Outeniqua too good for Framesby

A hat-trick from wing Remu Malan saw Outeniqua record a comfortable 39-8 victory over Framesby in George on Saturday .

And so we are back after the midyear holidays and national weeks, and the schools are all in the last straight before the end of the rugby year. This has been a thrilling year and I believe it comes to a head on Saturday at Faure Street to crown the number one side in the country.

But I digress, this is actually a report on the Outeniqua-Framesby game and I have to be quite honest when I say that I expect no-one, except the Framesby supporters, had any belief that Framesby could actually upset Outeniqua this year. They have had a fairly good season, but Outeniqua are having one of their best seasons in recent years. I haven’t seen an OHS team that is so united in all the years I have been following Southern Cape Schools rugby and the evidence can be seen in their results.

With both Warwick Galant and Duhan van der Merwe away on national trials the thought was that the backline on Saturday would not have quite the bite that it usually has. But step up Marius Venter and Remu Malan. These two players admirably filled the shoes of their compatriots with Remu going on to score a hat-trick of tries. It seems that every time he starts on the wing he scores three, and two of those tries were due to excellent work by him, stepping and fighting his way through defenders. He took over from Leighton “Soda” Eksteen at scrumhalf in the second half and his service from the base of the scrum was very good. This was one of the best games I have seen him play. I can understand the interest the Blue Bulls have shown in him. But I will make a comment on that at the end of this report.

Marius Venter, like Remu, filled Warwick’s boots admirably, his defence is very good and he took the crash ball with aplomb. He had his hands full at times with his opposite number Jaco Barnado, who had a good game I thought in a backline that was outclassed by their opposition.

Comment must also be made on Michael Cloete who was on the other wing. His defence is quite superb, an area that I have always felt Duhan is slightly lacking in, and he was strong on attack.

On the issue of the Framesby backline it must be noted that their regular halfback pairing of Joubert Botha and Ernst Stapelberg were not available because of injury and this was evident in the game, as their backline, when presented with the ball, seemed somewhat directionless. One wonders what might have been the impact had these two players been available as in the tight loose Framesby were very competitive and they had some strong drives with the rolling maul and won a fair number of penalties with Outeniqua going off their feet in this facet of play.

The Framesby captain and hooker Anrich Alberts (as per the programme) had a particularly good game and in this respect was ably supported by Ruan de Jager (loosehead) and Jacques du Preez (8). I thought that Jacques du Preez was Framesby’s best player on the day. He was a constant threat with ball in and hand and he tackled all afternoon long.

A comment must be made here on the Outeniqua pack because as I understand it they stood up to larger opponents last week against Paarl Gim and have been doing this all season. And again on Saturday, by sight it must be said, it seemed that they were again up against a larger pack and again they stood their man admirably. Mention must be made of two areas that Outeniqua was impressive and the first is the scrumming. Both Maritn ”Petou” Oosthuizen and Stefaan “Belelie” Grundling were immense in the scrums, but Martin was particularly efficient and Free State must be looking forward to his acquisition next year. He is going to the province that churns out the props year after year and this is a guy that much be watched. Remember this name.

Another mention must be made of the line-outs as this columnist noted the Outeniqua line-out as a point of concern in the early season and wondered how strong they would be at Craven Week as the line-out unit of Outeniqua was in effect the South Western Districts unit. But all kudos to the coaching staff and players (particularly Roche Steenkamp and Marne Botha who subbed him in the second half) as the line-out work was superb. They stole seven of the Framesby line-outs (Emile Cloete was the star here) and lost only one of their own, and this on a knock-on rather than an outright win by the opposition.

The one area that Framesby seemed to have some parity was in the loose and tight loose and while the loosies of Outeniqua did their usual sterling work, Framesby was quite competitive here as I have mentioned.

All in all, the match was fairly one-sided as the score reflects and it seemed to ease off in both pace and intensity in the second half, with a couple of late scores, one being a solo effort by Dewald “Japie” Human, stretching the Outeniqua lead.

Next week, while there is this little match down in Paarl, there is also an “Interskole” in Oudtshoorn. Struisiedag is I think going to be a rather one-sided affair this year as Outeniqua is just that good and to add to that Oudtshoorn’s mercurial coach, Bernie Deacon, has been ill this year and has not had the same impact he usually does on his side. Might I have just laid the 'commentator's curse' on OHS? I think not.

A comment must be made here with respect to the Blue Bulls and their spending spree that seems to happen at Under-16 level and “steals” players from other unions. Speaking to a senior (very senior) Western Province official a few weeks back, his question was “Where do they get all the money?” I am not sure what service they offer SA rugby as it seems that they have “bought” up the entire next generation of centres among others. Now my question is, ”Are we not losing some great talent because they are not getting game time that they might be getting elsewhere?” Another Johan Sadie situation?

Just saying.

Finally, my heartiest congratulation to both Warwick Galant and Duhan van der Merwe on their elevation to national squad status. An exceptional achievement and there is a great deal of pride in Kwaggaland at this achievement!

Scorers:

For Outeniqua

Tries: Wilhelm Esterhuizen, Remu Malan 3, Dewald Human

Con: Leighton Eksteen 4

Pens: Leighton Eksteen 2

For Framesby

Tries: Jacques du Preez

Pen: Divo Welgemoed (50 metres out)

By Deon de Waal