Frustrating moments for the home side who led the Pretoria side 3-0 for nearly 35 minutes, but six converted tries, three before and after the halftime siren, was always going to be a massive mountain to conquer.

A brace from hooker Johan Grobbelaar, a five-point try via nippy scrumhalf Theo Maree and three perfect attempts at goal courtesy of the boot of Tinus de Beer helped Tuks take an impressive 3-21 lead as the players headed into the paddocks for the halftime break.

It was, however, the home side who applied the early pressure and made life very difficult for the 2017 Varsity Cup champions. UWC drew first blood after they were awarded a penalty, Keagan Fortune slotting his attempt with ease, 3-0.

This penalty somehow inspired the Bushies leading to a series of confident attacks from the Bellville side. Tuks were called on to make most of the tackles for most of the opening half, albeit not many missed tackles were seen.

The Fortune penalty separated the two sides as the first strategy break approached. The home side was clinical on defence. The midfield combination of Lubelo Scott and Lyle Hendricks found a good rhythm and put a few massive hits much to the delight of the near-capacity UWC Sports Stadium.

The 2017 Varsity Cup champions finally got their first points of the match in the 35th minute when slippery scrumhalf Maree snipped around a five-metre scrum. Maree caught the UWC defense off-guard for his side's first try. Tinus de Beer made no mistake when adding the extras, 3-7.

Hooker Johan Grobbelaar collected the ball at the back of a rolling maul as Tuks outmuscled UWC for their second try of the match. De Beer added the extras. Grobbelaar completed his brace deep into first-half injury time, the Tuks pivot making it three from three attempts to hand the visitors a substantial 3-21 lead at halftime.

It was as if Tuks took a page out of their own book. The visiting side started matters exactly how they left it in the first half. The visitors came out firing on all cylinders, again scoring three converted tries within 10 minutes. Stephan Smit got the first try almost immediately after the half time break. Captain Marius Verwey also getting on the scoresheet. De Beer converted all three scores handing Tuks a commanding 3-42 lead.

Sensational UWC speedster, Tristan Leyds, got the home side's first try. A seven-point try that caused the crowd to erupt as Leyds dove across the whitewash, Fortune converted, 12-42. 

Alas, the writing was on the wall for the home side. To come back from six converted tries on either side of the half time break, is a big ask even for the highly motivated and spirited UWC side.

A further four tries, all converted by the educated boot of De Beer, handed the visitors an emphatic 12-70 victory.

Scorers

UWC: Try - Tristan Leyds (7-point try) Conv. - Keagan Fortune Pen. -  Keagan Fortune.

Tuks: Tries -  Theo Maree, Johan Grobbelaar, Johan Grobbelaar, Stephan Smit, Marius Verwey, Ruan Nortje, Ciaran Dayara, Irvin Ali, Hanru Sirgel, Jacobus Eloff Conv. - Tinus de Beer (10).

Varsity Cup