Maties Young Guns team at practice. PHOTO: Isaac Ndlovu
With two back-to-back Junior Varsity Cup U20 championship wins, winning the Varsity Cup again this year would make it a hat-trick for Stellenbosch University (SU) rugby U20 team.
Last season the SU rugby U20 team, Maties Young Guns, went on an unbeaten streak, securing both the Varsity Cup U20 and Western Province rugby club championship.
“We try not to think about winning cups but rather strive to take it game for game, improving in each match,” said Jean-Jacques Kotze, captain of Maties Young Guns.
Hard work is the secret behind the Young Guns success, believes Kabamba Floors, head coach of the U20 rugby team.
Conditioning coach,Cameron Donkin and head coach, Kabamba Floors addressing team during training. PHOTO: Isaac Ndlovu
“There is a lot of effort on and off the field. Our preparations for the 2020 season already started October 2019. Potential young players that want to play for us need to understand that there is a lot of hard work which happens behind the scenes,” said Floors.
The 2020 season will be Floors’ first Varsity Cup U20 since taking over as head coach in July 2019.
Conditioning coach, Cameron Donkin, commented on the recent direction the Maties Rugby’s board of directors have taken towards investing into their youth. “I’m happy with the team’s fitness, we’ve recently partnered up with the first teams conditioning program and now follow a similar template to them in terms of preseason conditioning,” said Donkin.
Maties Young Guns practicing their game tactics at training. PHOTO: Isaac Ndlovu
The Maties Young Guns structure involves a two-year program that starts after the U20 Varsity Cup season, which takes place between April and October in the province rugby league, and then pre-season from October onwards. Players coming from high school start joining the league early December, after matric exams.
Maties Young Guns have played and won both their matches so far this season. Results were as follows:
Maties Young Guns (YG) vs Central University of Technology (CUT) (62-5)
Maties YG vs University of Western Cape (72-21)