JONATHAN COOK

The finals of the University Sport South Africa hockey competition were nerve-jangling affairs that had spectators on the edge of their seats at the University of KwaZulu-Natal Pietermaritzburg campus’s Greenfields Turf in the KZN Capital last Friday.

In the men’s title match, University of Pretoria (Tuks) beat University of Johannesburg 4-1 in a penalty shootout after the score was deadlocked 1-1 in field play. Tuks went ahead in the 48th minute through a Matthew Guise-Brown penalty corner to which UJ replied with a field goal from captain Miguel da Graca in the dying minute of regulation time.

This high-class match was also a battle of wits and tactics between opposing coaches Craig Fulton (UP) and Mo Malebye (UJ) and was as close to a Men’s Interprovincial final as it gets.  To a greater or lesser degree, both sides could argue that had they taken their chances the final might have been over a lot sooner, but the longer it went the better the value it was for the fans.

In the end it was UP skipper Francois Pretorius who did the honours for his side at ceremony time. UJ - beaten finalists two years running - are long overdue to trade in silver for gold.

The top varsity players at Kaspersky Southern Gauteng must be wondering what the hockey gods have against them, considering that UJ players have also been runners-up in IPTs in recent years.

The women’s final saw an equally nail-biting showdown between defending champions the University of Stellenbosch (Maties) and University of North West (Pukke), which was won 3-2 in a penalty shootout after the scores were dead-level 1-1 when time was called.

Puk captain Loreen Irvine did the honours at presentation time but Maties leader Kathleen Taylor was clearly a happy captain when former SA team-mate Vida Ryan opened the scoring after 15. Pukke equalised through Taylor’s current Investec South Africa team-mate Celia Evans and the scores stayed that way until the epic shootout that would have made the late movie star John Wayne think it was high noon at the OK Chaparral during those spaghetti Westerns of old.

Congratulations to North West coach Sheldon Rostron and his team, and well done to Maties mentor Jenny King and her side for getting to the final yet again.