Liam Slatem of SACS - FNB Player of the Week
Player Profile
Liam Slatem is the form player in the SACS backline and is the individual the team looks to for attacking inspiration. On Saturday SACS host local rivals Bishops, who are renowned for the adventurous back play. Slatem will be up against arguably the best schoolboy centre in the Western Cape Adrian Kritzinger and is relishing the challenge.
Liam Slatem was born in Durban on 12 January 1989 and moved to Cape Town in Grade 2 after a few years spent at Durban High School Primary. He has been at SACS ever since and has moved between the inside three positions his entire career.
Liam comes from a sporting family, his dad Mike having come close to playing for Natal until he was in a car crash and his brother Richard is currently in the UK playing cricket. Liam is the captain of the SACS 1st XI and opens the batting. He scored seven 50s in the first term and was unlucky not to make the WP Schools team. Quite slight for a modern centre and having played Under-16 last year Liam was not invited to the WP Craven Week trials.
Despite captaining the 1st XI, rugby is his passion and with great speed and footwork as well as silky skills he has been a constant threat this season. Liam's rugby hero is none other than Matt Giteau of the Brumbies and Australia. Wearing a scrumcap Liam looks and plays a very similar game to Giteau, both having great vision and feel for the game. Liam also won the 100m championships at the SACS Athletics Championships, so he is able to show the defence a clean pair of heels when he does break the line.
The SACS team are going well this season and their only loss to date was an 8-nil defeat away to Boland Landbou. The SACS team is well balanced and spirited despite been very young. In fact there are ten Grade 11s in the team and one Grade 10 (Ross Skeate's bother, Alex, at tight-head). Liam says he enjoys the coaching set-up and the team are responding well to the challenges posed by the Western Province league.
SACS's best win to date was a 22-14 home win over their other local rivals Robndebosch. The SACS team, having won four in a row, are looking forward to Saturday's encounter with glee and Liam especially is oozing confidence as his team beat Bishops twice at Under-16 level last season.
With a bruised Bishops (currently ranked in the top 10 in the country), coming off a shock defeat by Bellville High, this promises to be a classic encounter.
