With the 2026 Varsity Cup final taking place on Monday night, it will undoubtedly serve as another reminder of what a special competition it is, and just how much depth there is available in South African and Springbok rugby circles.
Last year, the tournament paved the way for talented UCT winger Ntokozo Makhaza to earn an unexpected call up to a Springbok alignment camp in Cape Town.
After making an impression throughout last year’s Varsity Cup, Makhaza scored 32 points in the Ikey Tigers’ 44-21 win against Maties in Stellenbosch to lift the trophy for a third time.
Is the flying wing still on the Springbok radar?
Makhaza signed for the Cheetahs after the Varsity Cup, he has been a bit of a “missing man” lately, primarily due to injury setbacks and the steep transition to the professional ranks.
Cheetahs boss Frans Steyn recently noted that Makhaza has been struggling with several niggles as he adjusts to the physicality of professional rugby.
“He has been struggling with a little bit of niggles here and there,” Steyn said about Makhaza. “But Prince (Nkabinde, former UJ wing) was the same. Neels Volschenk (former Shimlas loose forward) was the same when he just arrived and it just takes them a bit of time to adapt.
“But then look at Prince now and Neels, all the guys that we contracted over the last couple of years have really come through nicely.”
Big adjustment
The transition between Varsity rugby and the next level still represents a big jump, according to Steyn.
“It takes them a couple of months,” he explained. “It’s just physicality-wise, it’s another level up.
“You go from schoolboy to, say, Young Guns and then from Young Guns to the Cup and then from there it’s a little bump up. You need to adapt. It’s just a little bit harder than normal.”
Back in June last year Rassie Erasmus said he felt that Makhaza will ‘definitely’ play for the Springboks one day, but there will need to be a big focus for him to find his feet at a senior professional level first.
“It’s been a pleasure since the first day we phoned him,” Erasmus said after the second day of the Springboks’ on-field training camp last year.
“As a coaching team, we have been together since 2018, and we have tried to look at all the structures from the SA Cup, Currie Cup and so on, but we are never really sure. If we grab a player from the Japanese league, Top 14 or Premiership, you can sort of gauge where they are.
“With him being consistently the top scorer in the Varsity Cup’s history, being 23 years old, you sort of feel that he is one of the players who slipped through the net.
“And you will never know until you work with him and find out his personality, and then meet him on the field. We know that if we pick up a Currie Cup player, it will take a while for him to reach the Springbok level.”
