Maties captain Ezekiel Ngobeni is determined to erase the pain of last year’s Varsity Cup final defeat to arch-rivals UCT.
Maties, the most successful team in the Varsity Cup history with five titles from 11 final appearances, begin their 2026 campaign away to Shimlas on Monday night and will be eager to reassert their dominance having last won the Varsity Cup in 2019.
Maties suffered a crushing 44-21 defeat to the Ikey Tigers in the 2025 final at the Danie Craven Stadium. They have prepared for the 2026 campaign with warm-up matches against the Junior Boks and Boland’s senior side, tests Ngobeni believes have sharpened the squad.
“Playing quality teams like the Junior Boks is always good for you,” he told Netwerk24. “You learn so much from it and it allows us as a team to see what works and what doesn’t.
“We also had a good outing against Boland in which I feel we did very well. You can see how the men are growing as a group. We gained a lot of confidence from that and are looking forward to the new season.”
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A product of Tygerberg High in Parow, Ngobeni represented the Junior Boks at the 2024 World Rugby U20 Championship.
Varsity Cup Round 1 fixtures
Monday, 16 February
UFS Shimlas vs Maties (4:45pm, SuperSport)
Tuks vs UCT Ikeys (7pm, SuperSport)
CUT Ixias vs NWU Eagles (7pm)
UJ vs Emeris (7pm)
Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images