“I could not have asked for a more gutsy performance from my players, especially in the very difficult playing conditions (in reference to the very strong wind UP-Tuks played against in the first 40 minutes). Coming from Pretoria where we are not exposed to extremes like the ‘Kaapse dokter’ (the notorious south eastern wind), so we were the ones who had to adapt, a case of do or die. The way we made the best of a bad situation, particularly in the first half was true testimony to our courage and character,” commented Pote Human, UP-Tuks head coach.

UCT took the lead in the opening 10 minutes, but UP-Tuks kept their cool despite the onslaught after onslaught the home team launched. In this time one of UP-Tuks’ biggest attributes, their fearless defence made a telling difference. UCT had to wait another 71 minutes before scoring their second try of the match.

“Our defence was superb and we kept them out. By scoring against the run of play just before the break (through Husky Schoeman’s try) we gained a significant mental advantage. And we did not look back after that,” remarked Human.

The UP-Tuks coach did, however also conceded that his team still has a lot of hard work ahead before they can even start thinking of the play-offs.

“Beating Ikeys at home and coming off the field with five points will do wonders for our momentum and confidence, but this will all come to nothing if we lose focus now. Our next assignment will in fact be tougher than any so far this season because Pukke will be on a high after the runaway win against Shimlas in Bloemfontein. They will be out for blood, leaving us with no option other than to improve in those areas of our game in which we are still falling short of the high standards we set ourselves. The one area we will most certainly address is to bring down the penalty count that was far too high against Ikeys,” added Human.