“The statistics of a 33.3% success rate are damning, but in all fairness it has to be remembered that we came very close to beating Maties and Pukke. In both matches we were in the lead till late in the second half. Against Maties we had enough opportunities to win the match but we finished poorly and paid the prize. Against Pukke we were on the back foot for most of the game, but still managed to stand our ground. All in all, we can take more positives than negatives from the week and will build on that for a successful Carlton Cup second round. Most encouraging of our performance is that we showed a lot of class with the structured rugby we play,” said UP-Tuks 1 head coach, Blikkies Groenewald.

Groenewald agreed that his team’s lack of discipline will have to be addressed as matter of great concern. UP-Tuks conceded card in all three matches: yellow in the matches against Wits (Deon Helberg, spear tackle) and Maties (Dabeon Draghoender, verbal abuse of the hapless women referee) and red in the cliff hanger against Pukke (Dirk Dippenaar for alleged stamping on an opponent). UP-Tuks also conceded twice as many penalties as their opponents in all three matches.

“There can be no argument that our discipline is not on par and we will have to rectify the situation with shock therapy if need be,” said Groenewald.

Groenewald said the tournament gave many second choice players a chance to show their mettle and potential to play at a higher competition level. Some made the grade, others not but he nevertheless salutes every player for his endeavours.

The UP-Tuks 1 head coach was not prepared to mention any players by name, but is goes without saying that two of the juniors in the side, scrumhalf Emile Tempermann and centre Karl-Hein Schuld, have to be close to the top the list of ‘yes’ players. At fly half Stanley Twiname had a very solid tournament, Gerhard van der Merwe came into his own at wing, Jono van Rensburg was a stalwart at No 8 and Chris Crous very consistent at hooker. Crous unfortunately injured his shoulder and could not play against Pukke. He will be out of action for at least two weeks.