Boland Landbou too Slick for SACS

After a successful tour to Zimbabwe, the South African College High School (SACS), travelled up the N1 to Wellington with renewed hope after a disappointing second term.

The farmers from Boland Landbou were in no mood to let the visitors settle though and came out the blocks firing. SACS were forced to defend a long passage of phase play from the kick-off.

SACS managed to do so successfully and on their first foray into enemy territory were awarded a penalty. Wing Matthew Hayes was unable to convert. Two minutes later SACS took the lead after a well-worked try saw fullback Ross Letcher go over in the corner.

Hayes nailed the conversion and SACS were ahead after ten minutes.

Unfortunately for SACS, it wasn’t until the last ten minutes of the match until they again troubled the scorers. A mixture of power and a skill saw the hosts put SACS to the sword for the middle fifty minutes of the match.

Their first try was all power as they tapped a penalty, the forwards latched onto lock Schalk Bezuidenhout and drove him over for the first of his two tries on the day.

Boland Landbou’s other five tries came from their very slick backs. This is definitely one of Boland’s best teams in the last five years. You can’t coach pace and skill and this year they have it in abundance. Inside centre Erik Lambrecht and SA Schools fullback Darren Hendricks were the main orchestrators.

They scored a try each and set up two tries for wing HD van der Merwe and one for scrumhalf Gavin Mills.

SACS eventually managed to get their structure going again in the final ten minutes and ran in three tries. SACS moved the ball well and showed what they are capable of. They just need to find a way to do it for seventy minutes.

SACS have seven days to find a way. A wounded Paarl Boishaai comes to Newlands next week. One week before Interschools they are going to want to lay down a marker. SACS will be looking to upset the applecart even further.

Boland host high-riding Stellenberg next week. Given their current form though, their match against Paul Roos on 4 August will certainly rival Interschools for flair and excitement.

Scorers:

For Boland Landbou:
Tries: Hanro-Daniël van der Merwe 2, Schalk Bezuidenhout 2, Darren Hendricks, Erik Lambrecht, Gavin Mills
Cons: Mills 6

For SACS:
Tries: Ross Letcher, Kabelo Mokoena, Jean Minnaar, substitute lock Brent van Niekerk
Cons: Matthew Hayes, Michael Abrahams

Teams

Boland Landbou: 15 Darren Hendricks, 14 Hanro-Daniël van der Merwe, 13 Sebastian de Klerk, 12 Erik Lambrecht, 11 Bertus Baard, 10 Franna du Toit, 9 Gavin Mills, 8 JW Snyman, 7 Thys Kitshoff, 6 George Louis Beukes, 5 Louis-Dirk Human, 4 Schalk Bezuidenhout (captain),3 RJ van der Merwe, 2 Tehan du Plessis, 1 Hen-Ko Smuts

SACS: 15 Ross Letcher, 14 Kabelo Mokoena, 13 Ben Mazzullo, 12 Robin Aspeling, 11 Matthew Hayes, 10 Michael Abrahams, 9 Thurston Cloete, 8 Craig Bylin (captain), 7 Jean Minnaar, 6 Ian Paterson, 5 Jordan Thomas, 4 Storm Balchin, 3 Joshua Barrett, 2 Anathi Kalipa, 1 Ethan Burger

Referee: Quinton Immelman (Western Province Referees’ Society)