Can CUT bury their KZN bogey?
FNB CUT, the defending FNB Varsity Shield champions, will travel to KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday with some trepidation - despite having started their title defence with a deserved win over Wits earlier this week.
CUT were full value for their 25-12 win over FNB Wits on Monday, but their opponents on Thursday, FNB UKZN, beat them twice in last season's Varsity Shield.
First there was that 39-38 thriller in Bloemfontein, then came another close loss - 24-22 - only this time in Pietermaritzburg; the venue for this second-round Shield encounter.
The Men from Maritzburg sat on Monday's action and will be hungry - and no doubt wiser - after watching Round One on television, but, on the flipside, CUT will be battle-hardended after recovering from a 0-12 deficit at one point in the match.
UKZN will be captained by No.8 Leon Stevens, with CUT's regular skipper, Inus Kritzinger, shifting back to his more favoured position of scrumhalf - having run out in the No.10 jersey against Wits on Monday.
The teams:
FNB UKZN: 15 Carl Meyer, 14 Richard Hayworth, 13 Gareth Melle, 12 Kurt Mavrodaris, 11 Willem Rheeder, 10 Hanno Botha, 9 Zander Engelbrecht, 8 Leon Stevens (captain), 7 Lwazi Ngcungama, 6 André Greyvenstein, 5 Tinashe Bopoto, 4 Gerrit Fourie, 3 Sizwe Khubeka, 2 Mikyle Webster, 1 Luciando Santos.
Replacements: 16 Blake Lourens, 17 Marc Colia, 18 Wayne le Roux, 19 Zwela Zondi, 20 JP Rudman, 21 Jaco Potgieter, 22 Levi Swartz, 23 Monaheng Sililo.
FNB CUT: 15 Charles Hitchcock, 14 Alec Mhlanga, 13 Gerrit Smith, 12 Maphelo Mpomdo, 11 Nico Steenkamp, 10 Jannie Myburgh, 9 Inus Kritzinger (captain), 8 Ruan Lombard, 7 Frans Sisita, 6 Francois Harvey, 5 Gavin Annandale, 4 Carl Wegner, 3 Petri Coetzee, 2 Baksteen van Heerden, 1 Rudi Britz.
Replacements: 16 Deon Gouws, 17 Rudie Fuls, 18 Grant Shai, 19 Shaun McGeer, 20 Stephen Griesel, 21 Leon Pretorius, 22 Jacques Bussack, 23 Danie van der Merwe.
Date: Thursday, February 2
Venue: Peter Booysen Sports Park
Kick-off: 7pm
Referee: Archie Sehlako
Assistant referees: Local (TBC), Blake Beattie