Marais Viljoen shines against Volkies
Hoërskool Marais Viljoen High School hosted Potchefstroom Volkskool in Alberton on Saturday.
HOËRSKOOL Marais Viljoen High School hosted Potchefstroom Volkskool on February 23 with both schools playing some entertaining rugby, and both teams making some early season mistakes.
Marais Viljoen issued an early warning to their upcoming opponents as they won eight of the nine games and their third team drew 12 all.
They won all the A-team matches – u-14A won 27-0, u-15A won 31-11 and u-16A won 27-07. The u-14A and u-15A teams were difficult to judge as they are still trying to overcome the primary school ‘type’ of rugby where the big boys take every ball up, trying to smash their opponent’s defence into submission.
Their u-16s played a quicker game where the influence of individual stars becomes less important than that of the team and game plan. The score may be flattering Marais Viljoen a bit as Potch Volkies were unable to convert several opportunities in the Marais Viljoen 22m.
Both sides were unable to execute a proper exit plan from their 22m area and rather opted to try and run them out of trouble when a properly executed kick upfield could have made it so much easier to escape.
The first team match started with Marais Viljoen playing the quicker game plan with fly half Rehan le Maitre igniting the fire at the back. Marais Viljoen was maybe guilty at times of over-elaborating a bit at the back in order to confuse the rock-solid defence of Potch Volkies, but the interplay between the forwards and backs of Marais Viljoen must be mentioned. When match fitness and concentration improves, their opponents will need to be ever alert on defence or a white cloud will overrun them.
Le Maitre showed why is so highly rated and scored the first two tries of the match with some magic stepping and also converted one to give Marais Viljoen a well-deserved lead of 12-0 at the break.
The second half saw the heavier Potch Volkies using their size to slow down the quick pace Marais Viljoen players. Marais Viljoen used their chances to score when the opportunity appeared and scored two more tries in the second half.
Potch Volkies, unfortunately, could not convert their opportunities to score due to bad decision-making and the rock-solid defence from Marais Viljoen.
It must be mentioned that Potch Volkies lost two backline players due to the aggressive running of the Marais Viljoen backline.
When the final whistle sounded Marais Viljoen was deservedly the winner with 24-7.
Scorers:
Marais Viljoen: le Maitre (2), Dippenaar, Cane. Conversions: le Maitre (2)
Potch Volkies: van Niekerk. Conversion: unknown
Report by Carl Fabian
For free daily local news in the south, visit our sister newspapers Alberton Record, Comaro Chronicle, Southern Courier and Get it Joburg South Magazine.
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. You can also email our offices on cvdwalt@caxton.co.za, juliem@caxton.co.za or luckyt@caxton.co.za
Get regular news updates sent directly to your inbox: Newsletter-Signup
