It hasn’t been the best of starts for John Mitchell’s charges the FNB UKZN Impi in this year’s Varsity Shield competition, narrowly losing both their opening games. The KZN students will be tearing their hair out as they could quite easily have won their all important openers.

All is not lost however as the KZN students bounced back in their most recent outing, beating the University of the Western Cape, last Monday, away from home for the first time returning with a four try bonus point for good measure with a 33-24 win.

With return games to be played they are sure to improve as the competition continues.

There have been a lot of positives for the team however as their narrow losses have shown that they are still a very competitive unit. The Impi went down 26-25 to CUT Ixias in their first game with their Bloemfontein hosts lucky to have won. It was an enthralling match that showed the exceptional talents of Zimbabwean flyer Shayne Makombe who crossed for two well-executed tries.

In their second match, played at Howard College in Durban, they once again lost by the narrowest of margins, going down 17-12 to the visiting Blues from the University of Fort Hare in yet another disappointing result after leading 12-10, before a last-gasp try by their visitors sealed the fate of the game at the death.

Good news for club supporters the Rugga Bus has been launched with drinks specials at Cottonfoelds and Rovers. For R50 the bus will collect supporters at Cottonfields and transport them to the game and return from Rovers after the game - a safe way to enjoy the Sharks at home. Contact Simon on for more information.

Jos Robson