It’s a thrilling season wrap!

As we come to the end of rugby season 2024, we have much to be proud of. Varsity Cup this year saw our team improve each week and finish second on the log to secure a home semifinal. The loss in that match hurt but we take the lessons and will be back stronger next…

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KABAMBA FLOORS – POSITIVE, DETERMINED AND COMMITTED

Rugby isn’t a job or even a career for Maties Rugby Head Coach, Kabamba Floors – it is a calling. Floors was introduced to the sport at the age of nine on a dusty field while enrolled at an Ostrich farm school in Oudtshoorn. It was baptism by fire and an early lesson in toughening…

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Maties Rugby sign deal with new headline sponsor Mitchum

Maties Rugby signed a headline sponsorship agreement with Mitchum which looks to enhance the two brands with shared values including excellence, pushing boundaries and innovation. This pairing is set to inspire and enable our student-athletes to improve performance on and off the field. Head of Rugby, Drikus Hancke said: “We are very thankful and excited…

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LEAGUE IS GROWING 75 YEARS ON

Campus League Rugby is part of Stellenbosch University’s DNA … the yearly on-field rivalry between residences that had its tentative beginnings in 1949. Doc Craven took the idea from St Andrew’s in Grahamstown (now Mkhanda) where he once taught and, over the decades, moulded it into a tradition that continues with passionate intensity 75 years…

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Maties Rugby win USSA, while Hockey and Netball secure top 3 spots

Maties Sport fared well at the recent University Sport of South Africa (USSA) Championships, claiming medals in multiple sporting codes. The Maroon Machine took home gold in men’s 15s rugby with notable silver medals for the Maties men’s hockey side and Maties 2 netball team while adding a number of additional silver and bronze medals…

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Edwill, Ben-Jason’s Springbok dreams become reality

Legendary Maties rugby player Edwill van der Merwe will make his Springbok debut this coming weekend against Wales at Twickenham. Edwill played 37 Varsity Cup matches for Maties and still holds the record for the most tries—23—in this series. He was a key player in the teams that won the trophy in 2018 and 2019.…

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SU to host South Africa’s first FISU rugby sevens championship in 2026

For the first time since its inception, South Africa will be the host nation for the The International University Sports Federation’s (FISU) 2026 Rugby Sevens Championship and Stellenbosch University (SU) will have the honour of becoming only the second African University to host this biannual international university rugby showpiece. The University of Namibia hosted the…

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Craig Barry’s Varsity Cup journey from player to coach

A career-ending debilitating knee injury hasn’t stopped assistant FNB Maties coach Craig Barry, from pursuing his dream of winning the FNB Varsity Cup. Even though Barry represented the Maroon Machine with distinction in three Varsity Cup finals, he was unlucky not to be on the winning side in a final. In 2021 the 31-year-old outside back picked up…

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