The Shimlas ran in seven tries on the night to hand UWC their second defeat in the competition, while it was a perfect start for the visitors who enjoyed a bye last week.

In very windy conditions in the Northern suburbs of the Mother City, the team from Bloemfontein outmuscled UWC and asserted their dominance in the set-piece, especially at scrum time.

The ill disciple didn’t help the home sides cause, and the tighthead prop, Justin Theys, in particular, was very lucky to escape a red card, after two infringements in which he grabbed a player around the neck.

In the first incident he only received a penalty against him, and this should have been a yellow card. In the second incident, he was binned for a neck-roll, and this saw UWC down to 13 men as Reece Bocks was already spending 10 minutes in the cooler for cynical play.

The Shimlas weren’t without their discipline issues either, and the live-wire flanker, Janco Cloete, who had a good game, also had to spend 10 minutes on the naughty chair for slowing the ball down at the break-down.

The Shimlas will be on the road again next week when they travel to Johannesburg for round three, where they will tackle Wits.

UWC in their turn will head up to Potchefstroom to face the NWU Pukke at the Fanie du Toit Sportgrounds. Pukke will be well rested heading into the clash after enjoying a second-round bye.

Scorers: 

UWC: Tries - Clayton Daniels (5 point try), Aidynn Cupido (7 point try), Andre Manuel (7 point try) Con - Lyle Hendricks Pen. - Hendricks 2.

Shimlas: Tries - Sechaba Matsoele (7 point try), Marnus Boshoff (5 point try), Sibabalo Qoma (5 point try), Janco Cloete (5 point try), Marnus Boshoff (5 point try), Henk Pretorius (7 point try), Sibabalo Qoma (5 point try) Conv. - Justin Taylor 4

@MorganPiek OFM Sport