Heavyweights meet in Kimberley
Both teams are definitely the best sides in Kimberley at the moment with Noord-Kaap having had the bragging rights in recent years. They have won seven of the nine Classic Clashes since 2006.
Noord-Kaap head coach Deon Carney said they know what is at stake in this latest edition of Classic Clashes to be played on Saturday.
"Our preparations have gone quite well. The boys have had a three-week break now with some physical sessions in the last two weeks," said Carney.
"These games are always close and they did beat us last year, which means we have some catching up to do."
Both teams were well represented in this year's Craven Week with Diamantveld having a whopping 11 players in the Griquas Under-18 side and Noord-Kaap having four.
Both captains have also had Craven Week experience with Janco Cloete from Diamantveld impressing in this year's edition, while Brandon de Melim from Noord-Kaap represented Griquas in 2014.
Diamantveld head coach Jean Stemmet is certain that Noord-Kaap are the favourites for the game.
"We've had a good week like any other week before a big game and although we won last year, every interschools’ match is a different and we hopeful that we can be 100 percent on the day.
"It is always a physical and high intensity game and we are definitely the underdogs," said Stemmet.
Results Down the Years:
Since 2006, there have been nine Classic Clashes. Where there are two matches in a season, the first was a Classic Clash. Of the nine played so far Noord-Kaap have won seven.
2003: Noord-Kaap won 18-13 and Diamantveld won 24-22
2004: Noord-Kaap won 22-20 and 13-10
2005: Diamantveld won 26-18
2006: Noord-Kaap won 11-10 and Diamantveld won 48-16
2007: Diamantveld won 17-11 and 28-0
2008: Noord-Kaap won 27-24
2009: Noord-Kaap won 24-13
2010: Noord-Kaap won 21-12
2011: Noord-Kaap won 44-7 and 27-20
2012: Noord-Kaap won 22-15
2013: Noord-Kaap won 27-19
2014: Diamantveld won 24-12
Teams:
Noord-Kaap: 15 Wilfred Bowers, 14 Gladwin Niewenhuysen, 13 Zayne Farmer, 12 Daniello Huyster, 11 Cameron Hufke, 10 Cleo Adams, 9 Brandon de Melim (captain), 8 Gerhard Holtzhausen, 7 Damian van der Bergh, 6 Juandre Smit, 5 Rian Kotze, 4 Lihan Viljoen, 3 Stephanus Smit, 2 Willbritte Uys, 1 Schalk Smit.
Replacements: 16 Conrad van Aswegen, 17 Arthur Jones, 18 Algurnand Heyns, 19 Duan Steenkamp, 20 Marc Aitken, 21 Howard Lottering, 22 Ewan Markus, 23 Wynand Bester.
Diamantveld: 15 Keaton Gordon, 14 Gert Coetzee, 13 De-an Ackerman, 12 Nico Roets, 11 Etdeon Greyvenstein, 10 Gerco Nortjie, 9 JP Roets, 8 Johan Joubert, 7 Jan-Willem van Niekerk, 6 Janco Cloete (captain), 5 Bernard Jansen, 4 Corne van der Merwe, 3 Michael Rodriques, 2 Anton van Rohmburg.
Referee: Hernus Coetzee
Assistant referees: Local
