Ikeys vs Pukke kicks off proceedings on Green Mile

The clash between UCT Ikey Tigers and Pukke on  Monday  is a repeat of the 2008 and 2009 semifinals, at this very venue; UCT’s notorious Green Mile.

The Ikeys will think they owe Pukke one after last season’s semifinal loss, when the visitors upstaged the Capetonians 19-17 to progress to the final where they eventually went down 6-11 to the Maties. But matches between the Ikeys and Pukke are always tough contests; in fact, the biggest winning margin has been six just points between these two sides, ironically the first time they met in the Varsity Cup – Pukke winning 23-17.

Since then, UCT went on to beat Pukke 32-31 (in their dramatic 2008 semifinal meeting), before the Men from Potch gained revenge twice last year – at home and away, the latter, of course, being the semifinal in Cape Town.

“History is not a big thing for us – it’s about next week’s game… and getting over the disappointment of the Shimlas match,” said Ikeys coach John Dobson.

“Win or lose our games against Pukke have always been tight – I think the winner has never won by more than four or five points – so I am expecting another dog-fight against a quality team.”

Kick-off: 4.30pm (Live on SuperSport One)

The teams:

probable UCT side: 15 Therlow Pietersen, 14 Marcello Sampson, 13 Marcel Brache, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Pete Haw, 10 Matt Rosslee, 9 Stu Commins (vice-captain), 8 JJ Gagiano, 7 Yaya Hartzenberg, 6 Nick Fenton-Wells (captain), 5 Martin Muller, 4 Don Armand, 3 Grant Kemp, 2 Dayne Jans, 1 Ash Wells.

Replacements: 16 Mark Goosen, 17 Chris Heidberg, 18 Greg Mallett, 19 Levi Odendaal, 20 Nic Groom, 21 Sean van Tonder, 22 Douglas Mallett, 23 Wes Chetty.

Pukke: 15 Theuns Kotze, 14 Dane Johnson, 13 Ruan Jacobs, 12 Wouter Watermeyer, 11 Andrew van Wyk, 10 Niell Jacobs, 9 Andries Mahoney, 8 Thabo Molete, 7 Jaco Lötter, 6 Savvas Nel, 5 Markus Fourie, 4 Dirco Rautenbach, 3 Stephanus Bezuidenhout, 2 Stoffel Duvenage, 1 Dewald Coetzee.

Replacements: 16 BW van Dyk, 17 BG Uys, 18 Francois Robbertse, 19 Siya Mdaka, 20 Cecil Dumond, 21 Wenstley Scott, 22 SP Marias, 23 Johan Coetzee.