Preview: Varsity Cup, Round Eight

Victory for log leaders UP-Tuks and second-placed Maties should secure their spots in the semifinals while Shimlas will need to shake off their recent slump to keep themselves in touch with the top two sides.

UP-Tuks have the luxury of playing at home in the final match of the round against UCT-Ikeys, who have been inconsistent throughout. The home side though are in a rich vein of form and should fancy themselves to bag a bonus-point victory to retain their top spot.

Maties make the trip to Bloemfontein to face basement-dwellers CUT-Ixias. The home side is yet to claim a victory in the competition but have already proven that they can push big teams all the way. Maties are coming off a bye week and are fresh for this encounter. The fact that they saw themselves being overtaken by Tuks should serve as motivation to reclaim top spot.

Shimlas host the Madibaz and, given their recent form, the Port Elizabeth students are going to be a handful. The Madibaz have managed just one victory thus far but have been unlucky in a few of their matches.

The home side, who are five points off the top two and in fourth place, will need to win this one to put a bit of a buffer between themselves and fifth-place NWU-Pukke – who are on a bye this week.

The match of the round gets the action underway as UJ face Johannesburg rival Wits. UJ are on four-match unbeaten run and will be eyeing a fifth consecutive victory to guarantee themselves a semifinal spot.

Wits, on the other hand, are also in good form as their young squad continues to impress since their Round Six victory over Pukke. The equation for Wits is simple. Win and remain in the hunt for a semifinal spot, lose and kiss your hopes goodbye.

All the Round Seven fixtures:

UJ v Wits

(Johannesburg, Kick-off: 16.45, 14.45 GMT)

UJ: 15 Ewan Adams, 14Ronald Brown, 13 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 12 Jaco Fourie, 11 Godfrey Ramaboea, 10 Divan Nel, 9 Johan Esterhuizen, 8 Jo-Hanko De Villiers, 7 Wian Conradie, 6 Gavin Delport, 5 Adrian Bester, 4 Kevin Du Randt, 3 Nico Du Plessis, 2 Jannes Snyman (captain), 1 Waldo Weideman.

Replacements: 16 Le Roux Baard, 17 Kyle Kruger, 18 Chergin Fillies, 19 Reinhardt Nothnagel, 20 Devon Mare, 21 Carlisle Jordan, 22 Peter Walters, 23 Willem Massyn.

Wits: 15 Gianni Lombard, 14 Kwanele Ngema, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Brandan Hewitt, 11 Luxolo Ntsepe, 10 Warren Gilbert (captain), 9 Ruan Cloete, 8 Constant Beckerling, 7 Conor Brockschmidt, 6 Ruan Macdonald, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 4 Graham Logan, 3 Luvuyo Pupuma, 2 CJ Conradie, 1 CJ Greeff.

Replacements: 16 Justin Brandon, 17 Brandon Palmer, 18 Pascal Snyman, 19 Jethro de Lange, 20 Tyrone Green, 21 Manuel Rass, 22 Joshua Jarvis, 23 Ameer Williams.

Referee: Jaco Pretorius

Assistant referees: Local

TMO: Johan Greeff

CUT-Ixias v Maties

(Bloemfontein, Kick-off: 18.30, 16.30 GMT)

CUT: 15 Waldo Putter, 14 Mosego Toolo, 13 Gert Cronje, 12 Ruan Wasserman, 11 Olwethu Ndakisa, 10 Martin Jacobs, 9 Ruben Heymans, 8 Stefan Kruger, 7 Vincent Maruping, 6 JP Smal, 5 Brendan Verster, 4 Kian Skippers, 3 Chrisjan du Toit, 2 Henco Smit, 1 Kabous Van Schalkwyk.

Replacements: 16 Stefan Jacobs, 17 Kyle Ess, 18 Francois du Toit, 19 Andre Venter, 20 Sylvester Makakole, 21 Dean Jacobs, 22 Denver Kleu, 23 Diederick Muller.

Maties: 15 Tiaan Swanepoel, 14 Craig Barry (captain), 13 Michal Haznar, 12 Jan Venter, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Reinhardt Fortuin, 9 Albertus de Wet, 8 Stephan Streicher, 7 Ernst van Rhyn, 6 Mitchell Carstens, 5 Johannes Momsen, 4 John Groenewald, 3 Jacobus van der Merwe, 2 Craig Corbett, 1 Niel Oelofse.

Replacements: 16 Shane Farmer, 17 Wesley Adonis, 18 Carel Swart, 19 Ruben de Villiers, 20 Nicholas Edberink, 21 Brendan Nell, 22 Theo Stapelberg, 23 Duncan Saal.

Referee: Ricus van der Hoven

Assistant referees: Local

Shimlas v NMMU-Madibaz

(Bloemfontein, Kick-off: 18.30, 16.30 GMT)

Shimlas: 15 Sechaba Motsoela, 14 Vuyani Maqina, 13 Carel-Jan Coetzee, 12 Lihleli Xoli, 11 Marco Mason, 10 Nicholas Naude, 9 Albertus Erasmus, 8 Nardus Erasmus, 7 Phumzile Maqondwana, 6 Benji Janse van Vuuren, 5 Nicolaas Immelman, 4 Neil Claassen, 3 Ruan Kramer, 2 Anrich Alberts, 1 Johan Kotze.

Replacements: 16 Francois Steyn, 17 Kwenzokuhle Blose, 18 Thabiso Msiza, 19 Raymond Woest, 20 Musa Mahlasela, 21 Dian Badenhorst, 22 Henco Posthumus, 23 Wilhelm Kotzenberg.

Madibaz: 15 Lindelwe Zungu, 14 Athenkosi Mayinje, 13 Ivan-John Du Preez, 12 Andile Jho, 11 Jixie Molapo, 10 Thomas Kean, 9 Rouche Nel, 8 Kevin Kaba (captain), 7 Henry Brown, 6 Stephanus Nieuwoudt, 5 Reyno du Toit, 4 Wynand Grassmann, 3 Nicholas Oosthuizen, 2 Jean-Pierre Jamieson, 1 Xandre Vos.

Replacements: 16 Nathan Gogela, 17 Tembelihle Yase, 18 Nicolas Roebeck, 19 Hayden Tharrat, 20 Justin Hollis, 21 Lovu Claassen, 22 Simon Bolze, 23 Siphumelele Msutwana.

Referee: Jaco Kotze

Assistant referees: Local

UP-Tuks v UCT-Ikeys

(Pretoria, Kick-off: 19.00, 17.00 GMT)

UP-Tuks: 15 Divan Rossouw, 14 Dewald Naude, 13 Adrian Maebane, 12 Impi Visser, 11 Sibahle Maxwane, 10 Marthinus de Beer, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Clyde Davids, 7 Christiaan Massyn, 6 Eduan Lubbe, 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Brian Leitch, 3 Johan Fouche, 2 Cornelius Els, 1 Andrew Beerwinkel.

Replacements: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Jacobus Holtzhausen, 18 Marius Verwey, 19 Juan-Re Swanepoel, 20 Embrose Papier, 21 Keanan van Wyk, 22 Joshua Stander, 23 Gerhardus Steenekamp.

UCT-Ikeys: TBC

Referee: Vusi Msibi

Assistant referees: Local

TMO: Willie Vos

Varsity Shield

UWC have already sealed top spot on the log and can head into their final round-robin match against Walter Sisulu with a depleted team, if they wish. The Mthatha side are looking to gain a play-off spot, so will be eyeing nothing but victory in their final home game of the competition.

CPUT can secure themselves a home semi-final with victory over TUT in Wellington as the Cape side trail second placed UFH by four points.

TUT has an outside mathematical chance of sneaking into the semi-finals but they would need to firstly beat CPUT and rely on other results going their way.

UKZN-Impi are in the same boat as TUT, as they line up to face basement dwellers Rhodes in Durban. Victory is a must for the Durban-based students and they would need to rely on WSU losing to UWC to sneak into the play-offs.

CPUT v TUT 

(Wellington, Kick-off: 18.30, 16.30 GMT)

Referee: Archie Sehlako

Assistant referees: Local

UKZN-Impi v Rhodes

(Durban, Kick-off: 18.30, 16.30 GMT)

Referee: Pieter Maritz

Assistant referees: Local

WSU v UWC

(Mthatha, Kick-off: 18.30, 16.30 GMT)

Referee: Stephan Geldenhuys

Assistant referees: Local