DAY 3| Boys| Grobler applauds Gim’s mental strength as they reach Belgotex final
Paarl Gimnasium head coach Jacques Grobler applauded the mental strength and grit shown by his side as it reached the Cup final of the Belgotex Sport Easter Hockey Tournament in the southern suburbs of Cape Town on Friday.
The defending champions booked their main game after a rollicking 9-1 thrashing of Namibia’s Private School Swakopmund.
They will take on Worcester Gymnasium for the title after they edged out Stellenberg 4-3 from the penalty spot, with the teams having ended regulation time level at 1-1.
Before their semi-final clash, Gim was certainly the most impressive side in the boys’ section, dominating throughout the pool stages as they took top spot in Pool C after their four matches.
Their first stern challenge of the weekend came on Friday morning when they tackled Somerset College in the quarterfinals.
Gim struggled to break the deadlock against a well-organised team and trailed 0-1 going into the final chukka.
They were kept in the fight by a late John Coetzee goal, which tied the scores at 1-1 and led to penalties. Coach Grobler’s side, despite missing their first, clinched the shootout 3-1, to progress to the final four.
There, they met another side that had been impressive throughout the weekend, fellow pool winners, Private School Swakopmund. That mattered little to Paarl Gimnasium though.
They opened the scoring in the first chukka through Juan Swanepoel and skipper LD Nel added another. James De Jager, then, pulled one back for Private School early in the second chukka, but it was quickly cancelled out by another goal from Swanepoel, before Stefan Wiehahn scored to make it 4-1 at the halfway mark.
The third chukka delivered only one goal with Paarl Gim’s skipper, Nel, getting a well-deserved double and extending his side’s advantage to 5-1.
Grobler’s charges raised the tempo in the fourth and final chukka, scoring a whopping four goals while not conceding.
Nel completed a hattrick, John Coetzee struck for a second time, and Neil De Wet also got his name on the score sheet to complete a 9-1 drubbing.
Commenting on his team’s performances throughout the tournament, and addressing how they would approach the final, coach Grobler told SuperSport Schools: “We were successful in the pool stages. We got the results we were looking for, but it wasn’t always the flow, the connection, and creativity we wanted.
“This morning, we had a very tough quarterfinal that we luckily sneaked through at the end, but it was a game we needed to reset mentally.
“The semi-final was what we were looking for. It was more convincing from the boys, and they played with more freedom.
“We won’t overcomplicate the final. We know what we’re good at. We will try and play to what we know, and to our strengths,” he concluded.
The second semi-final was a battle between the Cape sides, Stellenberg and Worcester Gymnasium.
The match was decided on penalties after it had ended tied at 1-1, courtesy of goals by Joshua Coetzee, for Worcester Gymnasium, and Christian Spence, for Stellenberg.
Stellies will battle Private School Swakopmund in the third-place playoff, with Worcester advancing to the title-deciding match.
All the action will be LIVE on SuperSport Schools.
RESULTS
Cup Quarterfinals
Private School Swakopmund 2-1 Outeniqua
Paarl Gimnasium 1(3)-1(1) Somerset College
Fairmont 0(1)-0(2) Stellenberg
York High 0-2 Worcester Gymnasium
Plate Quarterfinals
SACS 1-0 St John’s College (Harare)
Kingswood College 4-1 St George’s Diocesan School
Hudson Park 1-2 Durbanville
Paarl Boys’ High 2-1 Windhoek High
Shield Quarterfinals
DF Malan 3-1 Stirling High
Hoërskool Nelspruit 2-0 Hoërskool Rustenburg
Monument 3-1 Langenhoven Gimnasium
Curro Durbanville 1-2 Hermanus
Super Bowl Quarterfinals
Middelburg 1(3)-1(0) Bridge House
Belville High 3-0 Windhoek Gymnasium
Stellenbosch 3-1 Redhill
Northcliff 2-1 Woodridge
Bowl Quarterfinals
Hugenote 1-0 Pro-Ed Akademie
Hoërskool Punt 1-0 The Settlers
Oudtshoorn 0-3 Hoërskool Robertson
Hoërskool Swartland 0-1 Strand High School
Cup semi-finals
Private School Swakopmund 1-9 Paarl Gimnasium
Stellenberg 1(3)-1(4) Worcester Gymnasium
Plate semi-finals
SACS 0-2 Kingswood College
Durbanville 0(0)-0(2) Paarl Boys’ High
Shield semi-finals
DF Malan 1-0 Hoërskool Nelspruit
Monument 1-2 Hermanus
Super Bowl semi-finals
Middelburg 0(2)-0(1) Belville
Stellenbosch 0-2 Northcliff
Bowl semi-finals
Hoërskool Punt 2-1 Hugenote
Hoërskool Robertson 0-3 Strand High
29th-32nd place Play-off:
Bridge House 1-0 Windhoek Gymnasium
Redhill 1-0 Woodridge College
21st-24th place play-off:
Stirling 1-3 Hoërskool Rustenburg
Langenhoven Gimnasium 0-1 Curro Durbanville
13th-16th place play-off:
St John’s College 8-0 St George’s Diocesan
Hudson 0-3 Windhoek High School
37th -40th place play-off:
Pro-Ed Akademie 2-1 The Settlers
Oudtshoorn 1-5 Hoërskool Swartland
5th -8th place play-off
Somerset College 1-0 Outeniqua
Fairmont 1-0 York High
Fixtures on the Hartleyvale Astroturf
Saturday, 30 March
09:10 – Bowl final: Middelburg vs Northcliff; 11:30 – Shield final: Hermanus vs DF Malan; 13:50 – Plate final: Kingswood College vs Durbanville; 16:10 – 3rd/4th playoff: Private School Swakopmund vs Stellenberg; 18:30 – Cup final: Paarl Gimnasium vs Worcester Gymnasium; 19:40 – Prize Giving
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