Libertas broke Dagbreek's winning streak in the Steinhoff First-years tournament when they beat the Bloutrein 20-0 in yesterday's final.
Dagbreek had won the competition an unprecedented four times in a row, while Libertas were looking to make amends for their nail-biting loss in the 2015 final. They had a big lead on the day but the Bloutrein won it with a last minute try and conversion by scrumhalf Calvin Nell.
Both teams had a big group of supporters in attendance and it was pleasing to see that koshuisrugby remains one of the hallmarks of Matieland.
First blood went to Libertas as flyhalf Marco Cameron kicked a penalty before some excellent phase play saw a Tassie player go over in the corner. The conversion was wide but Libertas were leading 8-0, which remained the score until the break.
After half-time, Libertas fullback Stefan Kellerman broke away and offloaded to number six Lieben Schoonwinkel. The flanker dived over underneath the posts and the conversion by Cameron made it 15-0.
Despite their best efforts Dagbreek could not break the Libertas defence and it was Libertas who had the last say. After a break by centre Edrich Venter the ball went wide and hooker Reenen du Plessis dove over in the corner, making it 20-0. The conversion was missed but the jubilant Libertas supporters were in a forgiving mood, as their team reclaimed the trophy they won in 2006, 2008 and 2009.
Standout players for Libertas were Cameron, Venter and the man of the match, big tighthead Reinardt Wessels.
In the earlier Plate final, Helderberg beat Simonsberg 31-21.
The match see-sawed with Helderberg opening up a 12-0 lead before Simonsberg made it 14-12 at the interval. Both teams scored another try to make it 21-19 to the men from the Withuis, before Helderberg scored twice in succession.
The two Helderberg centres, Jacobus van Staden and Pieter Prinsloo, combined well and they proved to be the difference as their team won the Plate courtesy of the 31-21 result.
