Second-half blitz sinks SACS
Hosts Paarl Gimnasium produced a strong second half showing to come from 13-10 down at the interval to beat SACS 28-13. Despite the poor weather during the week the game was played in chilly but sunny conditions in front of a packed pavilion.
SACS got off to dream start, stunning their hosts with a try within the first fifteen seconds. SACS kicked-off and No.8 Gino Lupini plucked the ball from the grasp of a Paarl Gim player, surged through and passed the ball down the line for wing Suwi Chibale to score in the corner. Flyhalf Chris Smith was unsuccessful with the conversion but landed a penalty soon after to put SACS eight points clear and well in control.
SACS conceded a soft try soon after when they over-threw a line-out five metres from their own line, which was caught by No.8 Rikus Bothma who dived over for an easy score. SACS seemed to struggle with the referee’s interpretation at the breakdown and a string of penalties saw Gim surge back onto the attack. Gim had a line-out close to the SACS line which they drove before spinning the ball wide for left-wing Luke van der Merwe to crash over in the corner.
Paarl Gim tapped and ran a few kickable penalties during the game and SACS scrumhalf and captain Cameron Calder followed suit just before the interval. Calder was held up short of the line but the ball was shifted wide and centre Richard Rodgers beat his man to score. Smith missed a relatively easy conversion to see SACS go into a 13-10 half-time lead.
Gim were, of course, playing without star flyhalf Handré Pollard and SACS suffered a similar fate minutes into the second half losing their flyhalf Chris Smith to injury.
Coupled with the loss of Calder to a yellow-card for what the referee ruled to be a dangerous tackle, SACS lost direction somewhat against a Paarl Gim team who were fired up having obviously been given some stern words by coach Christoff Lotter at half-time.
SACS continued to defend manfully throughout but Gim shifted the point of contact a bit wider and their big loose-forwards began breaching the gainline. This gave them much needed attacking momentum, which allowed flyhalf Wyatt Murphy to level the scores with a drop-goal.
Gim eventually took the lead thanks to a brilliant blindside attack which was executed with great pace and saw Dawie Dyason score in the corner. SACS struggled to get their hands on the ball and when they did were unable to build pressure. Conversely Gim converted pressure to points and Murphy put them eight-points clear with a penalty fifteen minutes from full time.
SACS got down close to the Gim line and went in search of a score to get themselves back in the game but bad option taking cost them the opportunity to score. Gim finished the game off with a set-piece try on the stroke of full-time which saw centre Altus Momsen run a good hard line and breach the SACS defence for a well taken try.
Paarl Gim showed the class with a powerful second-half performance but SACS will take great heart from the way they managed to unsettle the country’s top ranked team and the manner in which their players fronted-up physically against so many Craven Week opponents.
Like most teams in the tough Western Province league Paarl Gim are spending their weeks recovering and patching players up before the mid-season break but the hits just keep on coming with the always ever feisty Boland Landbou coming to Paarl next week.
SACS travel over the hill to play archrivals Wynberg to see who is the top team in the Southern Suburbs this term, both schools having beaten Rondebosch and Bishops already. Playing at home and with better results overall Wynberg will go into the game as favourites but with the prized 'Triple-Crown' at stake SACS have everything to play for. It promises to be a cracker. Kick-off for what is an FNB Classic Clash is at 12.15!
The scorers:
For Paarl Gim:
Tries: Rikus Bothma, Luke van der Merwe, Dawie Dyason, Altus Momsen
Con: Wyatt Murphy
Pen: Murphy
DG: Murphy
For SACS:
Tries: Suwi Chibale, Richard Rodgers
Pen: Chris Smith
