“I was shown a quote before the match that was applicable to our dire situation in every way. It said that if you have your back to the wall, you have only one option: look fate in the eye and fight like never before. And that is exactly what we did. We played like a team possessed and our second half performance was without doubt our most clinical and structured 40 minutes of the 2011 competition,” added Marais.

“What made the win very special is that it was not only UJ’s first defeat in five matches, but also the first time that Tuks managed to beat them in the FNB Varsity Cup competition,” said Marais.

The win puts Tuks firmly back in the semi-finals picture, but they still need at least one win to make it to the top four.

“We have moved up to third position on the log, but still has our work cut out in the last two group phase matches as we play Maties and Ikeys, both at home. Nothing will come our way without a ferocious fight and we know that we will have to make consistency our bedfellow in order to stay on track for the play-offs,” commented Marais.

Tuks have not managed to win two matches in a row and are ironically at their best when they are under severe pressure. They will have to break this ‘pattern’ of win one, lose one as they can still miss out on the semi-finals if things do not go to plan against Maties and Ikeys.

In the four year existence of the FNB Varsity Cup Tuks have never played Maties in Pretoria which will add to the honours at stake on 14 March.