2016 Varsity Shield starts as it ended in 2015 – with a bang!
There will be no love lost on 1 February 2016, as the FNB Varsity Shield presented by Steinhoff International begins just as it ended in 2015 – with a mammoth encounter between two of the competition’s best.
A home crowd was silenced. The home stadium was hushed as the immortal Wits were slayed by a motivated UKZN Impi side, in front of their home fans. Innocent Radebe was untouchable on the night. Wits would have felt the pain long after that small but substantial stain in their otherwise glimmering season.
The script couldn’t be better written if Quentin Tarantino got his hands on it. In the opener on 1 February 2016, Wits will again face UKZN Impi, revenge on the table, and perhaps even sweeter – the opportunity to do it in front of UKZN’s home support in Pietermaritzburg.
UKZN Impi will be without their star flyhalf of 2015, Radebe, this season. However, they have secured the sought-after services of schoolboy prodigy Curwin Bosch.
In the second match of the Varsity Shield’s opening round, UWC travel to the Davidson Rugby Stadium in Alice to take on the UFH Blues in what will be Springbok legend Chester Williams’ first match at the helm for UWC. This will also be the first match for UFH Blues’ head coach Lumumba Currie.
In 2015, UWC got the best of the UFH Blues in both fixtures, but with two new coaches at the helm and new-look squads, this fixture will be slightly more unpredictable than previous encounters.
Varsity Shield’s opening round is no curtain raiser – it’s the main attraction.
UKZN Impi host Wits at Peter Booysen Park on 1 February 2016.
The match kicks off at 16:45.
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