Paarl Gim 22 - 17 Grey College
A 'test match' to bring down the curtain at Wildeklawer
Grey College players and boys stunned after defeat to Paarl Gim for a second year in a row.
Photo credit: Grey College Facebook
With the Autumn Nations Series underway in the Northern Hemisphere, it feels appropriate to review a ‘test match’ of a First XV clash which took place under the lights at the Wildeklawer Festival in Kimberley in May.
Grey College made the short trip to the Big Hole and there was a huge build up to the final clash of the week, with Paarl Gim eager to correct their surprise defeat to Affies a week before. Grey suffered a similar shock on the same day, when they were held to a 17 - 17 draw in Riversdale against Oakdale. Despite those surprise results, it was likely that the winner of this clash would end the schoolboy season as the Number 1 ranked side in the country.
Both sides were without a key member of their side, with Grey missing star hooker Juanre Breitenbach, while Gim had the exciting Grade 11 Kyle Smith deputising for Liam Koen at flyhalf.
Paarl Gim drew first blood from their first entry into the opposition 22m when Grey captain Tat Botha conceded a penalty for going off his feet at the ruck, centre PA van Niekerk couldn’t miss and it was 3 - 0 to Gim after 5 minutes.
After a couple of handling errors by Grey in the Gim half, they were bailed out by their pack when they were awarded a penalty at a scrum in the Gim 22. Scrumhalf Caleb Abrahams took the penalty quickly and the men from the Western Cape hadn’t retreated in making the tackle and Grey’s flyhalf Bradley Giddy stepped up to slot the easy penalty to bring the scores level after a cagey opening 12 minutes.
A series of errors from both sides then punctuated the next 10 minutes until Gim exerted some sustained pressure on the Grey line. Shaun Ray was carving on the counter attack from fullback, with the forwards bashing away at the Grey defence, only to be careless in contact in turning the ball over a number of times.
A key moment in the match occurred in the 23rd minute when star Grey lock JF van Heerden was left dazed and concussed after getting his head on the wrong side of the tackle from another Ray burst and he was forced to leave the field, thereby largely nullifying Grey’s lineout for the rest of the match.
The teams were largely nullifying each other, in a game that pitted two contrasting styles against each other. That was until near the end of the first half, when Grey did what they always do, score from a counter attack against the run of play!
From a good Gim lineout maul, the ball was recycled through 7 phases into the Grey 22m before livewire Gim scrumhalf Liedeman fed centre Janeil Losper who gallingly spurned a two man overlap with the line at his mercy. Losper knocked on in contact and the loose ball was pounced upon by electric Grey wing Alfondso Isaacs who broke free of the cross cover before releasing outstanding centre Ulrich Wahl. Wahl had the presence of mind to sum up the situation and put in an expertly weighted infield kick which the flying Janco Scheepers collected to score next to the poles. It was a classic 14 point swing and, coming on cusp of the halftime hooter, could have broken the Gim side who had been close to scoring on several occasions in the first half.
Grey led 10 - 3 at the break, with ex-Grey College pupil and commentator Johan Smith almost having an embolism in the aftermath of that superb Grey try. I really struggle when he commentates on the side from Bloem. But I digress.
Whatever Pieter Rossouw and his coaching staff said at half-time seemed to galvanise the Gim team who came out firing in the second period, taking the lead through two quick tries.
The first of which came from a dominant lineout maul, before Liedeman broke on the blindside and released excellent wing Enzo Labuschagne who finished well in the corner. van Niekerk nailed the difficult conversion to level the scores at 10-all.
Soon after that, it would get even better for Gim when they showed excellent ball retention from a Grey 22m drop out, taking the ball through multiphase as they continued their counter attacking approach into the opposition 22m. After drawing the Grey defence close to the rucks there was space out wide to the left and when industrious openside Willie de Waal was found in the backline, he offloaded brilliantly off the ground for left wing Johandre van Niekerk to score and make the score 15 - 10 in Gim’s favour.
Giant Grade 11 lock lock Danio Botha was a willing ball carrier all day for Paarl Gim
The match was characterised by incredibly physical defence from both sides, as well as a jackal threat all across the park, clear evidence of how well coached these two schools are. Gim were comfortable in taking the ball through multiple phases, whereas Giddy resorted to kicking a lot of ball away in the form of up and unders on the tall Labuschagne, who neutralised them well all evening. Grey inside centre Alec McIntyre was also asked to take a lot of crashball in midfield.
With about seven minutes to play, the game looked dead and buried when the outstanding Ray scored after hitting a brilliant line off Smith to go over untouched when the Grey defence was stretched this way and that. van Niekerk was again successful with the conversion and the scoreboard suddenly read 22 - 10, making it 19 unanswered points in the second stanza for Gim!
Gim would have known that Grey would battle to the end and so it proved. Grey fullback Scheepers returned a Gim exit with interest in going on a mazy run, beating four defenders and causing panic amongst the defence, before offloading to an alert Abrahams who was finally stopped about 10m out form the line. Again, Smith was at risk of having a heart attack. After reserve prop Jean Erasmus was stopped in a try-saving tackle by Labuschagne, the ball was recycled for wiry flank Lukas Meyer to go over with no one in front of him to make the score 22 - 17. It was all set up for a grandstand finish with barely two minutes left on the clock.
Grey retained possession from the restart and were awarded a penalty for the tackler not rolling away and went in search of the touchline for one last throw of the dice. Giddy found a good touch and Grey had a lineout 30m from the Gim tryline, with the crowd on the edge of their seats. Meyer and Wahl were used to bash the ball up as Grey kept the ball into the red zone before Losper made the most timely intervention in getting over the ball to win the match winning jackal penalty with Gim under severe pressure.
PA van Niekerk took the ball and kicked to touch to leave Grey wondering what could have been and secure another famous win for Paarl Gim to end a brilliant week of rugby with another example of the extraordinary levels our schoolboys reached every week in 2022.
For Gim, Smith outplayed Giddy who would gain national honours later in the season, and Ray and Labuschagne were excellent in the backfield. Danio Botha got through a mountain of work up front, as did Luca Bakkes with his carries.
Meyer was excellent for Grey all over the field and if they kept the ball in hand more the result may have been different. Abrahams was often caught in possession as he has the habit of taking a number of steps before passing. van Heerden was imposing at the lineout until his concussion.
Schoolboy rugby was again the winner in this titanic clash.