Grey College outmuscle Welkom Gim in Bloemfontein
A hat-trick of tries by the lively Grey College hooker, Liam van Wyk, and a dominant second-half performance by the home team saw them to a convincing 52-5 victory over Welkom Gimnasium on Saturday in Bloemfontein.
Watch the game again on SuperSport Schools – Register now – Link to the tournament
The visiting Gimmies started the game off strongly, thwarting Grey’s initial onslaught, with their talisman Renaldo Kiewiet keeping the hosts at bay with his educated boot.
The Welkom outfit enjoyed plenty of possession in the first 10 minutes and made the Grey defence scramble to keep them from crossing the try line. But it was Van Wyk who opened the scoring with an intercept try as Welkom Gim were mounting an attack. Alzeadon Felix added the extras.
Welkom went straight back on offence, however, and after being held up over the line once, Kganya Molalo (hooker) was able to barrel over to reduce the deficit to two points.
After the first 30 minutes, the momentum started noticeably shifting in favour of the Grey boys, with Pretorius Ekeji (winger) powering through the Welkom defenders to increase Grey’s buffer, before Van Wyk scored his second try of the day.
What was most impressive about the Grey team was how quickly they adjusted to nullify the Welkom attack, and how hard they worked to rectify their own errors.
Dian Venter (prop) offered a strong ball-carrying option, and he and the rest of the forwards were able to gain the upper hand over their opponents up front, which enabled Grey to set the pace in the second half.
Van Wyk completed his hat-trick six minutes after coming back from the break, before more tries by his school captain, Pieter van der Merwe (centre), Philip McLaren (scrumhalf), Ruben Cilliers (winger) and Xander Smit (flanker), powered Grey to a decisive win.
Felix knocked over six out of the eight conversions, some from challenging positions, which bodes well for the Free State side as they prepare to jump into their season in earnest when they travel to Pretoria to compete in the North/South tournament from 22 March.
To their credit, the Gimmies never stopped probing at the Grey defence whenever they had the ball in hand. As soon as Grey settled into their structures, though, it was evident that the Bloemfontein powerhouse will again be a difficult nut to crack this season, as they set out to continue an unbeaten run, which began in 2022.
Welkom will take positives out of their first 20 minutes, and they will endeavour to fix some of the smaller mistakes that broke their rhythm at crucial points. But that was also a by-product of the pressure placed on them by the Grey defenders.
Welkom Gimnasium fronts up to Glenwood in Bethlehem next weekend. Then they travel to Krugersdorp to face Monument before joining Grey at the North/South in Pretoria.
Scorers
Grey College 52 (21) – Tries: Liam van Wyk (3), Pretorius Ekeji, Pieter van der Merwe, Philip McLaren, Ruben Cilliers, Xander Smit. Conversions: Alzeadon Felix (6) Welkom Gimnasium 5 (5) – Try: Kganya Molalo.
u15A: Grey 95-0 Welkom Gim
U14A: Grey 55-5 Welkom Gim
