April 2024
Paul Roos are back in action after a mini-break. They make the 45km road trip West from Stellenbosch to Rondebosch.
Paul Roos showed plenty of character to beat Affies 30-25 in the biggest schoolboy rugby match of the 2024 season so far. Even though everything else seems to pale in comparison to this key win on the Plaas in Pretoria, the unbeaten Maroons also have valued wins against Drostdy and Waterkloof this season. This match against Bosch should be their second toughest challenge of the season to date.
Making it more of a highlight is that Bosch are licking their wounds after the shock of shock 33-34 defeat to Premier B school Milnerton last Saturday at HOME!!! The misery was compounded by the Southern Suburbians being 33-3 up after 47min of play. And then:
48th min : 33-10
52nd min : 33-17
66th min : 33-22
69th min : 33-27
70th min : 33-34
70th min & a bit – Rondebosch has a penalty on the Millies 22, 15m in from touch. They elect to go for the corner and set up a lineout. Millies don’t contest the jump but the ref judges the throw-in to be skew and blows the final whistle. Ecstatic Millies supporters in the stand cannot contain their joy! A giant-killing win plus an incredible comeback!
No doubt a bleak Bosch will be hoping for a much better performance against the elite side from the Winelands. There are some seriously good battle-hardened players in the Bosch team and the coaching setup is top notch. Plus they will be asking for a lot more from their schoolboy supporters on the stand. Visiting Paul Roos will be very wary of what this Tinkie Heyns home field advantage adds up to and would have done their homework.
After the injury to opensider Malan Erasmus, the PRG reshuffle sees captain Riley Norton return to the 7-jersey where he made such a huge impression last season, leading to an SA Schools selection and u18 international duty for his country. u17 talent Gert Kemp switches to openside. He is the son of Bles Kemp, who played in the brilliant Maroon Machine team of 1991, so no pressure there! Experienced campaigner, big Jesse Stegehuis of Dutch descent (who can forget how great Mink Scharink was for Paul Roos), is restored to the starting line-up at lock. So a nice big pack still looking to get into full destructive mode to compliment an exciting line with a few exceptional players like Joshua Dampies, Sam Badenhorst and Keenan Stoffels.
| TEAM | RONDEBOSCH | TEAM | PAUL ROOS | ||
| 1 | Luke Pretorius | u18 | 1 | Oliver Reid | u18 |
| 2 | Justin Amos | u19 | 2 | Altus Rabe | u17 |
| 3 | Matthew vd Merwe | u17 | 3 | Luchwayito Mbaliswana | u17 |
| 4 | Carl Geddie | u19 | 4 | Truspe Schoeman | u18 |
| 5 | Tom Barnard | u18 | 5 | Jesse Stegehuis | u18 |
| 6 | Matthys du Plooy | u18 | 6 | Gert Kemp | u17 |
| 7 | Danil-Nicolas Oosthuizen | u17 | 7 | Riley Norton | u18 |
| 8 | Josh Neill | u17 | 8 | Reuben Kruger | u18 |
| 9 | Caleb Belelie | u18 | 9 | Adeeb Boraine | u18 |
| 10 | David Simon | u18 | 10 | Joshua Dampies | u18 |
| 11 | Shakeel Abrahams | u18 | 11 | Keenan Stoffels | u18 |
| 12 | Alutha Wesi | u18 | 12 | Sam Badenhorst | u18 |
| 13 | Randall Davids | u17 | 13 | Matthew Kleyn | u17 |
| 14 | David Kadima | u17 | 14 | Divan Lamprecht | u17 |
| 15 | Dylan Miller | u18 | 15 | Matthew Seymore | u18 |
| Coach | JOEL CAREW | Coach | CORNE UYS |
@Snelvuur (Comment #9)
Well done on the win on Saturday. Paul Roos are a seriously good team this year and definitely will put up a strong challenge for that top spot for sure.
In terms of Saturday, I never realistically expected Bosch to actually win, despite a really good first half. We threw everything at them but the Roos’ defence stood still. I was very pleased with the response from the Milnerton game and the performance. But as soon as Roos got their footing in the game, they just proved too much for the Bosch boys to handle. The rolling maul was lethal and it was difficult to defend against.
Good luck for rest of the season, am expecting big things from you guys. As for Bosch, if we can keep up performances like we showed in the first half, then definitely we can salvage our season. Next up, a tricky game against SACS next week, won’t be easy. Onwards and upwards!
38-17 to Paul Roos. Error-strewn first half with Bosch applying some real pressure to lead 10-7 at the break. Much better second half from PRG.
I also rate the Bosch team highly but i think this year’s PRoos team is special. Paul Roos by 15. As for BLandbou, if they play to their potential they should win by 30 as Bishops is below average. I am concerned though, they looked unfit against PGim. There is so much talent a combined Gim/Landbou side will have at least 8 Landbou players in the side. @ploegskaar I note your optimism and sincerely hope you are right. I just don’t think your coaching team has the ability to get the most out of their players… would love to be proven wrong…
@Ploegskaar (Comment #5)
Totally agree. Landbou will just get stronger. They will win with 10+ this weekend.
@Ploegskaar (Comment #5)
Hardly underestimating them – I think they are a very good side! I tried to emphasise that Bosch has a very good side too.
@Snelvuur (Comment #1)
You have mentioned the BL/Milnerton game a number of times. I think you should not read too much into that game, neither into BL’s game vs Gim. BL has on average left 3-4 scores on the field this season and I expect that and a few other things will be sorted out shortly, so underestimate them at your peril
Laat die Maroon Machine loop!!
@Snelvuur (Comment #1)
I agree with your comment, until the subs came on Bosch were on cruise control against Milnerton, so hopefully the coaches and the boys will learn from last Saturday. Bosch are a good team this year, they took Oakdale close (lost by 4 pts) who are also a good side and beat a good DHS team too.
I think Bosch can put up a fight but as the game goes on, there’s an element of doubt over how good the bench is – can we keep the fight for a full 70mins? I guess we’ll see.
I still think Paul Roos will win fairly comfortably in the end though, but as a Bosch supporter I’m keen to see the lessons learned and how the boys bounce back.
Enjoy the game!
PRG se werwing is next level. Hulle stel nou die standaard
Have a sneaky suspicion that this will be quite a close game. Before Bosch brought on their subs against Milnerton, they domination Milnerton in a way that Boland Landbou could not. They definitely do not have a bad side, and it could be right old tussle if they pitch up.