Grey College confirmed their status as the number one team of 2023 by beating the second ranked Outeniqua 19-17 in a pulsating and physical match in George on Saturday.
Grey opened up a two try 12-0 lead early on.
Outeniqua clawed their way back to within two points at halftime and then into a 17-12 lead with tries either side of break, while Grey were reduced to 14 and then 13 players at a stage via yellow cards.
However the key elements of the memorable match played out in the second half.
Grey’s player of the match, Pieter van der Merwe successfully combined with his very useful outside centre partner, Benito Goede’s to draw the scores level at 17-all.
Ace goal-kicker Ian van der Merwe coolly slotted the conversion from the corner to regain the lead at 19-17.
In comparison Outeniqua did not have their best day from the kicking tee and crucially missed penalty shots at goal.
During the last 10-minutes Outeniqua camped on the Grey line but could not breach it, as Le Bleu, so used to taking the attack to opponents, dug deep and showed a characterful defensive display to hold out for the win.
At Affies in Pretoria, the heavyweight derby proved to be one to remember.
Garsfontein were on fire in the first half. They were totally in sync and rarely missed an opportunity to set their pacey backs loose. Numerous inform players made contributions and in particular, the raw pace of fullback Jason Hugo stood out and difficult to mark right wing Ruan Enslin must have achieved a rare feat by scoring four tries (two per half) against the powerhouse on the Plaas.
By halftime, the score was an astonishing 5 tries to 1, 33-10 to the visitors from the Eastern suburb.
Disciplinary issues, resulted in a couple of yellow cards and even a penalty try from a collapsed maul to kill off a lot of the Garsies momentum during the second half, as Affie-guts came to the rescue of the hosts and they started to play inspiring rugby that led to the second 35-minutes score 28-5 in their favour with 5-minutes to go in the match.
As the clock was winding down, the scores leveled at 38-38, thanks a good continuity team effort try by the Witbulle, who appeared to have ascendancy and the more likely team to go on to win it.
From a deep 22m restart, Garsfontein set up a good chase and the pressure caused an unforced handling error by the hosts.
What came from the resultant scrum inside the Affies half, in the context of the match, surely has to be one of the tries of the season. The Bere retained possession through numerous phases and many sets of hands. Great skill and even better composure.
The play went from one side of the field to the other several times. It included something like 19 passes, about 14 tackles made by Affies, that resulted in probably 12 ruck breakdown and recycle situations in about one-and-a-half minutes of non-stop action before Garsfontein were eventually able to create an overlap on the right and Enslin did ever so well to cut inside the cross cover and finish in the corner.
Definitely a team try of the highest standard to complete a grand win of 45-38 over a strong Affies team.
@Wonderwolf: Die atletiekspan – Running Bear 😃😃
Garsies doen briljant die afgelope 2 jaar en die juniors kom stadig maar seker reg!
@Wonderwolf: Thanks for letting me know. I have changed it.
Hallo Beet. #BERE is 1ste Rugbuteam of Garsies. #BlizBere is the 7 players of Berere rugby. #Ysbere is 1ste Criket team.
@beet: players like Smith ,Van Der Merwe ,Theron ,and Stopforth are the reason why Grey could engineer the win in very testing circumstances.
@beet: oh definitely, but you expect that from those boys,this kid is not in the starting line up and shined when he came on….
@Smallies: But you have to have something good to say about the form of the Grey 12. Even JH Smit the flank. He delivers top performances every match.
The Outiniqua replacement scrummie was for me the standout player of the game ….