Madibaz want to lay down a marker at USSA

After some tough results this year, the Madibaz rugby team want to lay down a marker when they compete in the University Sport South Africa tournament in Johannesburg next week.

The event, to be hosted by Wits, will be held from July 2 to 6 and Madibaz are determined to prove their worth against the country’s top rugby varsities.

Coach Jarryd Buys said the team would have a number of players experiencing USSA for the first time and they were keen to show what they could do.

“This week is extremely important for us as a university. Put simply, we want to lay down a marker to show people what we can do.

“There are exciting prospects coming through and in the last few weeks most of our time has been spent building our identity as a team.

“On the field we have worked on refining a couple of things in terms of the smaller details, as well as putting big emphasis on our work ethic.”

The USSA week is always a tough tournament and to make it even more demanding this one begins with a match against the potent Free State University team.

“It will test us physically and mentally,” said Buys. “But we will look to assess each challenge day by day.

“The players are hungry for it and this certainly is a big tournament for us each year.”