The tournament will get underway this afternoon the when Eagles take to the field against last year’s losing finalists, the University of Cape Town Ikeys.

Last year the tournament was played in a bio-bubble at the University of Pretoria, while in 2020 the tournament was cut short due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

The Eagles captain, André Pretorius, told OFM Sport that they are locked and loaded.

“We are very excited about playing the opening match of the Varsity Cup. Since I've been involved Varsity Cup coaching, I've been haven’t had the privilege, so this is really a great honour to host the opening match.

“Even though the crowd is going to be minimal, it's going to be great to play on the Fanie in front of our people.

“With the campaign and the season ahead, I'm excited to see some of these boys play. There are some specimens that came through that have would really hard, shown great character and they've really bought into the values of the team and the university.

“I'm really hoping and believe that those values and the way they go about their business and connect with each other will have an overflow effect onto the field.”

Kick-off at the Fanie du Toit Stadium is at 17:00. At 19:00, the Ixias tackle UJ in Bloemfontein, while UWC face the Shimlas in Bellville.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport