The Wits Rugby team beat the University of Johannesburg for the first time ever in the Varsity Cup.
The Wits rugby first team secured a historic victory over local rivals University of Johannesburg (UJ) for the first time in the twelve-year old Varsity Cup competition.
The Wits side narrowly took the spoils in a low-scoring match which ended 7-6 at the Wits Rugby Stadium on Monday, February 11.
UJ dominated the first half putting up a strong defense as they scored a six point lead against the Witsies. Wits centre, Matt McDonald eventually scored the winning try in a game that characterised by errors.
McDonald, a BCom marketing student, said that scoring the winning try was an incredible moment which was a team effort, “I am getting a lot more glory than I deserve,” adding that “I can’t tell you how much this team means to me”.
Wits head coach Hugo van As told Wits Vuvuzela that though he is happy that the team won the match, “we are not satisfied with our performance”. Van As said that the match was a close game and the team needs to improve in order to take on bigger challengers.
Wits flyhalf Aidynn Cupido, was the ‘player that rocks’ while his teammate and fullback, Daniel Kapepula, took home the ‘Steers Kinging moment’ which is the seen as the the biggest moment in the game. Kapepula said that his award was “more of a team moment that my own moment,” but added that he found the game “scrappy’” with alot of errors. “It was definitely not the way we wanted to play,” Kapepula told Wits Vuvuzela.
“We do have that vision of bringing home the Varsity Cup, it is something that is born in all of our hearts and we do have a process where we are going to take this one step at a time,” said McDonald adding that their next opponents Pukke (North West University ), are a tough side but the team is excited to face them.
The Wits Rugby team is second on the Varsity Cup log and their match is against Pukke, which takes place on Monday, February 24 at the Wits Rugby Stadium.
FEATURED IMAGE: The Wits Rugby team celebrating their win against UJ. Photo: Provided
