March 2024
Paul Roos claimed top spot early on in the season by beating Affies 30-25 in the most eagerly anticipated schoolboy rugby match of 2024 to date.
However the match turned out to be one of the most bizarre high profile matches.
Lightning
First the threat of lightning results in play being suspended after just 9-minutes.
Affies pack dominates
Of all the factors, I wonder if anyone expected the Affies pack to dominate quite the way they did.
Affies BMT deserts them
Several red zone moments cried out for focus and composure but the moments seem to get to Affies and they ended up leaving plenty of points on the field. The goal line sieges by the pack were in the hands of the referee to an extent. However two moments that could have swung the game were a cut-out pass out to the player on the left wing in the first half which was dropped with a clear path to the tryline ahead and later a well-manufactured midfield break by the outside centre during the second half which led to an overlap on the left but the pass went astray and the chance was lost.
The penalty try followed by just penalties
The referee awarded one penalty try to Affies and then after that two very similar incidents near the Paul Roos goal-line only lead to penalties
Paul Roos play with 13 players on the field get a crucial 3-points
There were plenty of cards in this match and Paul Roos did really well to not only manage being two short twice in the second half and they even got a vital 3-points out of it to extend their lead to 30-25 and took the lead out of the reach of an Affies penalty goal.
Paul Roos kick the points in the second half
Affies took a 8-0 lead before Paul Roos pulled things back with a try off a close range lineout and then the most memorable individual play of the match, a standout out run by inside centre Sam Badenhorst. Brilliant effort in a big game to make it 14-8 to the visitors. Then 14-11 and then another lineout close to the Affies line and this time Paul Roos exploited the blind to make the dive over in the corner look really easy due to a defensive lapse. Suddenly it was 21-11 at the break.
Two penalties by ace goal-kicker Joshua Dampies extended the lead to a massive 27-11. The writing looked to be on the wall for Affies.
Then the penalty try to Affies made it 27-18.
The umpteenth lineout set up by a penalty punt to touch in the same corner allowed Affies to set a driving maul and power over to make it 27-25 with a full comeback seeming ominous.
Then a crucial play. With just 13 on the park, Paul Roos wins a kickable penalty which Dampies coolly slots in the 63rd minute to push the lead to beyond a penalty. It ultimately set up the win of 30-25 as Affies had to play for a try.
The livesteaming freezes
With just one minute left to play and a scrum-5 to Affies, suddenly all who were watching the nail-biting finish online, were frozen out and never got to see how the match ended.
@JongMatie (Comment #30)
True. Agree with that. Winners find a way to win. Composure, patience & execution under high pressure situations is also Rugby skills that need development and training.
@Jakkals (Comment #26)
France were the better team against the boks too, but the score board suggest otherwise – its about the critical moments in the game that you manage to win the mini battles.
Baie geluk aan Paul Roos en al julle ondersteuners, die verlore teen die ander groot spanne neem al hoe langer om te verewrk, veral wedstryde wat gewen kon word. Nietemin, die wen span verdien altyd al die eer. Baie geluk.
RUGBY BLOG
@Jakkals (Comment #26)
Sorry meant to reply to Beet #6
@Snelvuur (Comment #7)
Affies pack proved me wrong….I said they were a bit soft but the certainly shut me up big time. Affies really were the better team and just lacked patience and composure on the night. But boy I was wrong about the pack
Affies are back onto that streak of losing the big close games:
04/05/2013 WON Affies 17 10 Paul Roos
11/05/2013 WON Affies 37 31 Grey College
27/04/2015 DREW Affies 22 22 Paarl Gim
28/03/2016 WON Affies 24 17 Paul Roos
02/05/2016 LOST Affies 25 29 HJS Paarl BH
25/03/2017 LOST Affies 33 35 Paarl Gim
17/04/2017 LOST Affies 10 14 HJS Paarl BH
29/04/2017 LOST Affies 14 21 Paul Roos
06/05/2017 LOST Affies 32 35 Grey College
30/04/2018 LOST Affies 14 19 HJS Paarl BH
26/03/2022 WON Affies 24 18 Paul Roos
23/04/2022 WON Affies 29 26 Paarl Gim
04/04/2023 LOST Affies 19 26 HJS Paarl BH
01/05/2023 LOST Affies 25 31 Paul Roos
23/03/2024 LOST Affies 25 30 Paul Roos
EPIC GAME
@Snelvuur (Comment #21)
100% cannot move Wildeklawer. It’s HQ of that agri-company, supporting not only rugby but other sports like netball, soccer, so many schools in the area and of course, as mentioned, the whole town.
@beet (Comment #20)
I think mauls are also quite a unique area of the rules to ref, that requires quite a bit of interpretation, especially with the “sack” rule. When exactly a sack is late and when exactly it is well-timed really is quite difficult to judge amidst all the bodies piling into the maul.
@Kantman (Comment #19)
Ja-nee, ek sal nie Wildeklawer graag wil skuif nie. Dit het nou al so groot geword dat dit ‘n baie belangrike toernooi vir Kimberley se ekonomie is. Ek stem ook oor die toernooi vir laer spanne wat PRG aanbied – van wat ek hoor gaan dit van krag tot krag. Dit is jammer dan dat dit nie regtig ‘n opsie is om die Noord-Suid wissellend aan te bied nie. Ek dink dit is ‘n beduidende voordeel vir die ontwikkelling van die rugbyspelers in Kaapse skole om soveel blootstelling aan verskillende omstandighede te kry, en jammer dat die skole van die Noorde nie op o19-vlak soortgelyke blootstelling kan kry nie.
@wanza_15 (Comment #15)
100% on the reffing.
The referees are doing the best they can but as we’ve seen at NS, although a referee might be very consistent in his interpretations, different referees are interpreting the same situations differently. This is going to make the preparation work and in-match adaptability of the coaches and players extra difficult.
@Snelvuur (Comment #17)
Paarl is uit want daar is reeds lank gevestigde toernooie vir u15 en u16. Paul Roos het ook ‘n goeie toernooi vir laer spanne, en klink nie vir my julle is besig om vriende te maak op die blog nie. Wildeklawer eerder ‘n opsie, maar dit is te belangrik vir Kimberley om te laat gaan.
@wanza_15 (Comment #15)
Exactly. Your entire game plan can be: 1. Get a penalty, 2. Kick to touch, 3. Maul to force another penalty. Rinse repeat until you score eventually. I mean, for the most part, that is what Affies did last night. If you have an effective kicker and a well-drilled pack, the skill level of your centres and outside backs does not really affect the result of the game at all. As long as they can hold their own on defence, you basically never have to give them the ball at all.
@Smallies (Comment #16)
@Kantman (Comment #10)
Ek hoor Kantman se bekommernis rakende of daar venues in die Suide is wat die toernooi so goed sal kan aanbied, en die kommentaar rakende Affies se ligte. Ek dink daar is opsies om dit in die Boland te hou (Gim, HJS, PRG of selfs die Danie Craven en die SU se ander velde) of in die Kaap te hou. Dit is natuurlik ook nie ‘n voorvereiste om die hoofwedstryd onder ligte te hê nie – indien die oggend se twee tweedespanwedstryde na die B-veld geskuif word (soos die ander tweedespanwedstryde) is daar genoeg tyd om al die eerstespanwedstryde voor sononder in te pas. Ek koop nie heeltemal die storie rondom die borge nie – buiten NMI Toyota en Nulaid is al die borge nasionale (of selfs internasionale) maatskappye. Hul borgskappe is nie net aan Pretoria gebonde nie.
@Snelvuur (Comment #7)dis in PTA begin ,die borge is van PTA en ja die venue verander tussen skole in Pta
@Snelvuur (Comment #5)
I’ve watched about 5 schoolboy rugby games this season so far, including our loss to Boishaai yesterday and KES vs Grey. I definitely agree with you regarding the mauls, that it seems there is reward more for the successful formation of the maul, “organisation” as you put it, and the defending team dare not attempt to disrupt it unless the sack is immediate. I mean, for the most part, those are maul laws, but it just seems here at schoolboy level there is absolutely zero wiggle room.
If you have competent 10, or whoever kicks for touch for you, if they’re able to get decent territory, and you’re able control your own line-out, you could be in business. I think it has reached the extent where if I’m a coach I’d work on it a lot, because as you describe, I don’t necessarily even have to be stronger than you, just need to execute that first part correctly.
On a similar note, I was watching Pretoria Boys and Outeniqua today earlier & I felt these schoolboys really have it difficult with the different refereeing styles they must adapt to very quickly week in and week out. What’s allowed this week with this ref isn’t allowed next week with the next..
Thanks for the TShirt beet, lol, wondered how you all got them! Looks nice
As a neutral I was amazed at the intensity, the passion and the talent on display.
Also for the other games – we should count our blessings
@Kantman (Comment #10)
In an ideal world where good sponsors are plentiful, it would be a nice balance if ABSA Wildeklawer could be hosted in the Cape. But I guess the fair compromise is that the best of the u15’s and u16’s are in the Western Cape presently.
@Kantman (Comment #10)
Yeah the Affies lights are also very good. Hard to top that.
@beet (Comment #6)
Absolutely – and Stoffels and Badenhorst made big difference at the back.
@Snelvuur (Comment #7)
I do not think the South can do it as well as Affies does at the moment – great event. Disadvantage yes, but better? No
@Snelvuur (Comment #5)
Yeah good point about the mauls. The SBR rules around it need to be relaxed a bit.
As usual Paarl Gim also used the maul to great effect in their game vs Monnas.
WRT Janco, Spoed mentioned ahead of one setpiece close to the PRG line that Affies could give the ball to Janco at close range to bash over but for some or other reason he just is not that kind of player at the moment. Its like he just does not have confidence in that aspect of his play even though he is a big unit with a some speed off the mark. One would assume he could do serious damage to any SBR D-line in he just motored into it every once in a while. Plus that would create more variation in the attacking designs Affies need in these big games.
@beet (Comment #6)
Dampies is an exceptional, exceptional goal kicker. Showed a lot of BMT in the second team game against Paarl Boys last year as well, when he kicked a 50m+ penalty to win the game on Brug Street.
@Kantman (Comment #3)
I was wondering about this today next to Affies’ A-field: why is a North-South tournament hosted in the North every year? Even the Ryder Cup changes locations every time. Probably makes sense to have it hosted North and South on a rotational basis.
@Kantman (Comment #1)
For me Affies tight-five get the surprise package rating. They did well. JD Hattingh at 5 – big thumbs up.
Some people talked about Joshua Dampies before today but in this key match he stood out.
Affies was absolutely dominant in the set phases, but I am seriously worried about their backline going forward. They could not string two passes together all evening; their SA Schools centre, although generally very good, was shown up by PRG’s 12 (much like he lost the contest against Grey’s 12 last year). PRG’s discipline was poor generally, and they’ll need to improve that drastically for the stern tests that await them. I do think this game showed again that there needs to be a fundamental rethink of the rules around mauls – every time either side set up a maul, the other could not stop it without conceding a penalty (PRG was more guilty of this, but when they set up mauls, even Affies’ dominant pack was conceding penalties). It seems that the maul rules as they currently are do not really serve to reward the stronger pack necessarily, but rewards organisation: once the maul is set up properly, it is basically impossible to disrupt without conceding much ground and/or a penalty. It is the single most dominant attacking play a team can launch in rugby (by virtue of the fact that no other type of attacking play results in as many penalties as often).
Well done PRG. Well deserved win. To the Affies Boys, hard luck, some times you win, other times you learn! May both teams have a injury free, prosperous remainder of a season!
@Kaya 85 (Comment #2)
Come and play in the south for once – then we can talk about whether who plays the ref.
Supersport schools seriously fluffed this. To stop the stream with 90 seconds left and Affies with an attacking scrum….
Paul Roos were cynical. While they picked up 3 yellow cards, they must think their approach is justified because they held on for the win. There should have been a second penalty try at least. I also feel Paarl Gim were cynical in their defence against Monument. But maybe I should give them and PRG the benefit of the doubt and say they were just more grittily determined to keep their opponents out. And play on the very edge of what they could get away with. As a dyed-in-the-wool notherner, it pains me to say this but the ‘South’ teams more street smart in playing the refs.
Beautiful crazy schoolboy rugby. The crowd was amazing. Some players enhanced their reputations, others did not.