TIME TO TAKE A WELL-EARNED BREATHER

May 2 • General News, Super Rugby • 1631 Views • Comments Off on TIME TO TAKE A WELL-EARNED BREATHER

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Wildeklawer, Oudtshoorn, Wynberg, Jeppe and two of the three rounds of Boland trials have come and gone and the Western Cape rugby public is facing a comparatively quiet week before it’s back to business as usual.

However, there are still two important games scheduled for Saturday 2 May 2015.

The fixture that is the more likely to have a major impact on the national rankings takes place in Bloemfontein, where Grey College entertain Paarl Boys’ High, who, for the first time in several years, find themselves ranked above their hosts.

The Free State giants have exhibited a certain amount of vulnerability this winter. Injuries or other excuses notwithstanding, they did let Diamantveld come back from 34-13 down to snatch a memorable 34-34 draw in Kimberley several weeks ago. Toss in their loss to Monnas (also at Diamantveld) on Monday and optimism in the Strepie camp should be on at least a mild rise.

Ironically, the most encouraging aspect of Boishaai’s performances this season has been that they haven’t really hit their straps yet. Unbeaten they remain, but they have still to produce what their demanding followers would term peak form.

Given the fairly trying programme they’ve had so far, this illustrates perfectly how well the side is being managed. They could indeed be forgiven this conservation of energy when one considers that in the two Saturdays after the Grey showdown, they visit in-form Rondebosch and host local rivals Boland Landbou.

Well, good luck to Sean and the boys. Those who can’t make it to the City of Roses can catch the game on DSTV channel 210 from 13:55.

In George Outeniqua welcome a HTS Drostdy side which is desperately short of competitive rugby.

Although a variety of factors has led several teams to call off matches against the Donkeys, one doubts whether their strength has ever been a factor. They might be almost as dauting up front as ever, but their backline, with one or two exceptions, is fairly ordinary.

Earll Douwrie at full-back, Gevin Scheepers on the wing and promising flyhalf André Swanepoel are going to find the likes of Manie Libbok, JP Duvenage and Logan Stoffels more than a handful, especially away from the comfort of Trappespark. And that’s not factoring in a Quaggas’ scrum anchored by concrete-block props Andrew Kuhn and Roux Swart.

The tea leaves point to a home win.

The handful of midweek matches yielded a few surprises.

On Wednesday 29 April 2015 a somewhat beleaguered Swartland side visited Brackenfell, who are enjoying a wonderful resurgence in their game, thanks largely to their corps of energetic young coaches.

And what an intriguing game it turned out to be ! In the wake of a string of sub-par performances, The Rockies had had it drilled into them that they should play to their strength, which, to put it bluntly, ends around number ten.

They doggedly stuck to their instructions so effectively that they actually led 3-0 at half-time !

Unfortunately for them, Brackenfell returned to the fray considerably wiser, but still only managed to cross their visitors’ line twice, through captain and flank Jean-Marc Fuchs and replacement front-ranker Erick Oosthuizen, the latter in the last two minutes.

In the final analysis, only some accurate tee-work by scrumhalf Branden de Kock and an iffy performance by the Rockies’ kicker handed the Brakke a relatively comfortably 21-3 victory.

Other significant achievements saw Labori beat Klein Nederburg 26-17 in central Paarl, Robertson take the laurels 18-13 against visitors Swellendam Secondary and Stellenbosch edge out hosts New Orleans 19-18.

Up in Oudtshoorn Langenhoven Gym scored in the dying stages to beat Montagu 22-19, in the process rounding off a good day for some sides languishing in the nether regions of the Team Performance chart.

Enjoy the respite; things go from room temperature to blazing hot, come Saturday 9 May 2015 !

Courtesy of Stoopstats

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