The 44-37 win against Shimlas was Tuks’ first in Bloemfontein in a long time.

“One has to take in consideration that the match was played in four 20 minutes slots, but it was nevertheless a huge moral booster for Tuks as one of our worst performances in the 2009 Varsity Cup Series was against Shimlas in Bloemfontein,” said Tuks head coach, Freddie Grobler.

“The Shimlas will most definitely be a force to be reckoned with in die Varsity Cup Series as they have many exciting young players in their mix. That makes our win more special, but we will nevertheless have to improve overall before taking on the SWD Eagles on Tuesday, 19 January in George,” said Freddie.

Freddie and his co-selectors have decided to field their second stringers for the first of two matches against the Eagles. The team that play the Eagles on Friday, 22 January may well be the one who take on Pukke in the Varsity Cup opener on 1 February at the LC de Villiers Stadium.

The starting line-up for Tuesday’s game is  (kick-off 16:00) is:

JW Bell; Pieter Geyer, Dirk Dippenaar, Donovan Marais, Pieter Gotha, Stanley Twiname, Zylon McGaffen; Marius Oosthuizen, Oswin Mentoor, Lourens Lombaardt, Franco Mostert, Joe Walters, Danie Cotezee, Sylverster Booysen.