THE University of the Free State (UFS) rugby side, the Shimlas, will be looking to get off to a flying start when they open their campaign for the 2024 Varsity Cup at home to the University of Cape Town’s Ikey Tigers on Monday.
The season-opening match will be played at the Shimla Park in Bloemfontein, starting at 1645 hours.
Later in the evening, another Free State team will be in action as the Central University of Technology (CUT)’s Ixias host the University of Johannesburg at the CUT Stadium, with the game kicking off at 1900 hours.
The two Bloemfontein-based institutions are part of the eight-team Varsity Cup, South Africa’s premier university rugby competition.
The Shimlas, who reached the semi-finals of the tournament last year, will be looking to go further this time round and claim again the championship they won in 2015.
Kwezi Dlamini is expected to play a key role for the UFS side after the loose forward spearheaded their campaign and finished as their top try scorer in 2023.
Across town, the Ixias know their work is cut out after they avoided demotion to the second-tier Varsity Shield by demolishing the Nelson Mandela University’s Madibaz 91-10 in last season’s promotion-relegation playoff tie.
Targeting at least a semi-final appearance, the Bloemfontein side will be hoping to get some inspiration from the likes of Zac Bester – the centre caused endless problems for opposing defences in the last campaign, breaking the line at will and scoring several outstanding tries.
In other Varsity Cup fixtures pencilled in for Monday, the University of Western Cape will host Wits at their Cape Town campus, while the Maties will entertain the North-West University’s Eagles at their Stellenbosch University ground. – Sports Reporter