Kwaggas beat Boishaai in try feast

Outeniqua of George beat Paarl Boys' High 45-36 – six tries to five – in Paarl on Saturday.

An early morning road trip down to Paarl from George for a schoolboy rugby match and what a game it was. The weather was perfect with no wind and a pretty warm, sunny day. Ideal for good running rugby and what a ding-dong battle these two teams provided. It was played at a frenetic pace and the crowd, that was probably about 3 000 strong, were entertained to a game that moved from one side of the field to the other in the blink of an eye.

This was a game that from the first whistle was going to be settled by whether Boishaai’s pack or Outeniqua’s backline would gain the upper hand. The Boishaai pack had the measure of the Kwaggas until late in the second half and the Kwagga backline can, as they have shown since last year, turn any situation into attack.

Much has been said about the size of the Outeniqua pack this year, weighing in at 865 kgs. This is quite incredible for a schoolboy rugby team and one can add to this that not all the players in this pack are in matric, which makes it even more incredible. However Boishaai had their measure from the first scrum in both the tight and loose exchanges. The Boishaai loosehead, Thomas du Toit (as per programme), had a really great game and aside form his usefulness in the loose and scoring a try he had his opponent’s measure in the scrums. He scrummed well and managed to get himself underneath the Outeniqua tighthead at every scrum. This is however merely an experience issue and which will surely be sorted out as Wynand de Necker gains experience. One can clearly see the influence of a hardened Currie Cup prop in Pierre Ribbens who is one of the coaches of Boishaai.

In the line-outs the sides were fairly evenly matched with both teams losing an occasional own throw but both main line-out jumpers performed admirably. Unfortunately Outeniqua were playing with Liam van Schalkwyk (usually blindside flank) at lock as Hendri Storm was not available and this definitely had an effect on both their line-out and scrumming ability.

In the loose the exchanges were fairly even with both sides having a little difficulty with preventing the defending side from driving over the ball, but all in all Boishaai probably edged the ratings in this area. Mention must be made of Dian Koen (Outeniqua) who had a strong afternoon, carrying the ball up the first channel on a good number of occasions.

Overall Boishaai had the better of the forward exchanges as they managed to upset a great deal of the Outeniqua ball and Remu Malan had a lot of really pressured ball to deal with. He did however manage the pressure and distributed excellently so that Dewald “Japie” Human never had to stretch for the ball. Paul de Wet, the Boishaai scrumhalf, also had an excellent afternoon. Having big shoes to fill this season as the follow up to Pieter Schoonraad, last year's incumbent, he performed admirably. His timing and precision were excellent, as was his service to his flyhalf.

It was clearly in the backlines that the difference came. It is unlikely that there is school backline in South Africa that can  be rated above this Outeniqua backline. They are a special group who have the ability attack from absolutely any situation. One needs not mention Warrick “Boogey” Gelant anymore as he is by now a household name in schoolboy rugby circles. His ability to ghost through a gap is unparalleled which caused a young Boishaai scholar to ask indignantly, “Hoe kom hy so maklik deur?”.He also had a 100% kicking record off the tee. His defence has benefited greatly from his time with Under-18 Springbok Sevens team.

The rest of the backline was, as always, impressive in all phases of attack and all except one try were scored by them. Both wings Duhan van der Merwe and Leighton “Soda” Eksteen were impressive on attack, both rewarded with scores.

The Boishaai backline were also lethal on attack, particularly when kicking the ball up and behind the Outeniqua line and this was particularly noticeable on the left side of the field. Added to this the Boishaai centres were really good, running great lines and breaking the Outeniqua line a good few times.

Neither team kicked from the hand particularly well in this game and at times they got quite frenetic in their desire to run particularly from their own 25. Added to this there were quite a few points left on the table with penalties not being taken and seeing as for much of the game there were seven or fewer points in it, one wonders if it would not have been wiser to rack up the penalties.

All in all, this was a fantastic  game of rugby and coupled with a fantastic venue with the Klein Drakenstein mountains in the background as well as the friendly reception that Outeniqua received, a memorable day was recorded in the annals of Schoolboy Rugby in South Africa.

Scorers:

For Paarl Boys' High

Tries: Matthew le Roux, Daylen Daniels, Keenan van Wyk, Thomas du Toit, Daniel du Plessis

Cons: Nicolas Cottee 4

Pen: Nicolas Cottee

For Outeniqua:

Tries: Duhan van der Merwe 2, Geor Malan, Leighton Eksteen, Dewald Human, Remu Malan

Cons: Warrick Gelant

Pen: Warwick Gelant

Teams

Paarl Boys' High: 15 Dante van der Merwe, 14 Daylen Daniels, 13 Dewald Naudé, 12 Luan Boshoff, 11 Keenan van Wyk, 10 Nicolas Cottee, 9 Paul de Wet, 8 Charl-Francois du Toit, 7 Matthew le Roux, 6 Charlton Jonas, 5 Le Roux Roets, 4 Burger van Niekerk (captain),  3 Derrick Marais, 2 Daniel du Plessis, 1 Thomas du Toit .

Outeniqua: 15 Hennie Barnard, 14 Leighton Eksteen, 13 Douw Schoeman, 12 Warrick Gelant, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Dewald Human, 9 Remu Malan, 8 Dian Koen, 7 Christopher Roelofse, 6 , 5 Geor Malan (captain), 4 Eduard Zandberg,  3 Lian van Schalkwyk, 2 Wynand de Necker, 1 Stefaan Grundlingh.

By Deon de Waal