Salt in the wounds: The Ikey Tigers celebrate their thrilling - and rare - intervarsity win over Stellenbosch.

For the moment it would appear that the Ikey Tigers have the wood on the Maties, as the sporting saying goes. Not only did the UCT team usurp the Varsity Cup from their Stellenbosch University rivals, but now the Tigers have rubbed salt into the Maties' wounds with a thrilling 28-19 win in their annual intervarsity clash in Stellenbosch on 14 May.

Understandably the Tigers are overjoyed. These intervarsity wins are as rare as, well, intervarsity wins; it's only UCT's third in 30 years, according to the unofficial record-keepers, and the first since a 2004 triumph (that one's official).

But this one is especially satisfying. The Tigers had to claw their way back from a 9-19 half-time deficit, after wasting - as they've done so often over the years - their dominance of possession and territory. UCT now lies third on the Western Province Super League, behind Maties and Victorians (the other Stellenbosch outfit).

There's still some work to be done, however, if they want to qualify for the National Club Championships. All three university teams have played at least one game more (three or even four in some cases) than other contenders; in an attempt to clear students' diaries for the upcoming exams, the sides have crammed midweek games into their fixture lists as well.

So the likes of Durbanville-Bellville, Hamiltons and even the unpredictable SK Walmers, all sitting in the bottom half of the log, may well still catch up.