Dismay as Madibaz bow out after heavy semifinal loss against Wits

The under-performing Madibaz ended their season on a low note when they were crushed 68-10 by Wits in a one-sided Varsity Shield semifinal in Johannesburg on Friday.

Wits, who have already clinched promotion to the Varsity Cup by ending at the top of the Varsity Shield log, will face WSU in the final, while Madibaz will remain trapped in the lower tier of varsity rugby in 2027.

WSU secured their berth in the final when they produced a powerful second-half comeback to beat UWC 42-32 at Sisa Dukashe Stadium in East London on Friday.

A rampant Wits side outscored the Gqeberha team by 12 tries to two in a dazzling display of adventurous attacking rugby.

It was the second heavy defeat Wits inflicted on the Madibaz after they thrashed them 63-8 in a league clash in Gqeberha in March.

Because it was Easter Friday, the Wits Rugby Stadium wasn’t at full capacity, but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the Wits Blues.

Wits started like a house on fire and scored three cracking tries in the opening 20 minutes.

Lian Terblanche got the ball rolling in the second minute after a couple of phases inside Madibaz’s 22 metre line.

Soon afterwards, flyhalf Rekkie Gerber showed immense strength to shrug off several defenders and score before Liam Santos crossed over in the 17th minute.

Madibaz finally responded through Corne Cloete after the strategy break

However, that try was cancelled out by three scores by Lindani Dweba, hooker, Bonga Nxumalo and Santos.

Wits led 36-5 at the break.

The visitors struck first in the second stanza when prop AJ Flemming broke the line and ran 40 metres before offloading to Cloete who went in for his second try.

That sparked the hosts back to life and they responded with two back-to-back tries by Nxumalo, and electric winger, Dustyn Holmes.

It was a quiet period thereafter until Wits scored a whopping four tries in six minutes.

Replacement winger, Oluwole Oluwatimileyen dotted over twice while skipper, Latica Nela also bagged a late brace.

Scorers:

Wits 68: Tries: Liam Santos (2), Lian Terblanche, Rekkie Gerber, Lindani Dweba, Bonga Nxumalo (2), Dustyn Holmes, Oluwole Oluwatimileyen (2) Latica Nela (2)

Madibaz 10: Corne Cloete (2)

Player of the Match: Liam Santos (Wits). - Additional reporting Varsity Media