The semi-finals of the 2019 Varsity Cup will get underway with a clash between Tuks and NWU Pukke.
The Varsity Cup will reach its business end on Monday the 8th of April with Tuks and NWU opening the day up with their semi-final clash at the Tuks Stadium. The hosts enjoyed a solid campaign and ended the regular season in second-place with the visitors a point behind them in third.
So which of these two teams will make it to next week’s final? Darry Worthington gives his verdict on this below.
Tuks v NWU
Tuks Stadium
16:45
To Win (80 Mins)
Tuks 1/5
Draw 25/1
NWU 33/10
Handicap
Tuks (-10.5) 17/20
NWU (+10.5) 17/20
Tuks
After a dismal 2018 season, Tuks were back to their best in 2019 with the boys from Pretoria only suffering one defeat on their way to claiming second-place on the log at the close of the regular season. That solitary defeat came back in Round 3 where they went down by just two points to the tournament’s pacesetters, Maties. The only other blemish on Tuks’ round-robin phase record was a 26-26 Round 8 draw with Ikeys.
Tuks will have a massive psychological edge headed it to this one as when they met NWU during the round-robin phase they managed to keep their opponents scoreless and ran out 0-28 victors away from home.
NWU
Like Tuks, NWU enjoyed a solid round-robin phase scoring six wins from their eight games on their way to finishing third on the log. Their only two defeats came at the hands of Tuks (0-28) and Maties (43-15).
The visitors managed to finish the regular season on a high note as they hammered Wits 74-15 last Monday. This was the second week running that they racked up a score in excess of fifth points as they beat CUT 7-60 in Round 8.
Verdict: Tuks (-10.5) 17/20
I think Tuks are destined for a final this season. The Pretoria side have a solid squad who will likely dominate the collision and set piece, which will lay the ideal platform for their backline to run off.
Written by Darry Worthington for Hollywoodbets
