Paul Roos too strong for Bishops
Paul Roos came to the Piley Field Rees Field in Rondebosch and beat Bishops 36-14 on Saturday, scoring five tries to two.
Bishops, as it was then, played a team from Stellenbosch, now Paul Roos, in 1878 - or at least so the record goes. That means it is an ancient match, one which over the years Bishops have won more often than the Stellenboschers, frequently unexpectedly as if they have been able to put some sort of jinx over their friends across the flats. That certainly did not happen on Saturday.
Paul Roos had an ordinary start to the season but of late have established themselves as the top school in the Western Province with wins over Paarl Gim, Paarl Boys' High, Rondebosch, SACS and now Bishops.
Paul Roos made maximum use of their strong forwards to force Bishops into submission. Their first try, credited to lock Emile Cloete, was from a driving maul. Their second try by wing Edwill van der Merwe started when they took the ball of Bishops. The visitors now led 14-0.
Cornel scored a try for Bishops whose running game produced unfinished opportunities and Aidynn Cupido goaled a penalty to make the half-time score 17-7.
In the second half the Paul Roos centres enjoyed what their forwards gave them set up scored three tries - two by Nico Leonard and one by Aidynn Cupido to take the score out to 36-7.
Lock Sam Mitchell scored the last try of a match in which the score did not tell the full story of Bishops's endeavour.
Scorers:
For Paul Roos:
Tries: Emile Cloete, Edwill van der Merwe, Aidynn Cupido, Nico Leonard 2
Cons: Aidynn Cupido 4
Pen: Aidynn Cupido
For Bishops:
Tries: Cornel Smith, Sam Mitchell
Cons: Cornel Smith 2
Teams
Paul Roos: 15 Morne Taljaard, 14 Joshua Vermeulen, 13 Nico Leonard, 12 Edrich Venter, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Aidynn Cupido, 9 Calvin Nell, 8 Barend Smith, 7 Mitchell Carstens, 6 Jacques Oosthuizen, 5 Emile Cloete, 4 Louis Conradie, 3 Jerome Korf, 2 Jacques van Zyl, 1 Muammir Salie
Bishops: 15 Gerard Pieterse (captain), 14 Keenan Jacobs, 13 Justin Heunis, 12 Cornel Smith, 11 Jesse Wilensky, 10 Jez McIntyre, 9 Justin Rowe-Roberts, 8 Suad Abrahams, 7 Nic Bester, 6 Mervano da Silva, 5 Sam Mitchell, 4 Max Linley, 3 Jean-Pierre Smith, 2 Justin Carey, 1 William Day