Teams prepare for Varsity Cup

THE Eastern Cape's top varsity rugby players will be hoping the efforts of their pre-season training bear fruit when the highly popular national university competitions kick off from next week.

First in the firing line will be Fort Hare University, who compete in the Varsity Shield and will have a testing away encounter against University of KwaZulu-Natal on Monday in Durban.

NMMU will have another week to prepare because the Varsity Cup only gets under way on February 4. The PE side, though, will have a tough opener as they are up against former champions UCT in Cape Town.

While NMMU enjoyed one of their best seasons last year, the Ikeys struggled throughout and were beaten by the Madibaz at NMMU.