Captain's profile: Ivan van Zyl

Affies captain Ivan van Zyl knows that form will count for little when his team take on Grey College in Bloemfontein this weekend.

The nippy scrumhalf missed out on the victory against Grey in Pretoria last year due to a broken arm, but nothing will keep him from leading his team out this weekend.

"It will be a great clash. It has been a long time since we won at Grey and we have only ever beaten them twice in a row once so we are really looking forward to it," he said.

Van Zyl's team is unbeaten this season, whilst Grey have lost just one, but he knows it will be all about how the teams perform on the day.

"They are always a tough team, the record of the teams doesn't matter. There is no love lost between the sides and this is definitely our biggest game of the year," he explained.

Affies were forced to fight back against Paul Roos in Pietermaritzburg last week, but came through well in the second half to maintain their unbeaten start to the season, and Van Zyl is aware that they will have to raise their game this weekend.

"We were our own worst enemies at times against Paul Roos, it was really frustrating but we showed good fighting spirit to come back in the second half," he said.

The Affies skipper, who has signed with the Blue Bulls and will study Theology at UP-Tuks next year,  said that the confidence levels in his side are high as they look forward to what he sees as the ultimate challenge.

"We are feeling good, there is alawys a lot of hype around this game and we have had some good training sessions this week so I really think we can pull it through," he said.