Preview: Grey College vs Paul Roos
Thu, 19 Aug 2010 15:05
Paul Roos's Tshotsho Mbovane (l) and Grey College's Johan Goosen (r) in provincial colours
This FNB Classic Clash is one of the biggest matches in South Africa - the annual clash between Paul Roos Gymnasium of Stellenbosch and Grey College of Bloemfontein, this time in Bloemfontein and an FNB Classic Clash. It is an exciting prospect as the team ranked top of the FNB Top 20 plays the team ranked third - two great sides.
Both teams have stars.
Grey will have five players in Saturday's side that played for SA Schools, one of them on the bench. Paul Roos will have three SA Schools players.
Grey College's SA Schools players playing on Saturday are prop Neethling Fouché, flyhalf Johan Goosen, centres Paul Jordaan and William Small-Smith and, on the bench, scrumhalf Kevin Luiters. Paul Roos's SA Schools players playing on Saturday are prop Steven Kitshoff, centre Tshotsho Mbovane and wing JP Lewis.
Both sides are without strong players. Grey are without their powerful eighthman Neill Jordaan, who suffered a severe injury early in the match against France, and also five Craven Week players in JJ van der Walt, Anrich Bitzi, a star hooker who was chosen for SA Schools, Armand Stoman and Leneve Damons. But then Grey had 17 players in the Free State 22, 11 of whom will start on Saturday, with two more on the bench.
Paul Roos will be without star fullback with great attacking ability, Craig Barry, and also their Western Province Craven Week players flyhalf Errol Jaggers and Braam Steyn who does not want to play lock.
That is a lengthy way of saying that both teams have players of quality, Grey more so than Paul Roos. They will know each other well, having joined forces for the SA Under-18 High Performance matches against France, a Namibian XV and England.
For both sides there is the motivation of the challenge itself and of playing their last matches for their schools. Grey have a bit more on their side - playing before their home crowd, enjoying the confidence from running Western Province ragged in the main match at this year's Craven Week and filled with a desire to right "wrongs".
After all, the last team to beat them in Bloemfontein was Paul Roos and moreover Paul Roos beat them in Stellenbosch last year. That Bloemfontein victory in 2006 took exceptional talent - François Hougaard, Coenie van Wyk and Stephan Dippenaar as the main men and then Paul Roos won only 16-11. Interestingly, neither Hougaard not Dippenaar went to Craven Week that year, which was incredible at the time and remains incredible.
For Paul Roos to win, their tight forwards are going to play well above themselves. They have the same front row that beat Grey last year but they are up against a front row of provincial players with Steven Kitshoff of SA Schools directly opposing Neethling Fouché of SA Schools. Paul Roos have a Craven Week lock in Andreas Dercksen; Grey have two in Cobus Nel and Gerhard Olivier.
But wily Frans van Niekerk of Paul Roos believes that the Stellenboschers are up for the challenge and that they are in with a fighting change if their tight five performs, they maintain discipline, tackle again and again, and take their chances. Four big ifs.
Grey must surely be confident with a backline of stars - five provincial players, three of whom are SA Schools players and a scrumhalf who is keeping an SA Schools player on the bench.
Flyhalf Johan Goosen and his two centres Paul Jordaan and William Small-Smith are players with exceptional talent and could cut the Paul Roos backs to shreds.
The teams:
Grey College: 15 Niel Marais, 14 Setho Tom, 13 William Small-Smith (captain)12 Paul Jordaan, 11 Inus Keyser, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Nicol Linde, 8 Henco Greyling, 7 Nicolaas Immelman, 6 JG Viljoen, 5 Gerhard Olivier, 4 Cobus Nel, 3 Neethling Fouché, 2 Armand Stoman, 1 Rudi Fuls.
Replacements: 16 Rinus Nel, 17 Frans
Burger, 18 Rudolph Botha, 19 Murray Bondesio, 20 Kevin Luiters, 21 Hanro Oosthuizen, 22 Dries Swanepoel.
Coaches: Ingo Machts, Roelf Meyer
Paul Roos: 15 Gideon Meiring, 14 JP Lewis, 13 Tshotsho Mbovane, 12 Stephan van der Merwe, 11 Kyle Lombard, 10 Dane Sherrat, 9 Bokkie Carstens, 8 Darryl Ndjadila, 7 Francois Smal, 6 JJ Jordaan, 5 Andreas Dercksen, 4 Devon Hulme, 3 Pieter Stemmet, 2 Renier Marais (captain), 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Thomas van Niekerk, 17 Migael Grobler, 18 Coetzer Cooke, 19 Christiaan Wium, 20 Hendri Venter, 21 Francois Munnik, 22 Dawie de Kooker.
Coaches: Stephan Jordaan, Dawie Snyman
* Dawie Snyman is an Old Grey, the son of Springbok Jackie Snyman and the nephew of Springbok Dawie Snyman. This Dawie is a coach and is one of the coaches of the Western Province Under-21 side, though he will be in Bloemfontein on Saturday, not in Durban where Western Province Under-21 play.
Date: Saturday, 21 August
Kick-off: 15.10
Venue: Grey Colllege's Main Field
Expected weather conditions: Clear with a high of 25°C, dropping to 4°C and hardly a breeze - a perfect rugby day on the Highveld.
Referee: Jaco Kotzé (Free State Referees' Society)
Contact Us | Terms and Conditions | Privacy Policy | Advertising
