Premier win for Gimmies
It was a beautiful autumn day in the beautiful Boland town of Paarl amongst the mountains on Saturday when Paul Roos took the short journey from Stellenbosch to play Paarl Gim, two of the very best schoolboy teams in South Africa in action and shown to the nation on television in the new Premier Interschools initiative under the direction of the former Springbok captain, Tiaan Strauss.
Expectations were that it would be a great match, which it was. Expectations were that it would be a close encounter, which it was not as Gimmies won 28-8, four tries to one.
On the field things were more even than the score suggests as Paul Roos managed to dominate possession in the first half, but even then it was clear that Gimmies were better at the scrums, that the Paul Roos line-out was iffy and that Gimmies owned the loose. They certainly made better use of opportunities.
The match was strange. Paul Roos had the better of the first half in many ways and Gimmies led 21-3. Gimmies had much the better of the second half and won it just 7-5. What helped the home side in the first half was the unexpected. Under pressure they won vital ball and used it with zest.
Both sides ran with the ball. It was so pleasing to see that there is an alternative way of playing rugby to thump and bang. Here we had passing, man trying to beat man, eager use of advantage. And both sides ran from the start.
Both sides were served by excellent scrumhalves – Lotter Pretorius of Gim and SP Ferreira of Paul Roos, the grandson of SP from Patensie, one of the great characters of South African rugby, and the son of Freddie, also called Boetie Bain, for years an outstanding scrumhalf for Western Province.
The first impressive break was by Callie Nel, the slender Paul Roos flyhalf, the second by SP Ferreira. They could both had led to tries but Paul Roos’s hands were jittery.
Paul Roos lost one of their own scrums and Lotter Pretorius went on a brilliant run down the right. Back Gimmies came to the left getting closer and closer till Altus Momsen cut back straight off Handré Pollard and swept over for a try at the posts. 7-0 after 20 minutes.
Jason Worral, the Paul Roos fullback, had an excellent run on the counter-attack, not for the only time in the match. But again it was Gim who scored. Lock Hennie Botha made good ground and gave to flank Jacques Vermeulen who looked certain to score but was knocked down just short of the line. Gim kept it going and Pretorius scored. 14-0 after 30 minutes.
Jason Worrall goaled a penalty and Gim kicked off. Jacques Vermeulen ran up, caught the ball on the full and ran straight through for a try that looked ridiculous in its simplicity. 21-3 after 31 minutes.
Gim nearly scored again but they lost the ball at the line.
Ramone Samuels scored the first points of the second half. Gim rolled a pass out to their right and just inside his 10-metre line the burly flank picked up the ball and, helped by two strong hand-offs, scored 62 metres downfield. 21-8 after 46 minutes.
Gim mauled a line-out but lost the ball at the line. They counter-attacked with both wings in evidence on the right but Wion Robertse was stopped on the line. Gim stayed close. They tapped a kickable penalty and were close. They had a five-metre scrum and Handré Pollard stepped and burst through three tacklers to score.
It was an excellent day with a big crowd packed into the famous field and boys singing from the stands. Premier Interschools was off to a brilliant start.
The teams:
Paul Roos: 15 Jason Worral, 14 Jos Braqino, 13 Michael Hazner, 12 Marcus Geldenhuys, 11 Dalen Goliath, 10 Calie Nel, 9 SP Ferreira, 8 Ruhan Rossouw, 7 Christo van der Merwe, 6 Ramone Samuels, 5 Lohan Louw, 4 Leonard Duvenhage (captain), 3 Petrus Senekal, 2 Gerrie le Roux, 1 Corné Stemmet.
Replacements: 16 Chad Solomon, 17 Adrian Zevenster, 18 Albie Louw, 19 Ridge Armstrong, 20 Joel Heugh, 22 Muller Brink.
Paarl Gim: 15 Dawie Dyason, 14 Wion Robertse, 13 Wesley Cupido, 12 Altus Momsen, 11 Loek van der Merwe, 10 Handré Pollard (captain), 9 Lotter Pretoruis, 8 Rikus Bothma, 7 Corne Cooper, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Hennie Botha (vice-captain), 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Stephan Morkel, 2 Evan Mcdonald, 1 Ollie Regue.
Replacements: 16 Ronald Roux, 17 Regardt Louw, 18 DJ van Niekerk, 19 Attie van Rensburg, 20 Wian Adriaanse, 21 Brendon Nel, 22 Wayett Murphy, 23 Arno Swart.
Referee: Jonathan Kaplan
