While the Central South African teams, Kovsies and North West, were eliminated last week in the semi-finals, this match still promises to be very entertaining.

Last week Maties edged Kovsies 62-60 in Bloemfontein, while Tuks were too strong in Pretoria with a 57-38 win over North West.

The finalists have met eight times in the competition before. Only on one occasion has the Maties been able to pull off a win. That was in the semi-final of 2015 when they caused an upset by beating Tuks 55-50 in Pretoria.

It will be the first time the two teams meet in a final.

Tuks will make a record fifth final appearance. They previously reached the final in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Maties have only appeared in one final, back in 2015. Jo Prins, Sasha-Lee Petersen and Stephanie Brandt are the only remaining members of that team.

Tshina Mdau, captain of Tuks, will become the first player to appear in five Varsity Netball finals.

If Tuks win, they will join NWU as the second most successful team in the competition with two titles each behind the Kovsies with three.

It will be the fourth time this year that the two teams lock horns. At the University Sport South Africa (USSA) tournament in July, Tuks prevailed by 46-40 in the group stage before losing 41-44 in the semi-final. In the group match in round four of Varsity Netball 2019 (in Port Elizabeth), Tuks ended on the winning side with a 53-46 scoreline.

Monday evening’s big final at the Rembrandt Hall in Pretoria gets underway at 18:45.

The teams for the final:

Tuks: 5 Marlize de Bruin (vice-captain), 16 Anique Grobler, 13 Venetia Grobler, 8 Akosua Mensah, 7 Lungile Mthembu, 12 Tracey Mthunzi, 2 Tshina Mdau (captain), 1 Mbali Ntuli, 4 Chantelle Swart, 3 Jamie van Wyk, 6 Danielle van Zyl, 11 Jasmine Ziegelmeier.

Maties: 12 Stephanie Brandt, 3 Claudia Jarrard, 11 Khomotso Mamburu, 4 Chrisley Marshall, 1 Sian Moore, 10 Sasha-Lee Petersen, 8 Jo Prins, 13 Nicola Smith, 9 Caleigh Stuart, 2 Nicholé Taljaard (captain), 6 Adri Uys, 5 Carla Werth.

@MorganPiek and Varsity Sport