Paul Roos overcomes Grey College to finish 2024 season on a high
In front of a jam-packed roaring crowd filled with maroon blazers, second half strikes from Reuben Sendzul and Luke Oliver secured a hard-fought 2-0 victory for Paul Roos Gimnasium (PRG) over Grey College in a highly anticipated inter-schools derby on Friday night on the Maties AstroTurf in Stellenbosch.
Sendzul slotted a penalty stroke in the third chukka and Olivier put the cherry on the top for the home team with a late goal in fourth chukka.
Both sides were confident ahead of the showdown after both had produced outstanding seasons.
The hosts had lost only twice all season long, going down to Rondebosch Boys’ High in April before falling to South African College High School (SACS) a month later.
However, both of those defeats were on the road. At home, coach Michael Baker’s charges owned a pristine record.
Playing in Stellenbosch, they had overrun Wynberg Boys’ High 7-1, handed Paarl Boys’ High a 4-0 loss, defeated Bishops Diocesan College 2-0, cruised to an 8-0 win over Somerset College, and played to an enthralling 2-2 draw with SACS last month.
Baker, who introduced his philosophy of “Baker Ball” at Paul Roos this year had led PRG to an impressive season in his first as head of the hockey programme at the school, but one final hurdle awaited in the form of Grey College.
The Bloemfontein boys were eager to take a shot at Paul Roos after suffering a narrow 1-2 defeat in their derby in 2023. Their form was strong. In a midweek match, they had beaten Fichardtpark 4-0 to retain their Bloemfontein league title.
Before that success, they had finished as the runners-up at the Guschkie u18 Top Schools Tournament, going down 0-1 to Northwood School in the final.
However, a 1-0 victory Grey High, a 2-1 defeat of Affies, a 5-3 win over Selborne College in East London, and a 1-1 draw with Paarl Gimnasium would’ve assured coach Wayne Coetzee’s team that they could spoil the home side’s party.
In the first half of the contest on Friday evening, Grey successfully restricted Paul Roos, with their skipper Jaydon Leech and Wian du Plooy controlling matters for the visitors at the back.
There were opportunities for the adversaries to score in the second quarter, when both were awarded a penalty corner.
For PRG, a variation between Sendzul, and Christo Swanepoel was well handled by Grey, while Beor van Reenen made a spectacular save to keep out Matthias Visser’s drag flick on the other side of the turf.
Sendzul thought he had opened the scoring early in the third chukka after a thunderous reverse stick shot found its way into the back of the net. However, the goal was disallowed.
Minutes later, a scorching run by Barend Geldenhuys near the baseline forced the visitors into committing a foul, and the umpire signalled a penalty corner.
From the set piece, Sendzul’s drag flick struck Du Plooy’s arm on the goal line, and a penalty stroke was awarded. Sendzul took on the responsibility of handling the stroke and scored despite Wildré Lloyd diving in the right direction.
With one quarter to play, PRG held a 1-0 lead, but Grey kept probing as the game opened up. However, a late strike by Oliver, with less than two minutes remaining, sealed the win for Paul Roos.
“We knew it was going to be a physical game in the opening two chukkas and we would have to remain composed,” Sendzul told SuperSport Schools Plus after the match.
“We had to stick to our game plan. We had about two weeks to prepare for this game. We analysed Grey a lot, and I think what’s important is that when we got the opportunities we converted.
“The Grey boys always come out hard, and they fought again for their school, but I’m happy for the [Paul Roos] boys.”
Sendzul is one of nine players who will bid PRG farewell at the end of the year.
He, Beor van Reenen, Hano Basson, Louan van Zyl, Daniel Lurie, Keith Siebrits, Joshua Smit, Barend Geldenhuys, and Luke Oliver won their final caps for the Stellenbosch school.
The skipper believes that after an exceptional season, the seniors have succeeded in leaving the jersey in a “better place”.
“We spoke about leaving the jersey in a better place and we set standards for ourselves at the beginning of the season,” he said.
“For us to be able to get the outcome in this game means we’ve left it in a better place.
“I’m sure it will inspire the next generation into believing that we do indeed have one of the best hockey programmes in the country,” he concluded.
Results
u19A: Paul Roos 2-0 Grey College u19A
u19B: Paul Roos 2-1 Grey College u19B
u19C: Paul Roos 0-1 Grey College u19C
u19D: Paul Roos 6-0 Grey College u19D
u19E: Paul Roos 7-0 Grey College u19E
u16A: Paul Roos 2-1 Grey College u16A
u14A: Paul Roos 3-3 Grey College u14A
