HS Sasolburg v HTS Sasolburg
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HTS Sasolburg will be looking to turn around a three match losing streak against their rivals Hoërskool Sasolburg when they face-off in their annual Classic Clash on Friday.
Both teams have had difficult seasons so far, but it will taking nothing away from what will surely be a highly physical contest.
HTS Sasolburg head coach Schikkie Geldenhuys believes he has a team this year that can bag a win in this fixture for the first time in four years.
"Everyone is well and all the preparations are going according to plan. Apart from one long term injury we have a full strength team," said the coach.
HTS Sasolburg are coming off a 17-40 defeat to Driehoek in their last fixture and will know things will not get any easier against their upcoming opponents.
"They normally have a big and heavy forward pack so we are expecting it to be physical and tough at scrum time and in the rucks because they are heavy and big. They are bigger than us so we are expecting it to be very physical," said Geldenhuys.
Despite being perceived as the weaker side, Geldenhuys says they have been working on solutions to get an early advantage without revealing too much.
"Specifically we working on turning them around, making their forwards turn back and go backwards. Making longer distances for them to run so we can tire them and getting us into the rhythm of making us go forward," Geldenhuys added.
Sasolburg High School head coach Wikus le Roux says that despite winning the last three fixtures, he does not feel that his side are the favourites.
"I don't think we are the favourites. They have brought in coaches to help them and brought in 16 new players this year to play for them so they are full of chat that they can beat us. They are the favourites.
"They have lost in the last couple of years. They really want to beat us. They are quite a good team and they can play good rugby, but we want to see if they can take the pressure," said Le Roux.
Hoërskool Sasolburg have not played a lot of games this year and match fitness might be a problem they have to contend with. However, Le Roux has mainly focussed on the positives rather than the negatives.
"We are up to speed and we are resting. We don't train, we rest. We are in a building phase and we are not peaking yet.
"We have not played a lot of games yet. In fact up to now we have played around six games. We are not over trained or over played. We believe in rest. So we are going to be fit and full of energy to take them on," Le Roux added.
Teams:
HTS Sasolburg: 15 Jovan Koeries, 14 Dyllon Malefanie, 13 Darren Mitchell, 12 Brady Wagman, 11 Elvis Molefe, 10 Dillon Kerspay, 9 James Mofokeng, 8 Ettiene Smit, 7 Riaan Nel, 6 Heinrich van Tonder, 5 Kabelo Molefi, 4 Stefan Roux, 3 Gift lekgoati, 2 Naigan Wolmarans, 1 Katleho Hala.
Replacements: 16 Tshepo Xaba, 17 Pierre Pretorius, 18 Kyle de Bruto, 19 Matt Jacobs, 20 Adin Damons, 21 Ronald Damons, Luke Kannemeyer, 23 Danwin Thomas.
Hoërskool Sasolburg: TBC
Referee: Godwill Morobe
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