SA’s number-1 ranked team Paarl Boys High increased their leader at the top when they beat the number-2 ranked team Paul Roos 29-10 at Brug Street, Paarl on Saturday 20 June 2015.
90% of the game was about uncompromising defence. Both teams struggled to make headway with ball in held. At halftime the score was 10-9 in Paul Roos’s favour. The Maroons’ only try scored in the first half came about when flyhalf Damian Willemse and fullback Joshua Vermeulen got onto the same wavelength resulting in a hard flat pass being made to the fullback who was had come up fast to join play on an unmarked line. The try was reminiscent of the type of backline game-breaking that had seen Paul Roos carve up a good Affies team at the start of the season but this time round it was the only time they successfully breached the Boishaai D.
The game got away from Paul Roos very early and very quickly in the second half. Removing a prolonged stoppage for a mild concussion injury to Vermeulen from the equation, it was literally three plays that caused the score to jump to 23-10 in Boishaai’s favour, as both Paul Roos wings had nightmares coping with two very different types of kicks.
The first try was the result of an excellent box kick into the 22m area by Boishaai scrumhalf Bradley Thain and chase by wing Tareeq February. A wicked bounce saw Paul Roos wing Jason Myburg get himself into all sorts of difficulty as February tackled him to the ground near the Paul Roos try-line with no support in sight. In hindsight, Myburgh should have held onto the ball for dear life and conceded a penalty instead of his action which was to he try roll over and place the ball on his goal-side of where he initial lay. In that awkward moment of twisting, he held ball away from his body, allowing February who rapidly got back to his feet, to easily snatched the ball away and dived over for the soft try, which fullback Jeanluc Cilliers then converted.
From the next kickoff, Thain momentarily went from hero to villain as he hoofed a ball out on the full, providing Paul Roos with a good field position, which in spite of lineout difficulties during the match, they managed to bring under control and channel to midfield for a carry up as part of what was starting to look like a promising attack after the recovery. However at that ruck is where it went miserably wrong. The ball popped out the side and nearest player to it, Boishaai no.8 Khanya Ncusane put his foot through it. He was also closest to the ball to get a second untidy looking hack at it before Paul Roos’s retreating wing Nico Leonard took over the job and somehow managed to kick the ball not once but twice in the direction of his own try-line. The wing had accounted for 20 of his teams tries this season to date but had absolutely no luck on this occasion. With the unpredictable motion of the ball doing all except to sit up nicely for him, Leonard’s second connection as he lost his balance was the best timed one of the lot and grubbered it well on its way to his try-line. Boishaai centre Manny Ras took over the chase and collected it near the line thanks to the type of kinder bounce than both Paul Roos wings would have wished for.
The wind had been knocked out of the Paul Roos sails and they never looked like scoring against Boishaai for the rest of the match. On the other end Cilliers accounted for two more penalties to go with his three in the first half and a personal contribution of nineteen points for the match.
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