Paul Roos win FNB Classic in Bloemfontein

Match Report

Paul Roos travelled up to Bloemfontein and beat Grey College 16-11 in their FNB Classic Clash on Saturday. The match was televised.

It was Grey's third defeat in Bloemfontein since 1994, which empahsises the mountain Paul Roos had to climb in coming to the Highveld.

Their task was made easier by the spate of injuries suffered by Grey, but then there was the journey up by train, some 700 Paul Roos boys in all to the hard, brown fields of the Free State. And in any case the Cherries, Grey's second team, are the second best side in the Free State.

For the preview of the match with links to information on the schools and profiles of the two captains, click here.

There were balloons and songs were sung, war cries shouted, balloons set free into the clear Free State air.

Danie Calitz, the Grey headboy and captain, was there in his striped blazer and cap to walk out ahead of his team with the mascot. He did not play because of the harsh injury he sustained against Pretoria Boys High two weeks ago.

It was a tough match which Paul Roos may just have deserved to have won. They scored two tries to one but Grey ended looking stronger.

Paul Roos started on the attack. They got to the Grey line but were stopped by determined defence.

Paul Roos were first to score, a try which had an element of luck. Their lightly built flyhalf Coenie van Wyk with the powerful boot dropped at goal. The kick was charged down but the ball flew to Charl Weideman who passed to his right to Stephan Dippenaar who gave fullback Stephan van der Merwe a clear run to the line. Van Wyk's conversion hit the upright and bounced out again.

It was not a good day for goal-kickers and it was not a predictable day for line-out throws though Paul Roos with its mastodon front row dominated the scrums.

Grey levelled the scores when they went on the attack on the right. Back the ball came left with TRY written all over it, but the pass went astray. Gerhard Swart recovered it and sent right wing George Whitehead off on an unimpeded run to the line. Whitehead was the kicker with the wrong boot whose accuracy strayed from time to time.

When Grey were penalised at the tackle – in a match of mercifully few penalties and every opportunity to play advantage – Van Wyk made it 8-5.

Then came a try of breath-taking simplicity. From a scrum the ball was passed back to Van Wyk. It was a poor pass along the ground. Van Wyk gathered it in and suddenly he burst into life, chopping back towards the forwards, straightening up and suddenly bursting clear for a run of some 40 metres to score next to the posts. He missed the simple conversion.

This made the half-time score 13-5 to Paul Roos.

There were no tries in the second half, just a penalty to Paul Roos and two penalties to Grey Whitehead goaled the first one for a high tackle, Van Wyk the second when the Grey backs strayed off-side at a line-out and then Whitehead goaled when Paul Roos were judged guilty of a late, high tackle.

Grey had a good opportunity to score a try when left wing Hedley Smith kicked ahead into the Paul Roos in-goal but industrious flank Siyasanga  Mkiva beat Smith to the ball.

Robert Ebersohn, one of the twin sons of Tiaan, countered strongly and Smith was tackled out at the corner.  In a passing movement going right Grey looked likely to score but Van Wyk intercepted the pass and cleared.

Dantes Wium of Paul Roos was given a yellow card late in the half but Gerhard Landman's tackle on Stephan van der Merwe, grabbing his headgear, looked a worse incident.

Eventually the final whistle went and 700 maroon-blazered schoolboys raced onto the field to carry off their heroes.

For the preview of the match with links to information about the schools and profiles of the two captains, click here.

Scorers:

For Paul Roos:
Tries: Stephan van der Merwe, Coenie van Wyk
Pens: Coenie van Wyk 2

For Grey:
Try: George Whitehead
Pens: George Whitehead 2

Teams:

Grey College: 15 Robert Ebersohn, 14 George Whitehead, 13 Gerhard Landman, 12 Wayne Stevens (captain), 11 Hedley Smith, 10 Sias  Ebersohn, 9 Hendré Viviers, 8 Eric le Roux, 7 Charl Dry, 6 Gerhard  Swart, 5 Lappies Labuschagne, 4 Sybrand  Mostert,  3 Louis van Rensburg, 2 N Wessels 1 Rachè van der Westhuizen.

Paul Roos: 15 Stephan  van der Merwe (captain), 14 Jesse Nowers, 13 Stephan  Dippenaar, 12 Charl Weideman, 11 Jason Volschenk, 10 Coenie van Wyk, 9 François  Hougaard, 8 Lambert Groenewald, 7 Dantes Wium, 6 Siyasanga  Mkiva, 5 Jaco van Vuuren, 4 Christiaan Uys,  3 Stephan Hamman, 2 Pieter van der Merwe, 1 Emile Kroegman.

Referee: Jaco Peyper (Free State)