Jekyll & Hyde on hand to help Welkom Gim defeat Jim Fouche

The challenging wind conditions made executing lineouts effectively difficult.

JF grabbed the lead in the early stages as their fullback Tiaan Strydom made a successful strike on the right side.

Then as part of the story of their match, JF missed a significant scoring opportunity . The setback came after a charge down near the try line and a subsequent loss of possession by one of their players over the whitewash.

JF then incurred penalties due to ill-discipline, impacting their chances to apply more pressure and also missed penalty shot at goal.

From a quickly taken free kick, Gim’s pivot Kiewiet’s exhibited skillful play, holding and delivering a precise pass to lankly number 8 Ethan Jones, resulting in an untouched and effortless try.

The halftime score stood at 7-5 in favour of Gim, who would have the wind advantage in the second half.

Following a Gim yellow card, JF regained the lead at 8-7.

Kiewiet struck an excellent drop goal after a solid lineout, pushing the Griffon’s based school back in front at 10-7.

A bit of deja vu followed. Despite Gim’s valiant efforts, a crucial mistake occurred when they failed to ground the ball over the tryline after a promising attack, leading to a turnover.

JF capitalized on the resultant 5m scrum, showcasing skillful ball movement and teamwork, opening up the goalline for their number 10 Aldrick Johnson to complete a great team try. JF led 13-10.

Discipline issues plagued Gim, with two quick yellow cards (effective red for one player) reducing them to 13 players. Once again JF left points on the field as the ensuing penalty was missed.

In a remarkable display of strategy, 13-man Gim relied on the expertise of Kiewiet at 10, who executed a well-timed dink ahead, regathered and linked with a couple of Gim teammates who using precise passes and angled runs got the ball back into the hands of their talented flyhalf to finish and convert. Gim then led 17-13.

Despite having an opportunity to slow the game down while they had two in the sinbin, Gim hastily punted a penalty long and deep into JF territory without finding touch. Their chase was good and they recovered the bouncing ball and almost scored another try. Instead, they were called back to a spot inside the JF redzone, awarded another penalty but failed to capitalize on the tap-and-go, as JF intercepted and carried the ball half the length of the field into Gim’s half. After doing all the hard yards, the Bloem boys then made a weak pass from the base of the ruck resulted in knock-on.

JF’s mistakes disrupted their continuity. They also had a player carded. Gim took full advantage of a turnover. First they crashed it up. No one was more impressive at this during the match than strong flank Rovaun Van Niekerk and he was assisted by second row teammates D Beuken and Jayden Auld.  Gim then added tempo on the righthand side. Showcasing soft hands and well-timed shoulder runs on the inside and outside before finding width and the overlap to allow the big man Alex Olivier to cross in the corner. Kiewiet’s prekick ritual looked a lot like a celebration dance as he slotted the difficult kick to extend the Gim lead to 24-13.