UJ Rugby 7s Men’s and Women’s Teams Shine as USSA Bowl and Plate Winners
The Senior Men’s and Women’s Rugby 7s Teams of the University of Johannesburg (UJ) walked away as Bowl and Plate winners of the 2023 University Sport South Africa (USSA) Rugby 7s Championship on 24 September 2023 at Sol Plaatjie University in Kimberly, Northern Cape. The two titles are presented to teams which finished as winners of the bottom half section of the total teams competing in the USSA tournament.
The USSA tournament is divided into two categories: sixteen (16) teams for the men’s and eight (8) teams for the women’s sections. This means that the UJ men’s team finished in 9th position of the USSA Championship, but won the bottom section of the tournament. The UJ ladies 7s rugby team finished in position 5 of the tournament as winners of the bottom four teams.
“We didn’t do well in our matches on the opening day of the competition. It was close, we could have done better. On Day 2, we started well by winning the first match. We had to stick to the structure, come together and believe in ourselves,” said UJ player Rowan Malgas.
The UJ ladies played three games on the opening day (Saturday 23rd), winning 27-0 against Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 26-7 against the University of Limpopo, and 54-0 against the University of Zululand.
The UJ men’s team won one of their three games on Day 1 of the USSA 7s rugby championship. They beat Varsity College 24-17 and lost 7-10 against the University of the Western Cape and 21-24 against the University of Free State.
In 2022, the UJ ladies team salvaged a bronze medal while the men’s team could not bring any silverware home.
The two UJ teams cruised through the quarter- and semifinals to make the finals of the bottom half teams. In the finals, the UJ men’s team won 19-14 against Walter Sisulu University while the ladies emerged triumphant (26-14) against UWC.