Riley Norton leads Paul Roos into new season against Drostdy
Paul Roos Gimnasium opens its season by welcoming HTS Drostdy to the Markotter on Saturday.
Though the hosts definitely have history on their side in this fixture, the Donkeys will be hoping to build on their impressive pre-season form and score an early upset when they travel to Stellenbosch.
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Leading the Maroon Machine into the 2024 season is their dual SA Schools star, Riley Norton, who recorded the elite feat in his grade 11 year.
The Stellenbosch side is further bolstered by the experience of returning players like Truspe Schoeman, Reuben Kruger, Samuel Badenhorst and Keenan Stoffels, and it will take a mighty effort by Drostdy to cause PRG to stumble.
The boys from Worcester started their season with a bang at their home sports weekend, comfortably beating Schoonspruit (35-5) and Melkbostrand (65-0), to register 100 points while conceding only five.
This Paul Roos team, however, has been preparing since the end of last year, when they were given a opportunity to tour to Ireland, where they maintained a perfect record against their Irish opposition and enjoyed valuable time together as a unit.
With games against Affies and Waterkloof at the NMI Toyota North South Rugby Tournament around the corner, a good performance on Saturday will give Paul Roos momentum as they head into a challenging run of fixtures. Drostdy, however, are no pushovers and will relish the opportunity to steal the spotlight in Stellenbosch.
Paul Roos Gimnasium vs HTS Drostdy at 14:15:
Paul Roos Gimnasium: 15 Keenan Stoffels, 14 Divan Lamprecht, 13 Matthew Kleyn, 12 Samuel Badenhorst, 11 Myburgh Louw, 10 Joshua Dampies, 9 Adeeb Boraine, 8 Reuben Kruger, 7 Gert Kemp, 6 Malan Erasmus, 5 Riley Norton, 4 Truspe Schoeman, 3 Luchwayito Mbaliswana, 2 Altus Rabe, 1 Oliver Reid.
HTS Drostdy: 15 Hareld Mbuqa, 14 Juvan Janse van Rensburg, 13 Aljay Skippers, 12 Ruben von Solms, 11 Bernedict George, 10 Stefan van der Merwe, 9 Callum van Staden, 8 MJ van der Westhuizen, 7 Ewald Vorster, 6 Darius Venter, 5 Morné Coetzer, 4 Pietie Erasmus, 3 Tertius Wantenaar, 2 Daniel Mellet, 1 Walter Schoeman.
