Selborne vs Grey High in FNB Classic

Preview

"They have nothing to lose," says Hanno Vermaak, tough eighthman and acting captain of Grey High, as his team views Selborne with an amount of trepidation before their FNB Classic Clash in East London.

Grey have more than just a match to lose. They could be the first unbeaten Grey first team since 1976, and they would like to pout that in the record books, a fair reward for their victory over Grey College two weeks ago.

Selborne have been having a wobbly season. They started well enough, beating Maritzburg College, Nelspruit and Ermelo but in their last four matches they have lost to St Andrew's Hudson Park, Queen's College and Dale. In all they have played 19 matches, losing nine. The worst aspect of it has been the slide. In the first round of matches they beat Queen's, Dale and Port Rex. In the second round they lost to them.

Grey High have won all of their 16 matches. One of those was against Selborne, but it was a skin-of-your-teeth affair.

In that match with minutes to go Selborne fullback Greg Kretzman scored next to the posts for Selborne. Astonishingly the conversion hit the upright and bounced out. Selborne led 16-11 with three minutes to play.

In those dramatic three minutes Dale Farnham, the Grey scrumhalf, scored a try from a line-out in the left-hand corner. From touch Warren Bell converted to give the home side a slender victory. 18-16!

Then Selborne played with out its star captain, Stuart Vickers. This time Grey are without their captain – Simon Westraadt and also Kirwan Frieslaar who are playing for the SA Academy team against SA Schools at Ellis Park in a curtainraiser to the Tri-Nations match between South Africa and New Zealand. In addition lock Stephen de Villiers has a broken collarbone and will not be playing.

Still Grey have Warren Bell, the hero against Grey College, Byron Schmidt and Murray Sparg, who were all in the Eastern Province team at Craven Week. And they have depth. They played without five star players at the SACS Rugby Festival and were by some way the best team there. David Wannenberg who hooks in Simon Westraadt's place, for example, is in SARFU's Green Squad.

For Selborne the backs are greatly different from the team of May. Only scrumhalf Rory Kockott is still there. By contrast the only changes in the pack are at eighthman and fullback.

It's a match which logic says Grey will win. But the fear of defeat can often become self-fulfilling.

Recent Results

There is a longer list of results at the end of the article.

2000: Grey won 28-0
2001: Grey won 28-12
2002: Grey won 16-15
2003: Grey won 20-14 and 38-13
2004: Grey won 18-16

Teams:

Grey High: 15 Ricky Rijs (vice-captain), 14 Peter Furstenburg, 13 Christopher Nel, 12 Juan Coetzer, 11 Warren Bell, 10 Matthew Taylor-Smith, 9 Dale Farnham, 8 Hano Vermaak (captain), 7 Monty Taljaard, 6 Andile Dyafta, 5 Morné van der Westhuizen, 4 Jacques Naudé, 3 Murray Sparg, 2 David Wannenberg, 1 Byron Schmidt.

Coach: Dirk Walters

Selborne: 15 Qhawe Magwentshu, 14 Momelezi Mangisa, 13 Phiwe Nomlomo, 12 Stuart Vickers (captain), 11 Jarryd Neale-May, 10 Warren Randall, 9 Rory Kockott, 8 Luvoyiso Lusaseni, 7 Bradley Tessendorf, 6 Michael Green, 5 Luke Martins (vice-captain), 4 Dean Forword, 3 Vusumzi Mdwara, 2 Peter Weakley, 1 Peter Gardner.

Coach: Max Norman

Date: 14 August 2004.
Kick-off: 14.30
Venue: A Field, Selborne College
Expected weather conditions: Scattered clouds 22°C dropping to 13°C with a wind of 28 km/h
Referee: Raymond Buys (Border)

Grey vs Selborne since 1972

1972: Grey won 9-0
1973: Selborne won 20-4
1974: Selborne won 10-6
1975: Selborne won 22-21
1976: Grey won 17-11
1977: Grey won 21-4
1978: Selborne won 26-19
1979: Selborne won 22-13
1980: Selborne won 18-12
1981: Grey won 24-7
1982: Grey won 12-10
1983: Grey won 29-9
1984: Grey won 18-6
1985: Selborne won 7-6
1986: Selborne won 15-10
1987: Grey won 12-6
1988: Selborne won 12-10
1989: Grey won 27-3
1990: Selborne won 17-9
1991: Grey won 7-0
1992: No match
1993: Grey won 16-15
1994: Selborne won 50-6
1995: Grey won 18-17
1996: Selborne won 10-8
1997: Selborne won 20-10
1998: Selborne won 31-10
1999: Selborne won 23-22
2000: Grey won 28-0
2001: Grey won 28-12
2002: Grey won 16-15
2003: Grey won 20-14 and 38-13
2004: Grey won 18-16