NAMIBIAN winger Chrysander Botha scored four tries while compatriot and flyhalf Theuns amassed 33 points as the University of Johannesburg demolished a hapless Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) 93-0 to set a new Varsity Cup record on Monday night.
Namibian Rugby World Cup star Botha crossed the whitewash four times and his RWC teammate Kotzé, back in his favourite position of flyhalf, slotted 11 conversions from his 12 attempts for a personal tally of 33 points.Solid defence – but little else – from TUT kept the scoreline down and at only 16-0 at the break few would have expected the second-half avalanche of points.It took UJ until shortly after the first strategy break to get on the scoreboard through a hard-running try by lock Shane Kirkwood after TUT couldn’t control a line-out just inside their 22. A good dummy pass that a centre would have been envious of helped his progress to the try under the posts which was converted by Kotzé to make it 8-0.Although TUT defended resolutely and kept the scoreboard clean until the 22th minute, they never threatened the UJ line and spent most of the time in their own quarter. The clean sheet was as much the doing of UJ’s handling errors at critical moments and one or two wrong options – including the decision to largely keep the ball among the forwards. But the good TUT defence – initially – deserved credit, as did the eventual softening process of UJ.The second UJ try came after the hooter had sounded for halftime when fullback Aubrey McDonald was on hand to take an inside pass. With Kotzé converting again, it was probably game, set and match already against a side that had scored only 12 points in their previous four matches (16-0).The second half had hardly started when JR Esterhuizen rounded off a move to make it 24-0 to the home side. UJ’s early dominance was even more marked than in the first half against a side that had little to offer but a solid (initial) defence built on guts.The first 17 minutes after the break saw the score climb to 48-0 as Chrysander Botha pulled himself over the tryline for the fourth second-half try following the efforts of Esterhuizen and then Shaun Malton and Man of the Match Divan van Zyl.Kotzé had a full-house of six conversions in the 48-0 scoreline and increased that to nine from nine as the score became 72-0 following Botha’s second try and one each from Adriaan Vermeulen and Wessel du Rand. However, he missed his tenth attempt – many of his successes coming from close to touch – after Botha scored his hat-trick (77-0).The only question that remained was whether UJ could improve their own victory margin of 83 points achieved in their 97-14 win over NMMU in 2010.It came when flanker Wendal Wehr scored after a good run and glorious sidestep to go over under the posts, followed by another Kotze conversion (85-0), and Botha then added his fourth just before fulltime (93-0), with his World Cup mate adding the final three points. Full results: Monday, March 5 – Tuks 48 – 18 Shimlas; UJ 93 – 0 TUT; NMMU 26 – 42 Maties; UCT 29 – 29 Pukke.- supersport.com.na
