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UP-Tuks produced a professional performance, founded on a stoic defence and clinical attacking to topple Varsity Cup table-toppers UFS-Shimlas 29-21 at Shimla Park.
The second semi-final was significantly more of a contest than the first, where Maties obliterated UCT Ikeys by 58-19.
The four-time champions, Tuks, were looking to upset pace horse Shimlas in Bloemfontein and they played with the assurance of a side with a complete game, looking to defend their 2021 title.
Not long into the second half, less than four minutes, No 12 Lincoln Daniels scored a superb first-phase try, making a De Wet Barry-esque angled midfield run to scythe through the Shimlas defence and score.
It was a try that typified the match, where the teams had to make their own plays to find breaks, which they did to entertaining effect.
The home side had gone into the break with a slender 21-19 lead after Tuks opened the scoring through talismanic fullback Stefan Coetzee's try.
Shimlas needed a Janco van Heyningen score from a midfield break to bring themselves into the contest and threatened to pull away when forwards Thabang Mahlasi and Ruwald van der Merwe scored their second and third try.
However, Coetzee kept Tuks in the hunt with his three penalties and a Bernard van der Linde try.
As the game went to the business end, though, Shimlas hooker Carl Wijburg's put the hosts and league leaders on the back foot as Tuks seized the game's momentum.
But Shimlas held on and saw off the 10 minutes. They then looked to gain the upper hand when Tuks forward Divan Venter was also sin-binned.
However, Shimlas lacked the cohesion that made them front-runners during the round-robin stage of the competition, as their sloppy passes went to ground instead of to hand.
The Tuks defence was also a marvel to behold as they kept the hosts scoreless in the second half.
Scorers
Shimlas - (21) 21
Tries: Janco van Heyningen, Thabang Mahlasi, Ruwald van der Merwe
Conversions: Litha Nkula (2)
UP-Tuks - (19) 29
Tries: Stefan Coetzee, Bernard van der Linde, Lincoln Daniels
Conversion: Stefan Coetzee
Penalties: Stefan Coetzee (4)
