SPOTLIGHT: Rugby365 shines a light on reigning champions Shimlas, the long Western Cape trophy drought, and Tuks’ return to the big time ahead of the 2025 Varsity Cup tournament.

Varsity rugby returns this month, with Varsity College tackling the Madibaz in the opening game of the Shield tournament on Valentine’s Day, and the UCT Ikeys hosting the NWU Eagles on the Green Mile on Monday, February 17.

Rugby365com looks at the biggest storylines and talking points, as the excitement around these tournaments starts to build.

CAN THE SHIMLAS GO BACK TO BACK?

Shortly after the Shimlas edged UCT 45-42 to win the 2025 decider in Bloemfontein, coach André Tredoux told Rugby365 about the significance of the triumph.

The result marked Shimlas’ second Varsity Cup title win, and their first in nine years.

Tredoux hoped that the victory would signal the beginning of a more prosperous era for the Shimlas, as well as rugby in the Free State region.

“We don’t want to wait nine more years for our next trophy,” he said.

“There will be a period of rebuilding, with 12 of our players graduating, but our Young Guns have done well, losing narrowly to the Eagles in the final of that [2024] tournament, and we’ll have a few of those players coming through soon.”

Fast forward to the present, where Tredoux has re-signed with the Shimlas, and will have the task of guiding the Free State outfit to a title defence.

The Shimlas start their 2025 campaign with a particularly tough fixture against Maties at the Danie Craven Stadium on 17 February.

THE WESTERN CAPE TITLE DROUGHT

Maties and UCT have combined for seven of the 16 titles since the inaugural Varsity Cup tournament in 2008.

It’s been five long years, however, since either side from the Western Cape lifted the trophy.

Maties won three consecutive titles between 2008 and 2010, and recorded back-to-back successes in 2018 and 2019.

Since then, the Stellenbosch outfit has watched on as Tuks (who equalled Maties’ record of five Varsity Cup titles in 2022), NWU Eagles and Shimlas have taken top honours.

UCT haven’t won the tournament since 2014. Despite qualifying for the past two finals, they’ve finished on the wrong side of the result on each occasion – losing by two points in 2023, and three in 2024.

Former Stormers boss Robbie Fleck has taken the UCT reins ahead of the 2025 campaign, with long-time coach Tom Dawson-Squibb opting to move on.

The story continues below…

STAYING ALIVE

The promotion-relegation aspect of this tournament is always a fascinating talking point.

At the end of the 2024 league phase, the University of the Western Cape was relegated to the Shield, while Tuks were promoted to the Cup.

The Pretoria-based side has ridden the proverbial rollercoaster over the past four years. After winning back-to-back titles in the Cup tournament, they finished last in the 2023 instalment, and were relegated to the Shield as a result.

In early 2024, Tuks coach Dewey Swartbooi spoke about the challenges of bouncing back in the year after relegation.

Nevertheless, Tuks won all of their league matches with a try-scoring bonus point and went on to clinch the Shield title via a 95-21 massacre of Varsity College in the final.

It remains to be seen whether they will carry that form through to the Cup in 2025.

As Swartbooi has said, it may take some time to bring the players up to speed with the intensity of the elite tournament, and their first priority in 2025 is to avoid relegation.

Shimlas, UCT, Maties and NWU Eagles have been perennial contenders for the Cup title in recent years, and will expect to feature in the play-offs in 2025.

UJ, Wits, CUT and Tuks need to gain some early momentum in order to give themselves a chance of finishing in the final four. More likely than not, these teams will face a fight to avoid the drop down to the Shield.

CUT finished seventh following the league stage of the 2024 Cup tournament, and were forced to play a promotion-relegation match against the Madibaz – who finished second in the Shield – as a result.

CUT went on to win that play-off 64-16, and retain their Cup status.

In the other big promotion-relegation fixture stage last year, Sol Plaatjie University beat Tshwane University of Technology 29-27 to qualify for the Varsity Shield tournament for the first time.

SPU will play their inaugural Shield match against the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Kimberley on 14 February.

SPRINGBOARD TO GREATNESS

As many as 60 Varsity Cup players have gone on to represent the Springboks.

In 2024, Johan Grobbelaar (Tuks), André-Hugo Venter (Maties), Morné van den Berg (Wits), Jordan Hendrikse (Maties), Edwill van der Merwe (Maties) and Ben-Jason Dixon (Maties) made their respective debuts for the South African national side.

Duhan van der Merwe is currently Scotland’s leading try-scorer, with 30 touchdowns.

The powerful South Africa-born winger set another record in 2016, when he scored six tries in a single Varsity Cup game against UCT.