The FNB UFS Shimlas refused to buckle under immense pressure, clinging on for a pulsating 40-33 bonus-point victory over the FNB UCT Ikeys that keeps their FNB Varsity Cup semi-final dreams very much alive.

Shimla Park witnessed an absolute belter on Monday night – the kind of match that starts tentatively before morphing into pure Varsity Cup theatre, complete with seesawing momentum, defensive lapses and the sort of edge-of-your-seat intensity that defines this competition.

The hosts drew first blood through Vice Hofmeyer, who bundled over from a textbook driving maul. UCT responded in kind shortly after, showing they’d come to fight. Just before the interval, Jaco Bezuidenhout powered over from another maul for the Shimlas, whilst Alex Vermeulen added three points from the tee to give the home side a precarious 12-10 cushion at the break.

The second stanza exploded into life in the 48th minute when winger Kirwan du Preez finished a sensational point-of-origin try. Moments later, Erich Visser capitalised on a quick tap to cross the whitewash, suddenly stretching the Shimlas’ advantage to what appeared an unassailable 18 points.

But the defending champions weren’t about to roll over. In a breathtaking two-minute blitz, Sino Brawen and Jack Benade both touched down from point-of-origin moves that tore through the Shimlas’ defence like a hot knife through butter. The deficit had evaporated in the blink of an eye.

Four minutes later, the turnaround was complete. Replacement hooker Johan Lombard crashed over from a maul to edge UCT ahead for the first time, and suddenly, the Shimlas’ season was teetering on the brink.

Enter Ferdi Vergottini. The livewire muscled his way over in the dying stages to wrestle back the lead, before Bezuidenhout sealed the deal right on full-time with his second maul try, a fitting reward for the pack’s relentless graft.

Shimlas head coach André Tredoux praised his side’s execution but admitted they made life harder than necessary.

“It was an amazing game of rugby. Our plan to target them at the breakdown worked really well, but in the last 20 minutes we should have finished the game. Four soft minutes almost cost us everything,” Tredoux said.

The victory keeps the Shimlas firmly in contention as the race for the semi-finals heads into the final round of league fixtures. They’ll need to bring that same steel, and cut out those lapses, if they want to extend their campaign beyond next week.