Big lock Adriaan Ludick withstood the Stellenbosch heat to produce a man of the match performance as part of Paarl Gim’s winning effort against fellow Winelands powerhouse Paul Roos at Markotter. Gimmies seem to be in the process of shaving years off their supporters’ life expectancy with nail-biting late winners. This was their second “test match” of the season and the second time they left to after injury time to secure a maul style winning try. Ludick was the hero against Affies in March when he used his big frame and power to force a ball down to make contact with the grass in the in-goal area after Affies appeared to have done enough to hold the ball up, three minutes into injury time. This time around it was former Springbok hooker Chris Rossouw’s son who is making a name for himself with strong performances this season, that was the try beneficiary of a well worked driving maul off secured lineout ball four minutes after the 70-minutes of normal playing time had elapsed.
In spite of the good perform, the Paul Roos team looks like it is the quiet before the storm, with no fewer than eight, yes eight starters being in grade-11 and therefore eligible for another season in 2018.
Apart from Ludick there were a number of good performances on both sides but if one Paul Roos player has to be singled out for praise in a close to winning cause, it should be the flyhalf Juan Mostert.
Paul Roos: 15 Colia Louis, 14 Regan van der Westhuizen, 13 Brendan Venter, 12 Rufus Dercksen (captain), 11 Rémy Engelbrecht, 10 Juan Mostert, 9 Gerado Jaars, 8 Matthew Cordy, 7 Philip van Dyk, 6 Johan Bouwer, 5 Breyten Maritz, 4 Mink Scharink, 3 Hanro Jacobs, 2 Willem van den Hever, 1 Cameron Dawson
Replacements: 16 JJ Kotze, 17 Tristan Leitch, 18 Alexander Mbete, 19 Ryno Niemand, 20 Lombard Basson, 21 Antonie Kock, 22 WJ Smit, 23 Johnny Solms
Paarl Gim: 15 Muller du Plessis, 14 Francois Marais, 13 Dawid Kellerman, 12 Ruben Scholtz, 11 Hanco Hanekom, 10 Daniël Beukes, 9 Hanro Geldenhuys, 8 Henco Martins, 7 AJ Wedgwood, 6 Corné Uys, 5 Ryno Beukes, 4 Adriaan Ludick, 3 Francois Staples, 2 Chris Rossouw, 1 Hugo Pienaar
Replacements: 16 Daniël Wessels, 17 Adriaan Staples, 18 Dedrich Glas, 19 Juan Beukes, 20 Dean Nieuwoudt, 21 Jean Janse van Rensburg, 22 Janke du Toit, 23 Stravino Jacobs
Coaches: Pieter Rossouw, Helmut Lehmann
Paarl Gimnasium 20 (5) – Tries: Chris Rossouw (2), Adriaan Ludick. Conversion: Ruben Scholtz. Penalty: Scholtz. Paul Roos Gimnasium 19 (7) – Tries: Gerado Jaars, Brendan Venter, Ryno Niemand. Conversions: Colia Louis (2).
@Stier:Waar is daai laerskool?
@odie15: Hy al van graad 8 in Gim?
If I am not mistaken there is three u/17 players that was part of the Laerskool Lochnerhof 2013 first team in that Paul Roos lineup. They won Marlow that year and only lost one game that year. Last years team broke their record for points scored. Like the 2013 team last years team also won Marlow and lost only once in the season. 11 out of the 14 grade sevens starters from last years team are playing u/14A for Boland, Paul Roos and Boishaai this year.
@CharlesZA: he is 18 already before 1 Jan 2017 his 3rd year now in u19!
u19 Namibian citizen but in terms of World Rugby’s 3 year residency rule I’m sure he will qualify for SA rugby team inclusion very soon if he has not already done so.
Is he still under 18 this year and does he qualify for South Africa?