Image: Shelley Christians
FNB UWC beat FNB WSU at the Varsity Shield opener game on 14 February 2025. Image: Shelley Christians
Three wins out of three and the UWC Caracals have shown their quality in this year’s FNB Varsity Shield competition. After the disappointment of their relegation from the Varsity Cup competition at the end of last season, the Caracals are finding their feet in the second tier and hoping to bounce back to rugby’s premier competition for university students.
The Caracals’ three opening games of the competition were high-scoring affairs, beating Walter Sisulu University in their opening game at home on Valentine's Day 50 - 33, and then travelling to Durban on February 21, where they came out on top against Varsity College in a 36 - 40 nailbiter.
On Friday night the Caracals clobbered the University of Fort Hare 38-13.
Coach Paul Treu said in the context of the Varsity Shield competition, the game against Varsity College was a “big” game for the Caracals.
“Varsity College was just coming off a big win against the (NMMU) Madibaz and they are probably one of the contenders to win the competition. I have to give them credit because they’re coming from the lower competition and played themselves into the Varsity Shield. For them to come in in their first year is testament to the structures they have in place. Well done to them,” said Treu.
The game was frustrating for his team, with numerous missed opportunities, which fortunately did not cost them the win.
“We probably could have scored five or six tries more if we hadn’t put those opportunities (to waste). Two or three times, we were close to the goal line, and we lost the ball. Unfortunately, if you want to qualify for Varsity Cup again next year, and even if you want to stay in Varsity Cup and aspire to win it, you’ve got to be very clinical in your execution, and you’ve got to take those kinds of opportunities,” said Treu.
Coach Paul Treu says if his team wants to succeed in this year’s competition,they need to be more clinical in their execution. Image: Shelley Christians/UWC
Preparations for this campaign started, as they usually do, in mid-October 2024. They took a break in mid-December and started again in the first or second week of January with some practice games.
“This year’s pre-season was probably good because we played against Boland one day, and the following day, we played CUT (Central University of Technology) from Bloemfontein in Montague. The following week, we played a club team in Grabouw, and on the Monday (before the opening game), we played UCT.”
He said most of the Caracals hail from Cape Town, with a few players from Boland Landbou High School in Paarl, some from the West Coast, and some from other parts of the Boland region.
“The problem for us is that every year we’re almost in survival mode. We can’t recruit too many school-leaving players who are 18. Those 18-year-olds must compete against senior and seasoned Varsity Cup players. So even this year, if we qualify for Varsity Cup, we can’t go with too many 18 or 19-year-olds playing against 23- and 24-year-old players who are doing a post-grad and who have maybe played Western Province Juniors and for other provinces in their junior teams, maybe even Currie Cup,” said Treu.
The trick, he explained, issues for UWC to recruit “a bit higher”, going for players who have been in an academy: “They’re 19, they’re turning 20, or they play for a provincial Under-21 team,” said Treu of UWC’s recruitment strategy. The problem for the Caracals is that the team’s players are too often poached, with Treu adding that in three years his team has probably lost 40 players. Our quality players we are going to continuously lose to bigger universities or other provinces”.
Caracals captain Romauld Nsombamanya says his first experience with rugby in primary school was disastrous, but he picked up the game again in high school by chance. Image: Shelley Christians/UWC
Caracals captain Romauld Nsombamanya, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, shared that his love affair with rugby came by accident. He first picked up the oval ball in primary school, and by his own admission he “was bad at it”. “I was like, okay it's fine, I’m not going back to it,” he said with some laughter.
Growing up in Parow, he was into soccer and basketball, but he had a chance encounter with famed under-18 Craven Week coach Faizel Adam, who also happened to be a teacher at Florida High School in Ravensmead.
“He was trying to fill a team. He asked me, ‘Do you play rugby?’ I said, ‘Sir, I know nothing about rugby. I tried it once in primary school and said I would never try it again’,” said Nsombamanya of his encounter with the legendary coach who lost his battle with COVID-19 in 2020.
Nsombamanya’s success on the rugby field saw him being poached by Milnerton High School, where he completed his matric. Although his mother knew absolutely nothing about rugby, he made a bargain with her that as long as he progressed academically, he could continue to play.
His younger brother has since been bitten by the rugby bug and now also plays the game.
Nsombamanya described the first two games as tough, but his team is adamant that they will stick to their system: “Sticking to the way that we want to play and trying to dictate the game,” said Nsombamanya.
He said Treu has broken the shackles and allowed the team to play the free-flowing rugby that is part of the “Bellville Way” and part of UWC’s identity. Most of the teams have this idea of forwards, bashing, bashing. For us, it’s mostly about playing to our strengths. We know we don’t have the biggest forwards,” said Nsombamanya.
“We use our strengths to our benefit, hence the running rugby. One of our goals, during pre-season, was that we take teams into the dark side in terms of fitness mentally…we push opponents to the limit.”
FNB UWC beat FNB WSU at the Varsity Shield opener game on 14 February 2025. Image: Shelley ChristiansThe Caracals’ three opening games of the competition were high-scoring affairs, beating Walter Sisulu University in their opening game at home on Valentine's Day 50 - 33, and then travelling to Durban on February 21, where they came out on top against Varsity College in a 36 - 40 nailbiter.
On Friday night the Caracals clobbered the University of Fort Hare 38-13.
Coach Paul Treu said in the context of the Varsity Shield competition, the game against Varsity College was a “big” game for the Caracals.
“Varsity College was just coming off a big win against the (NMMU) Madibaz and they are probably one of the contenders to win the competition. I have to give them credit because they’re coming from the lower competition and played themselves into the Varsity Shield. For them to come in in their first year is testament to the structures they have in place. Well done to them,” said Treu.
The game was frustrating for his team, with numerous missed opportunities, which fortunately did not cost them the win.
“We probably could have scored five or six tries more if we hadn’t put those opportunities (to waste). Two or three times, we were close to the goal line, and we lost the ball. Unfortunately, if you want to qualify for Varsity Cup again next year, and even if you want to stay in Varsity Cup and aspire to win it, you’ve got to be very clinical in your execution, and you’ve got to take those kinds of opportunities,” said Treu.
Coach Paul Treu says if his team wants to succeed in this year’s competition,they need to be more clinical in their execution. Image: Shelley Christians/UWC“This year’s pre-season was probably good because we played against Boland one day, and the following day, we played CUT (Central University of Technology) from Bloemfontein in Montague. The following week, we played a club team in Grabouw, and on the Monday (before the opening game), we played UCT.”
He said most of the Caracals hail from Cape Town, with a few players from Boland Landbou High School in Paarl, some from the West Coast, and some from other parts of the Boland region.
“The problem for us is that every year we’re almost in survival mode. We can’t recruit too many school-leaving players who are 18. Those 18-year-olds must compete against senior and seasoned Varsity Cup players. So even this year, if we qualify for Varsity Cup, we can’t go with too many 18 or 19-year-olds playing against 23- and 24-year-old players who are doing a post-grad and who have maybe played Western Province Juniors and for other provinces in their junior teams, maybe even Currie Cup,” said Treu.
The trick, he explained, issues for UWC to recruit “a bit higher”, going for players who have been in an academy: “They’re 19, they’re turning 20, or they play for a provincial Under-21 team,” said Treu of UWC’s recruitment strategy. The problem for the Caracals is that the team’s players are too often poached, with Treu adding that in three years his team has probably lost 40 players. Our quality players we are going to continuously lose to bigger universities or other provinces”.
Caracals captain Romauld Nsombamanya says his first experience with rugby in primary school was disastrous, but he picked up the game again in high school by chance. Image: Shelley Christians/UWCGrowing up in Parow, he was into soccer and basketball, but he had a chance encounter with famed under-18 Craven Week coach Faizel Adam, who also happened to be a teacher at Florida High School in Ravensmead.
“He was trying to fill a team. He asked me, ‘Do you play rugby?’ I said, ‘Sir, I know nothing about rugby. I tried it once in primary school and said I would never try it again’,” said Nsombamanya of his encounter with the legendary coach who lost his battle with COVID-19 in 2020.
Nsombamanya’s success on the rugby field saw him being poached by Milnerton High School, where he completed his matric. Although his mother knew absolutely nothing about rugby, he made a bargain with her that as long as he progressed academically, he could continue to play.
His younger brother has since been bitten by the rugby bug and now also plays the game.
Nsombamanya described the first two games as tough, but his team is adamant that they will stick to their system: “Sticking to the way that we want to play and trying to dictate the game,” said Nsombamanya.
He said Treu has broken the shackles and allowed the team to play the free-flowing rugby that is part of the “Bellville Way” and part of UWC’s identity. Most of the teams have this idea of forwards, bashing, bashing. For us, it’s mostly about playing to our strengths. We know we don’t have the biggest forwards,” said Nsombamanya.
“We use our strengths to our benefit, hence the running rugby. One of our goals, during pre-season, was that we take teams into the dark side in terms of fitness mentally…we push opponents to the limit.”
