Paul Roos and Boland Landbou have unfinished business from last year
Paul Roos Gimnasium travel to the Agter-Paarl to face an in-form Boland Landbou as both teams look to improve on their 12-all draw last season.
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The last time Boland Landbou beat Paul Roos was in 2016, when their WP Academy Week captain and flanker, Heinrich Brendel, led his team to an impressive 32-22 victory in Stellenbosch
The hosts have been in excellent form of late, coming off to big wins after the holiday break.
They beat Paarl Boys’ High 26-22 for the first time since 2009 at the beginning of the term and backed up that performance by also seeing away with SACS 32-22 last weekend.
Their challengers have seemed like one of the top teams in the country all season though, and having lost only to Monument 44-26 and narrowly to Paarl Gimnasium 24-19, the Stellenboschers look set to finish the season in the top five if they can perform well this weekend before their big finale against Grey College in Bloemfontein next weekend.
They take on Boland Landbou without their electric centre, Samuel Badenhorst, who is in Trinidad and Tobago where he will be competing at the 2023 Commonwealth Youth Games as part of the SA U18 Sevens team as of Sunday.
The Maroon Machine still has a plethora of attacking options available though, with players like Keenan Stoffels (fullback), Keehan Etson (winger) and their lively little scrumhalf, Zeke January, who have been threatening all season.
The home team has no lack of pace with players like Albie Bester (centre), Enslin Claasen (winger) and Retagan van Rooi (fullback) who can keep up with the best, but their game will likely be focused around the likes of their big men like Hans Verster (flanker), Ruan Viviers (lock) and their stalwart hooker, Cilliers Viljoen, drawing in the Paul Roos attack and controlling the pace of the game.
The team from Stellenbosch’s SA Schools lock, Riley Norton, and his mates will have no problem with making the game physical though.
Norton, who is only in grade 11 this year and is an equally talented cricketer, has been extremely effective alongside his loose forwards, Reuben Kruger, Jean-Luc Joubert and Andreas Oosthuizen.
It’s safe to say that we can expect an extremely physical battle on Saturday, as neither team has shied away from taking on their opponents via the most direct route this year.
The teams are:
Boland Landbou vs Paul Roos at 12:05:
Boland Landbou: 15 Lyle Lewis, Wehan Lume, 13 Ruan Jongsma, 12 Albie Bester, 11 Enslin Claasen, 10 Retagan van Rooi, 9 Turlon Adams, 8 AJ van der Merwe, 7 Alru Gouws, 6 Hans Verster, 5 Ruan Viviers, 4 Karst Smits, 3 Pieter de Jager, 2 Cilliers Viljoen, 1 Christoff Etzebeth.
Paul Roos: 15 Keenan Stoffels, 14 Keehan Etson, 13 Hugo Coetzee, 12 Phillip Groenewald, 11 Marco Odendaal, 10 Lee-Jay Petersen, 9 Zeke January, 8 Reuben Kruger, 7 Jean-Luc Joubert, 6 Andreas Oosthuizen, 5 Riley Norton, 4 Charl Hollwill, 3 Ryan Jack, 2 Christian de Villiers, 1 Oliver Reid.
