FNB UCT won their final WP Super League game against the Victorians, but came up just short of the title claimed by FNB Maties.
The 2014 FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International champions won 71-20 against Victorians in Stellenbosch, but Maties’ bonus point 27-25 win over Hamiltons in the final round of the competition enabled them to move into first place and consequently bring home the cup.
The overall log point difference was slight, UCT finishing up with 64, while Maties brought in 65 log points. However, given the Ikey’s massive performance in the tournament, they topped their Cape rivals in points scored 632 – 560.
The disparity between the two sides was UCT’s fiercely fought 18-19 loss to Stellenbosch away from home in the first half of the league.
In the tie-breaker game, a last-gasp penalty try awarded to Maties was the difference between a win and a loss for the Ikeys.
Ikey’s coach Kevin Musikanth was nostalgic as he looked back on the 2014 year of rugby for his team.
“The magical year of 2014 is something that if there was way, we could all bottle and hang on our mantle piece. To pick up and relive anytime we choose,” he said.
Most significant was their 2014 Varsity Cup win, a final in which they scored 24 points in five minutes to come back from the dead and seize the victory from FNB NWU-Pukke’s hands.
“When the curtain closes on 2014 the record books will show that we shocked the Varsity Cup and lifted the trophy. We were outliers, with two captains and real students,” he said.
“We were human. We went down to Stellenbosch in the league making us examples of the sport, that through adversity comes lesson and through lesson comes heart," he said.
