”.

“It was essential for us to not only win the trophy for the University of Pretoria but also to showcase women’s sevens rugby. I believe we have succeeded in doing so,” an elated Riaan van der Merwe (head coach) said.

“Before the final, I only asked one thing from the players. That was to be disciplined. Seemingly they listened because the team conceded only one penalty.”

Van der Merwe can’t help but get excited about the way the team’s captain, Kemisetso Baloyi, “marshalled” her troops throughout the tournament.

“It was not ‘Captain Baloyi it was General Baloyi”.

She indeed led by example. Often being the one to make the vital tackle. Every time she had the ball in hand, it was a given that something was going to happen. She scored three brilliant tries in the final. What, however, impressed me was how she continually kept on encouraging her teammates.”

As far as Baloyi is concerned, she was just doing what was expected from her.

“Delta Drone Tuks winning the Varsity Tournament was a team effort. Every player stepped up. It was an honour for me to play for a team that made South African student sports history. We played the very first game in the women’s Varsity Tournament as well as being the first champions,” said Baloyi.

“From a women’s sevens rugby perspective, I want to thank the organisers for giving us this opportunity. Hopefully, our tournament will go from strength to strength with more teams participating next year.”

One of Van der Merwe’s best tactical decisions was to move Cinanda Potgieter from prop to centre. Every time she got the ball, it took two or more defenders to stop her. More often, they failed to do so. Potgieter scored six tries during Tuks’s four games.

Sesihle Maguga was absolutely fearless on the defence. She often made two or more tackles within seconds. Shania-Lee Swart playing prop impressed with her ball-handling skills and her interesting little sidesteps. She was also deadly accurate when it came to converting tries succeeding with 13 out of 17 attempts.

What further excited Van der Merwe was how his forwards dominated the scrums.

The Tuks men’s sevens team ended up finishing third after beating Madibaz 36-5 in the playoffs. The team impressed for most of the tournament, but unfortunately, they also had two horrific games.

Kovsies thrashed them 38-5 during a pool game encounter while Maties totally outplayed them in the semi-finals winning 24-5.

UJ won the tournament due to being the most consistent team throughout. In the final, they dominated Maties to win 20-0.

 

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Source: TUKS SPORT

Images by: Kobus Lotter

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