Durbies look to assert their dominance in the northern suburbs against Brackenfell
Hoërskool Durbanville and Brackenfell battle it out for supremacy in the northern suburbs on Saturday when they meet in Durbanville.
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Both teams have had impressive seasons and this game will go a long way to determining who the top dogs in the area really are.
Durbies have put up more than 50 points against five of their opponents this year and can boast with some big names on the list of teams they’ve beaten, including a historic 26-25 victory against Paarl Boys’ High earlier in the season, and the likes of Rondebosch Boys’ High (35-19), HTS Drostdy (61-3) and Hoërskool Bellville (72-12) more recently.
They are without their star centre, James Nero, who is in Trinidad and Tobago where he will be competing at the Commonwealth Youth Games as part of the SA u18 Sevens team from Sunday but they have more than enough pace in the backline to cover for him this weekend.
Valrhino Olckers (fullback), Sean Klein (flyhalf) and Jayden Nell (eighth man) are some of the other speedsters to look out for in the Durbie team this weekend, and their scrumhalf, Monray Daars, ties it all together expertly and guides the attack.
Nell already received and signed a contract from SARU Sevens committing him to the South African Sevens setup for next year.
Brackenfell won 10 games in a row this season, before having their streak broken last weekend when they came up short 21-14 against Hugenote in Wellington.
They will need to bounce back quickly and be at their best this weekend to contain a Durbanville side who have punished any signs of weakness this season.
The visitors’ vice-captain and centre, Xavier Valentine, has shown that he can also get around the pitch and will be valuable for Brackenfell on Saturday.
Among the forwards, lock, Tiaan Crous and captain and eighth man, Raiden Rodney, are two players to keep an eye on as the Brakkies will look to dominate the contact point to control the pace of the game against Durbanville who will want to keep the ball alive and in the hands of their backline.
The teams are:
Hoërskool Durbanville vs Brackenfell at 12:20:
Hoërskool Durbanville: 15 Valrhino Olckers, 14 Damian Hendrikse, 13 Lian Jordaan, 12 Shadwill Engelbrecht, 11 Cayden Louw, 10 Shaun Klein, 9 Monray Daars, 8 Jayden Nell, 7 Evert Bouwer, 6 William Goldswain, 5 Liam Baird, 4 Rikus Saaiman, 3 Anru van Rhyn, 2 Devon Strydom, 1 Wian Koen.
Brackenfell: 15 Caden Davids, 14 Randy Kabamba, 13 Cayden Scheffers, 12 Xavier Valentine, 11 Liam Lucas, 10 Sebastiaan Hahn, 9 Mickyle Smith, 8 Raiden Rodney, 7 Luhn van Wyk, 6 Nicholas van Wyk, 5 Ntsika Njomgonkulu, 4 Tiaan Crous, 3 Craigan Matroos, 2 Liyema Sithetho, 1 Johan Groenewald.
Other fixtures: 11:45 – Tygerberg vs Swartland; 11:50 – Hoërskool Bellville vs Stellenberg; 12:00 – HTS Bellville vs DF Malan; 12:10 – Labori t Fairbarn.
