Maritzburg College welcomes Affies to Goldstone’s on Saturday, and a fantastic King Price Derby Series contest is on the cards. Both sides head into their annual showdown with identical records of nine wins and four defeats.
Catch the action on DStv Channel 216 and on SuperSport Schools
They’ve played three teams in common, with both beating Jeppe: Affies 78-10 and College 35-12, and both losing to Michaelhouse: Affies 27-29 and College 17-24. Outeniqua, though, edged out College 30-29 in Kimberley, while Affies scored a comfortable 55-26 win over the George school.
Maritzburg College produced two South African Schools’ players, Theo Boshoff and Olwethu Kosani, while Affies produced two SA Schools A players, Charl Els and Martin van Niekerk, after the Craven Week.
Notably, Kosani won’t be in action on Saturday, and both Boshoff and Els pack down at hooker. Their battle within a battle will be one to watch.
Affies had six players selected for the Craven Week, and College had three. Their third, scrumhalf Dom du Toit, though, is one of the best kickers in the game, and when margins are close, he is a match-winner.
Add another four players from Affies who made the Blue Bulls Academy Week side, and only one from College in the Sharks Academy Week-winning side, although the Sharks select an u17 team.
Rugby is, however, about much more than individual accolades. Most will favour Affies to win in Pietermaritzburg, but rugby is a team game, and Maritzburg College is a team that is more than the sum of its parts. Before ending the term with a loss at Michaelhouse, they had won five in a row, beating St Charles, DHS, Northwood, Hilton College, and Kearsney College.
Affies, though, has an active streak of five victories, defeating Outeniqua, Paarl Boys’ High, Jeppe, Grey College, and King Edward VII (KES).
They’ve run up big scores all season long, with a low of 24 in a win over Durbanville and a loss to Paarl Gimnasium.
College, meanwhile, has tightened up on defence since losing to Outeniqua, conceding just less than 17 points per game since. In their past six matches, Affies have averaged almost 47 points per game. Something’s got to give on Saturday.
Teams:
Maritzburg College vs Affies, Goldstone’s, Pietermaritzburg, at 14:00.
Maritzburg College: 15 Sandiswa Hadebe, 14 Lwanzo Vyambwera, 13 Luthando Dladla, 12 Brent Smith, 11 Matthew Harris, 10 Liyema Tsoko, 9 Dom du Toit, 8 Rory Stanton, 7 Caleb Sweetnam, 6 David Colenbrander, 5 JoshThompson, 4 Sean Jansen, 3 Alande Ngubane, 2 Theo Boshoff, 1 Mzwamandla Manana.
Affies: 15 Kyle van Staden, 14 Joshua Gouws, 13 Estian Marx, 12 Juan Ferreira, 11 Dehan Botha, 10 Reuben Smith, 9 Fourie Roberts, 8 Janno Geyser, 7 Caleb Pretorius, 6 Lohan Bitzer, 5 Reubenne Vlok, 4 Martin van Niekerk, 3 Hannes Nagel, 2 Charl Els, 1 Francois de Beer.
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