They know only one road: forwards. They know only one result: winning. The first rugby team of the North-West University (NWU) was crowned as the champions of the Golden Lions Rugby Union Pirates League in Alberton on Saturday, 11 June when they beat Wits 31–26.

Not only does the NWU now add more goldware to their trophy cupboard, but Burger van der Westhuizen and Leon Boshoff’s troops have continued their record of having been unvanquished since 2019. This team does not know how to lose. The league includes teams like Wits, Pirates, Raiders, Roodepoort, UJ, Alberton and Wanderers.  

This is a remarkable series of results, and their two victories over Wits this year in particular were very sweet. Wits has a very strong team that does not hesitate to run its opponents off the field. Nevertheless, the NWU has once again proven that they do not back down from a hard game and are not easy to take down.

This was clear in the second half when Wits launched a formidable fight-back effort. The NWU staggered and conceded a number of points, but showed sufficient courage to seal their opponents’ fate. Both teams scored four tries, which shows how close this battle was.

But wait, we are not finished yet. The second team, third team, under 21s and under 19s also won their respective leagues.

 This was definitely a clean sweep by the NWU.