Bishops show fight
Paarl Boys' High failed to score a try in beating Bishops on Saturday as the powerful Paarlites found the Rondeboschers resilient, winning 12-7.
In a pulsating match at the Piley Rees field in Rondebosch, visitors Paarl Boys' High, who are the top-ranked schoolboy side in the country, had to work extremely hard before beating a tenacious home team, Bishops. With this victory Paarl Boys' High maintained their unbeaten record.
As the final score-line suggests, there was very little to choose between the two sides. However, the visitors just about deserved their victory, as they had the major share of possession and territorial advantage. This was particularly evident in the line-outs where Paarl Boys' High’s two towering locks, Salmaan Moerat and especially Ruben de Villiers ruled the roost.
Bishops were competitive in most facets of play, and they did manage some turnovers in general play, through some solid work by pack. No.8 Francois Stassen caught the eye with his high work rate and he received solid support from his loose forward partner Jean Pienaar (flank). (Pienaar is the son of former World Cup winning captain Francois.) Added to this, the hosts maintained their run at all cost attitude, even under tremendous pressure. Inside centre Corné Smit made a welcome return from injury, to be the main playmaker in midfield. Brandon Salomo (scrum half) also distributed the ball well, sometimes under trying conditions. Added to this, quicksilver fullback, the slender Tristan Leyds once again showed his class in scoring the only try of the match. He bamboozled a number of would be defenders, from around 50 metres out, to dot down behind the posts.
For the visitors, whose defence is simply superb, De Villiers produced a man-of-the-match performance, adding to his line-out work in broken play with a number of bullocking runs. Moerat and loose-head prop Reece Bezuidenhout also performed well in general play and their lanky No.8 Khanya Ncusane made some telling runs on attack.
In spite of the wet ball and slippery conditions, both teams are to be commended for their positive attitude to the match, which was well handled by experienced former Test match record holder, Jonathan Kaplan.
Scorers:
For Bishops:
Try: Tristan Leyds
Con: Corné Smit.
For Paarl Boys High:
Pens: Jean-Luc Cilliers 4
Teams
Bishops: 15 Tristan Leyds, 14 Lubelo Scott, 13 Seb Hanekom, 12 Cornel Smit, 11 André Manuel, 10 James Macdonald, 9 Brandon Salomo 8 Francois Stassen 7 Jarryd Lurie (captain), 6 Jean Pienaar, 5 Luciano da Graca, 4 Connor Osborne, 3 JP Smith, 2 Keanan Alexander, 1 William Day
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 Reece Bezuidenhout, 2 MC de Jongh, 1 Wikus Groenewald.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (Western Province Referees' Society)
By Leon Kruger
