Boishaai win Battle of Bloem
Grey College 19-21 Paarl Boys High
Paarl Boys sneaked a historic first win over Grey College in Bloemfontein on Saturday, thanks mainly to their superiority in the line-outs. Lock forwards Ruben de Villiers and Salmaan Moerat shut out Grey at almost every opportunity. Such was the pair’s dominance, the hosts largely gave up kicking for touch in favour of running the ball against a solid Paarl defence.
Grey came out of the traps at their usual 100 miles per hour pace and dominated play throughout the first half. They attacked from deep and set pieces, but the Paarl defence held up well to deny hem a try scoring opportunity. Dawid Snyman, however, was clinical in kicking two penalties at the other end. Paarl Boys then worked their way into Grey territory for the first time and, from a scrum, they attacked to the right. Centre Jan-Louis le Grange broke the first line of defence and tried to offload to his centre mate Manuel Rass. Grey got a hand in between and knocked back into the hands of waiting winger Tyreeq February, who went over to score in the corner. Fullback Jean-Luc Cilliers missed the conversion and Grey had a slender lead of 6-5 after 25 minutes. Wing Marnus Boshoff set up another Grey penalty after a good run through the centre. Sure-fire Snyman found the target for a third time to edge Grey ahead going into half-time. Boishaai attacked relentlessly after the break, putting the Bloemfontein side under heavy pressure on their own goal line. Despite two tap penalties, Grey kept them at bay and the boys from Paarl went for the safe option when yet another penalty was awarded. Cilliers kicked cleanly to narrow the gap before sending a 50-metre monster through the posts five minutes later, edging the visitors ahead for the first time. Grey looked in a spot of trouble but, after failing to maul their way over the line, they went wide only to be stopped short once again. From the ruck, replacement scrumhalf Rewan Kruger sold a dummy and went over for Grey’s first try. Snyman missed the conversion to leave the sides all square with ten minutes left on the clock. Paarl hit back instantly as captain Andreas van Wyk stole possession before moving the ball quickly down the left. Rass finished the move by scoring out wide and when Cilliers converted, Paarl Boys held a precious seven-point advantage. Late nerves almost cost the away side, despite De Villiers snaffling yet another line-out ball. Paarl carelessly spilled the ball out, allowing replacement hooker Matthew Wessels to pounce and score in the corner to bring Grey back to within just two points. The missed conversion gave Paarl the reprieve they needed, as they played out the last three minutes intelligently to celebrate a hard-fought victory at this bastion of schoolboy rugby.
Scorers: For Grey: Tries: Rewan Kruger, Matthew Wessels Pens: Dawid Snyman 3 For Paarl Boys’ High: Tries: Tyreeq February, Manuel Rass Conv: Jean-Luc Cilliers Pens: Jean-Luc Cilliers 3 Teams: Grey College: 15 Dian Gouws, 14 Marnus Boshoff, 13 Dawid Snyman, 12 PR Serfontein, 11 Jaco Wessels, 10 Janse van Vuuren, 9 Niël Durow, 8 Werner Roberts (captain), 7 Jurie Burger, 6 Johan Dippenaar, 5 Janco van Tonder, 4 George Rossouw, 3 Gideo Beukes, 2 Daniël Rust, 1 Stef Brits. Replacements: 16 Matthew Wessels, 17 IG Prinsloo, 18 Swanepoel, 19 David Theron, 20 Rewan Kruger, 21 Mario Vieira, 22 Francois Aggenbach Paarl Boys’ High: 15 Jean-Luc Cilliers, 14 Tyreeq February, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Jan-Louis la Grange, 11 Elester Becker, 10 Rayhaan Lombaard, 9 Bradley Thain, 8 Khanya Ncusane, 7 JC van Schalkwyk, 6 Andreas van Wyk (captain), 5 Salmaan Moerat, 4 Ruben de Villiers, 3 Wikus Groenewald, 2 MC de Jongh, 1 Reece Bezuidenhout. Replacements: 16 Daniel Jooste, 17 Adam Neethling, 18 Barnard, 19 Gert van der Merwe, 19 David Meihuizen, 20 Kristo Sadie, 21 Jandré Grobler, 22 Hugo Slabber. Referee: Pieter van Vuuren Assistant referees: Dewald Smit, Philip Kotze
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