The return of res rugby

Christiaan Steenekamp and Ashura Kalufya

On 15 March, the 2023 Res Rugby season officially kicked off. The u/20s played the first game and served as a great entrée for the senior matches that followed. PDBY made sure to cover the two main senior games: OP Village vs House Mopane and Morula Legae vs House Tau.

The defending champion, OP Village, faced former semifinalist House Mopane in the first match of the season. The score was 0-0 for most of the first half, an indication of how closely the residences fought to win the match. As both teams battled it out, OP soon built themselves a comfortable 20-12 lead. However, the match ended abruptly when loadshedding flooded the field in darkness. However, there was very little time left to play at this point, so Mopane would have needed a miraculous play to make their comeback.

In the second match, Morula Legae and House Tau tried their best to win. Ultimately, Morula Legae dominated, proving themselves to be worthy contenders with a 14-0 win over House Tau. Now the question remains, was Morula

Legae’s defense simply rock solid, or did House Tau need to sharpen their attack?

One thing can be concluded from watching the senior games: Res Rugby is back and this season promises to be a great one for the fans.

With rookie mistakes, failures at all set pieces and an insidious level of selfishness in the backline, the question needs to be asked: who or what is to blame for this fall from grace? Is it because the players do not seem to listen to their coaching staff, or have they simply lost heart? Or is it that Nicolaas Luus, firstteam coach, has reached an impasse with his coaching style? The answer to this question might never be known, but one thing is certain – something is terribly wrong at UP Tuks.

With games left to play against Johannesburg locals Wits and UJ, the time to save face is now. Because if UJ can defeat Maties in the next round and Tuks fails to pick up the win against Wits, it will mean relegation to the shield. As always, PDBY will be covering these final two games and will be hoping for the best outcome alongside all the fans.