Olé, Olé, Olé! Now that got the blood flowing, didn’t it? The North-West University (NWU) Eagles clawed their way to a 41-28 win over the University of Johannesburg (UJ) on Monday night in Potchefstroom after having their feathers ruffled by the visitors from Johannesburg in the first half.

In doing so, the Eagles got their 2023 Varsity Cup campaign off to a splendid start, scoring six tries to their opponents’ three. Still, as stated, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. UJ led 18-15 going into the break after Eagles’ flanker Gustav Erlank was sinbinned in the 15th minute.

But then the coaching team of head coach Burger van der Westhuizen and adjutants Chaka Willemse and Jean Tiedt rallied their troops at half-time, leading to a dominant display on the hallowed turf of the Fanie du Toit sports ground.

Scrumhalf Sylvester Hassien caused UJ all manner of headaches and was duly named the Player that Rocks. Sylvester was responsible for one of the Eagles’ tries, with Isrome Phatudi, Theuns Pretorius, Vernon Paulo, Stephan Krugel and Wihan Nel dotting down for the rest. Zinedine Robinson slotted two conversions and a penalty, while Martin Venter dissected the posts once for a conversion.

The Eagles next face Shimlas (University of the Free State) at the Fanie du Toit sports ground on Monday, 27 February. This will be no easy task as the boys from Bloemfontein caused a bit of an upset by beating Tuks (University of Pretoria) 26-25 in Pretoria.

Until then, captain Riaan Genis’ team have plenty of time to savour their opening round victory.