Grey College digs deep to see out perfect season against Paul Roos
Grey College outplayed Paul Roos Gimnasium in Bloemfontein to bring a perfect end to the perfect season with a 28-20 victory over their old rivals.
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The historic Bloemfontein rugby factory has produced another special group of players this year who deserve to join the elite list of Grey College squads to end their season with a 100% winning rate.
Thanks to a brace of tries each by their eighth man, Keegan Scholtz, and hooker, Liam van Wyk, and the extras added expertly by their winger and captain for the day, Martin Botha, the Grey College first team ended the 2023 season with 16 wins in 16 games.
Scholtz was covering the back of the scrum, and Van Wyk was tasked with the goal-kicking duties because of the shuffled squad that had been entrusted with seeing out the season in the big derby, as six of Grey College’s regular starters were unavailable because they had been selected to the SA u18 team who triumphed against England (33-19) later that afternoon.
Their influential captain, JJ Theron (eighth man), was not available for the match, along with Ranon Fouche (prop), Jean Erasmus (prop), Christiaan van der Merwe (scrumhalf), Ian van der Merwe (flyhalf) and Marno Stopforth (lock).
Paul Roos lost their big lock, Riley Norton, to the national squad, but Norton will be back in action in the maroon jersey next year when he is in matric.
The boys from Stellenbosch fought valiantly, and the kicking boot of their star flyhalf, Lee-Jay Petersen, kept them within range of the top-ranked side in the country, ultimately to no avail, as the home team outmuscled Paul Roos and simply powered their way out of trouble.
Paul Roos beat Grey in Stellenbosch last year by 34-19, but since losing in the final of the World Schools Festival at the end of 2022, this Grey side has been unmatched.
The losing captain, Andreas Oosthuizen (flanker), and their sole try scorer, Ryan Jack (prop), were both in the team that beat Grey last year.
Jean-Henri Smith (flanker) also played in that game and got his retribution this year. Smith had an excellent game, along with the other Grey College loose forwards, Scholtz and Juan Venter (flanker).
The Grey legacy passes on to capable hands, as proven by the grade 11 hooker, Van Wyk’s contribution to his team’s success.
His little scrumhalf, Phillip Mclaren, was all over the field and handled himself expertly, and the big forwards all stood up to the challenge and dominated the visitors up front.
Paul Roos had some success with their driving maul, which led to their big prop, Jack, crashing over for their try, but Grey replied almost immediately, doing the exact same thing to the visitors, and never really let go of control of the game after that.
Petersen’s goal-kicking was immense, and that kept some pressure on the hosts, especially early in the second half when he got them to within three points.
Grey began preparing for this season in 2022 when they sent a team without matric students to compete at the World Schools Fest, where they made it to the finals, losing to Hamilton Boys’ High from New Zealand.
The extra time spent as a group paid dividends and Grey looked to be a step ahead of the competition from the very first game of the season.
They beat Hoërskool Trio 38-10 early on, and kept that form for the rest of the year, barely ever looking like they could lose.
Hoërskool Outeniqua did well to keep it tight, but even with a home-field advantage, in their centenary year, the Kwaggas came up short by 19-17.
Grey beat the two teams vying for the second spot on the rankings relatively comfortably, getting by Paarl Gimnasium with a 33-12 victory at the North/South Tournament in Pretoria and taking everything Garsfontein had to throw at them at the Wildeklawer Festival in Kimberley, and still winning by 23-9.
They also put up a record 60-19 against their age-old rivals, Affies, in Bloemfontein, as the local crowds got to celebrate their heroes on home soil for the first time after the school holidays.
Finishing the season with a perfect record and having six players selected to the national youth squad seems a fitting reward for what has been another remarkable year for Grey College from Bloemfontein.
Scorers:
Grey College 28 (20) – Tries: Keegan Scholtz (2), Liam van Wyk (2). Conversion: Martin Botha. Penalties: Botha (2). Paul Roos 20 (11) – Try: Ryan Jack. Penalties: Lee-Jay Petersen (5).
Other scores:
u19 – Grey College II 24, Paul Roos II 7; Grey College III 21, Paul Roos III 12.
u16 – Grey College 34, Paul Roos 26.
u15 – Paul Roos 30, Grey College 13.
u14 – Grey College 26, Paul Roos 15.
The 2023 season:
| # | nt_header_1 | nt_header_2 | nt_header_3 | nt_header_4 | nt_header_5 | nt_header_6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25/02/2023 | Grey College | 38 | Hoërskool Trio | 10 | President Steyn Sport Day |
| 2 | 11/03/2023 | Grey College | 71 | Welkom Gimnasium | 21 | Welkom |
| 3 | 25/03/2023 | Grey College | 52 | Marlow Landbou | 12 | Graeme Festival |
| 4 | 25/03/2023 | Grey College | 48 | St Andrew's College | 0 | Graeme Festival |
| 5 | 31/03/2023 | Grey College | 33 | Paarl Gimnasium | 12 | Noord/Suid |
| 6 | 03/04/2023 | Grey College | 37 | Maritzburg College | 24 | Noord/Suid |
| 7 | 15/04/2023 | Grey College | 19 | Outeniqua | 17 | George |
| 8 | 29/04/2023 | Grey College | 23 | Garsfontein | 9 | Wildeklawer |
| 9 | 01/05/2023 | Grey College | 33 | Stellenberg | 8 | Wildeklawer |
| 10 | 06/05/2023 | Grey College | 41 | Selborne College | 0 | Bloemfontein |
| 11 | 13/05/2023 | Grey College | 39 | Paarl Boys' High | 30 | Paarl |
| 12 | 20/05/2023 | Grey College | 60 | Affies | 19 | Bloemfontein |
| 13 | 27/05/2023 | Grey College | 31 | Monument | 10 | Krugersdorp |
| 14 | 29/07/2023 | Grey College | 38 | Grey High School | 17 | Gqeberha |
| 15 | 05/08/2023 | Grey College | 36 | Oakdale Landbou | 25 | Bloemfontein |
| 16 | 19/08/2023 | Grey College | 28 | Paul Roos Gimnasium | 20 | Bloemfontein |
