Off the Mark – Episode 3 – Zille the Ikey Tiger

The second week of the Varsity Cup brought the UCT campus an epic encounter between the Ikeys and Pukke (University of Potch). Not only were the Ikeys up against a fully professional outfit but also a game which we considered a must win for us!

The game got off to what seems to be a usual Ikeys start where for the second week in a row we gave away two penalties early on to allow the Pukke to gain a 6-0 lead. With us playing into the wind, possession was key when we attacked in their 22 and Roses snuck a sneaky grubber through to allow Marcel Brache to pounce on a loose ball and go over for the 5 pointer, 4 minutes before the break.

Unfortunately Roses missed the kick and we went into half time 5-6 down. With some stern words from Dobbo during the break, we came out firing and Dayne Jans scored a try through some great pressure on the Pukke try line. The poor flyhalf fumbled the ball, dropped to the ground and then seemed to become unconscious as Dayne pounced on the loose ball and scored. Roses got this kick and we were ahead. Then Brache smashed a 55m penalty followed by another penalty from the same distance from Doug Mallet. Pukke got a try at the end, unfortunately. But they still lost.

This win was vital in what was an amazing match day for all involved, Special mention MUST go out to Candice Dobson, yip, that is Dobbo’s wife. Not only did she feed the whole team before the game, which is quite an accomplishment if you consider the likes of Mark “goose” Goosen in the team! She then decorated our change room with the bright colours of pink and blue and personalized each player’s station with sweets and our names. We, too, arrived in the Springboks’ bus, somehow, God knows how, but between our team mentor, John Le roux, and Dobbo, they managed to organize that! Fantastic!

Imagine the surprise on our faces when an oke who looked like the next James Bond strolled into the change room for the jersey presentation. No one knew what the hell was going on. Turns out this bloke was Helen Zille’s bodyguard. Next thing you know Helen strolls in and, after hitting on Mr. McDonald a few times, she gave what turned out to be an inspirational speech. She then handed out the jerseys with each butch Ikey being a little more gentle during the hand shake. You could picture it in the papers, “Ikeys Prop Wesley Chetty dislocates Premier’s pinky during speech.” Thank heavens all went without any hitches!

The team’s big winners this week were JJ Gagiano and Yaya Hartzenburg. JJ got team man of the match as well as official man of the match and Yaya got team man of the week. It’s worth noting that Yaya played 160 minutes of rugby in three days! Playing 80 minutes for the Stormers on Saturday and then playing 80 minutes for the Ikeys against Pukke. If Prof. Noakes had to find out about this, someone in Uct’s team management is going to get a mouthful!! Yaya seems recovered and well and we hope to see some more epic handoffs next week when the Ikeys take on NMMMMMMNNNNNU at the Xerox stadium in PE!!