The winter air across South Africa’s premier sporting grounds was thick with tension this past week as the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Orange Army marched into the 2026 University Sports South Africa (USSA) tournaments. Running from 27 June to 3 July, UJ’s student-athletes left blood, sweat, and profound character across courts and fields nationwide. From the relentless precision of basketball to the difficult court battles of squash, it was a week defined by grand triumphs, narrow heartbreaks, and unwavering grit.
The UJ Senior Men’s and Women’s Netball Teams were crowned back-to-back champions on Friday, 3 July 2026 in Bloemfontein. Their victory comes after the Senior Women’s Basketball 3×3 Team opened the campaign with a gold medal win earlier.
Basketball: Golden glory and a final-second thriller in Johannesburg
Playing not far from home in Johannesburg (Wits University), UJ’s 3×3 basketball teams turned the tournament into a masterclass of dominance. Both the Men’s and Women’s outfits blew through the opposition with terrifying momentum.
The Women’s 3×3 team (UJ Galaxy) proved that composure wins championships. Their path to the knockout stages was a clinic – smashing through Rhodes University (19-03) and TUT (13-04) before putting on a quarterfinal spectacle against NWU Vaal (20-04). After cruising past VUT 15-09 in the semis, the stage was set for an epic, high-stakes final against arch-rivals UP-Tuks.
In a tough but entertaining point-for-point chess match, the UJ Galaxy held their nerve, securing a breathtaking 15-14 victory to claim the ultimate USSA crown.
The Men’s team hummed like a perfectly tuned engine for most of the tournament. They opened their account by utterly dismantling WSU in a 21-01 blowout, following it up with clear wins over VUT (21-12) and NWU Vaal (18-10). Their quarterfinal against Rhodes (21-06) and semifinal rematch against NWU Vaal (21-08) were masterclasses in fast-paced 3×3 hoops.
The grand finale against UP-Tuks was an instant classic, though it ended in heartbreak. UJ traded blows in a physical, exhausting battle, ultimately falling just short by a hair, 21-19, to finish with a proud silver medal.
Netball: The powerhouses take over Bloemfontein
Over in Bloemfontein, UJ Netball brought an absolute army of depth, fielding three competitive squads that struck fear into their opponents.
UJ Females 1: The first team put on a clinical display. They brushed aside host-team UFS Ladies (41-33), handily defeated Wits (53-38), and ground out an intense win against UP-Tuks (43-39). After bouncing back from a solitary 44-43 group-stage slip against NWU, they executed sweet revenge in the semifinals, dismantling the NWU Eagles Ladies 55-26 to book their spot in the grand finale against UP-Tuks. The UP-Tuks Ladies Team succumbed 50-39 to the UJ Senior Women’s Team in the final match.
UJ Males: A force of pure athleticism, the Men’s netball team blew past everyone in their path. Massive victories over CPUT (67-34), UP-Tuks (53-29), and UFS (65-34) set the tone. They punched their ticket to the finals with a resounding 45-31 semifinal win over Tuks, setting up the eventual 54-50 gold-medal victory against TUT.
UJ Females 2: Displaying spectacular hustle, the second team made a stellar run all the way to the finals. Despite dropping their final group match to Stadio (34-32), they fought back to meet them again in the championship match, finishing as proud runners-up after a hard-fought 44-36 silver medal performance.
Squash: Individual grit in Stellenbosch
Against the picturesque backdrop of Stellenbosch, UJ’s squash stars engaged in a week of high-intensity, physical racket work. While the overall team events proved tough against powerhouse units like NWU and UP, the individual campaigns yielded stellar placements.
Top UJ individual finishers:
Emma Shannon (Women’s B): 3rd Place overall (clenched with a beautiful 3-1 win over NMU’s Tanith Moreton).
Diodivine Mkhize (Men’s A): 4th Place overall (fighting through multiple 3-2 marathons and capping it with a 3-1 victory over UP’s Connor Earl).
Georgia Shannon (Women’s B): 4th Place overall.
Luke Jacoby (Men’s A): 6th Place overall.
Every individual match was heavily contested, with Diodivine Mkhize and Junior Mathekga repeatedly pushing their bodies through five-game thrillers that personified the UJ spirit.
Rugby and Hockey: Testing the orange resolve
Not every field yielded gold, but every field witnessed UJ’s refusal to back down.
In Gqeberha, the USSA Rugby Championships tested the Orange Army with agonizingly tight scorelines. The Men’s team dropped a razor-thin quarterfinal to Stellenbosch (22-17) and an even closer semifinal heartbreaker to UWC (20-19). The Women’s team matched that fighting energy, narrowly falling 19-15 to UFH in their quarterfinal before placing their focus on the ranking playoffs.
Meanwhile, at the USSA Hockey Championships, the Men’s hockey team showed explosive flashes of brilliance, highlighted by a dominant 7-1 roaring victory over UCT and a tough 4-2 win against UFS. The UJ Senior Men’s Hockey Team finished in 5th place after losing 2-1 to NWU Men. The Women’s hockey team showed immaculate defensive grit in their final classification match, grinding out a 1-0 victory to finish 7th place overall in the competition.
The 2026 USSA week proved once again that the Orange Army is an institutional heavyweight in South African university sport. Whether standing on the top tier of the podium with a gold medal around their necks or picking themselves up after a one-point loss, the student-athletes represented the values of their university with pride, passion, and elite sportsmanship.
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