Gimmies win Gym Battle

It was a wonderful schoolboy match – two teams who ran with zest and purpose from start to finish.

Two aspects of the game gave Gim their victory – their defence and their ability to score when they had any chance. Paul Roos in fact enjoyed a majority of possession and territory but they did not have the incisiveness of the Gimmies. But then Paul Roos lost their SA Schools fullback, Joshua Vermeulen, late in the first half, seemingly with an arm injury. His place was taken by Aidon Topley who went to centre with Dylan de Villiers dropping back to fullback.

Gim were stronger at scrums, which is not that much of an advantage in schoolboy matches with the restricted shove, and in the mauls which served them well. But rugby is about attack and defence. Gimmies defended better and their attack, with fewer opportunities, was more effective.

That said the teams each scored four tries, a half of them by scrumhalves. But then the last Paul Roos try was scored in the 75th minutes of the match after a quick succession of three penalties against Gimmies.

At no stage in the match did Paul Roos have the lead, not after Gimmies' early try.

Gim kicked off, Paul Roos kicked downfield and Gim counter-attacked. They mauled the first line-out and when Paul Roos were penalised, they twice turned down penalty kicks at goal, choosing line-outs instead. The second one was five metres from the Paul Roos line. Gimmies mauled. The maul advanced but fell at the line. Sturdy scrumhalf Zak Coetzee picked up the ball, did a little dummy and thrust himself between two defenders to score. 7-0 after 3 minutes.

Paul Roos also had a five-metre line-out and also mauled but the Gim defence was rugged. But the first time Gim missed a tackle. Paul Roos scored. It was flank Hanré du Toit who broke through. Wian van Zuyl tackled him but Paul Roos kept the ball and Tian Cotzee passed to No.8 Bruce Coetzee, who passed to lock Jesse Johnson, who gave back to Bruce Copetzee on a run around and the No.8 burst over. 7-all after 21 minutes.

Paul Roos came back to attack and kept the pressure on Gimmies till they dropped the ball and Paarl Gim footed free. Centre Wian van Niekerk broke away from tacklers and was stopped just three metres from the line. The ball was popped to prop André Booysen who scored near the posts. 14-7 after 28 minutes.

In the second half, Paul Roos launched a promising attack when tall Lyle Hendricks broke, chipped and regathereds. Christopher Willemse tackled him and Paul Roos lost the ball but they were soon back on the attack and Damian Willemse danced through a gap and gave to Bruce Coetzee which led to a try by Tiaan Cotezee. Fatally, as it turned out, Paul Roos missed the conversion. 14-12 after 46 minutes.

Dylan de Villiers had a long run that took Paul Roos to five metres from the Gim line. They carried on attacking till Wian van Zyl ran Gim out of trouble.

From a scrum, Gim went right and then came back left where big Muller Uys, a lock last year but a No.8 this year, broke clean through. Dylan de Villiers tackled him but Zak Burger was on hand to power over in Lyle Hendricks' tackle. 21-12 after 54 minutes.

A penalty gave Paul Roos a five-metre lineout. They tried a maul but Gim withstood it and instead Paul Roos went wide and scrumhalf Tiaan Coetzee scored his secoind try. 21-19 after 57 minutes.

Paul Roos kicked and Wian van Zyl countered. Jan Jordaan and then Theo Boshoff carried it on. Muller Uys took a short pass from Janus Swart, burst through Paul Roos, swerved past Dylan de Villiers and scored near the posts. 28-19 with five minutes to play.

Well, it tunred out to be near 10 minutes as Paul Roos bashed. Twice Tiaan Coetzee was within millimetres of scoring. Then came three penalties in quick succession and Aidon Topley sidestepped a defender and scored.

The conversion was awry and the final whistle went.

Scorers:

For Paarl Gim:

Tries: Zak Burger 2, André Booysen, Mulkler Uys

Cons: Thero Boshoff 4

For Paul Roos:

Tries: Tiaan Coetzee 2, Bruce Coetzee, Aidon Toplley

Cons: Damian Willemse 3

Teams:

Paarl Gim: 15 Wian van Zyl, 14 Jan Jordaan, 13 Christopher Willemse, 12 Wian van Niekerk, 11 Muller du Plessis, 10 Theo Boshoff, 9 Zak Burger (captain), 8 Muller Uys, 7 Ryno Beukes, 6 Janus Swart, 5 Raymond Nel, 4 Adriaan Ludick, 3 Francois Staples, 2 Sehan du Toit, 1 André Booysen

Replacements: 16 Michael Houndsome, 17 Daniël Wessels, 18 Bryan Buitendag, 19 Henco Martins, 20 Bernu Engelbrecht, 21 Juvan Robinson, 22 Reinhardt Louw

Coaches: Pieter Rossouw, Helmut Lehmann

Paul Roos: 15 Joshua Vermeulen, 14 David-Lee Moses, 13 Dylan de Villiers, 12 Lyle Hendricks, 11 Aidan Lombard, 10 Damian Willemse (captain), 9 Tiaan Coetzee, 8 Bruce Coetzee, 7 Johan Joubert, 6 Hanré du Toit, 5 Philip van Dyk, 4 Jesse Johnson, 3 Tristan Leitch, 2 Daneel Steinmann, 1 Martin Louw

Replacements: 16 Juan-Marc Fryer, 17 Alexander Mbete, 18 Pieter Nel, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Hans Koetsier, 21 Gerado Jaars, 22 Cobus Joubert, 23 Aidon Topley

Coaches: Stephan Jordaan, Lucas Roothman

Referee: Nathan Barry (Western Province Referees' Society)

Results this Century:

2001: Gim won 11-0

2002: Gim won 28-12

2003: Draw 16-16

2004: Gim won 15-10

2005: Paul Roos won 23-13

2006: Paul Roos won 19-14

2007: Gim won 28-8

2008: Gim won 17-14

2009: Paul Roos won 47-36

2010: Gim won 30-27

2011: Paul Roos won 34-30

2012: Gim won 28-8

2013: Gim won 24-15

2014: Paul Roos won 34-16

2015: Gim won 23-21

2016: Gim won 28-24