After a bag of mixed emotions on the first weekend of the Varsity Hockey series the Steinhoff Maties men’s hockey team are raring to go when they play on home soil this coming weekend.
Steinhoff Maties won, draw and lost their first three games of the exciting series last weekend at Wits. Coach Neville Rothman and his team beat Wits 5-1, followed it up with a tense draw against Tuks (2-2) and then lost against Kovsies (1-3).
Jordan Turnbull was the Player of the Match against Wits and Keenan Horne got the honours against Tuks.
One of the Steinhoff Maties senior players Dylan Swanepoel believes this series might be one of the biggest moments in SA Hockey. “It’s an exciting time for hockey in South Africa and a tournament like this just adds to growth of the game,” said Swanepoel.
“I think that the change in rules will bring about major changes in the game. As teams will have to adapt the way they play. The rules are new for everyone so it will be interesting to see what tactics teams come up with. As a Maties team we want to go all the way and win the tournament. We’ve had a really good pre-season and started off the local league really well.”
This weekend promises to dish up some super excited hockey. Games are played in Stellenbosch and Bloemfontein. Teams playing in Stellenbosch are Steinhoff Maties, NMMU, Ikeys and UJ. Matches are on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
UJ, the USSA Champion, is currently on top of the log followed by Maties, Tuks and Kovsies.
Weekend’s schedule: SATURDAY – 14:00: Steinhoff Maties vs Ikeys; 15:45: UJ vs NMMU. SUNDAY – 17:00: Steinhoff Maties vs NMMU; 18:45: UJ vs Ikeys. MONDAY – 17:00: Ikeys vs NMMU; 18:45: Steinhoff Maties vs UJ