Affies will host Grey College in a cold and wet Pretoria this afternoon in what many see as the fight for the crown of South Africa with both schools' 1stXV at the top of most of the rankings.
Affies and Grey College first met in 1923 with Grey College the winners (07-00). These two schools played against each other another forty-three times over the years with 2019 being the last, won once again by Grey College (50-28). Grey College won thirty-three matches, drew five and lost six times against their hosts up to date.
What will be more important to the Affies Head of Rugby, Ryno van der Merwe will be Affies' performances in all the other matches on the day. None of Affies' A teams could beat Grey College in 2019 with Grey College winning seventeen matches on the day, drawing one and losing nine. The rebuilding of Affies' rugby will be thoroughly tested and assessed at the end of tomorrow.
Both Affies' 1stXV, as well as Grey's 1stXV, are ranked as the best 1stXV in the country by various rugby website rankings and all agree that the winner tomorrow should end the season as the undisputed king of 2022.
Grey College have played ten matches so far in the 2022 season. They started of like a house on fire they set of with an unbeaten run of seven matches, including the 17-17 draw against Oakdale. Paarl Gim stopped Grey's unbeaten run with a 22-17 win in the last match at the Wildeklawer Sports Festival. Two great wins that took a lot of character followed against Selborne (38-20) and Boishaai (21-12).
Affies on the other hand had a shaky start to the 2022 season but remained unbeaten against Diamantveld (40-03), Helpmekaar (21-14), Paul Roos (24-18) and Durbanville (73-06). The visit to Garsfontein ended in tears after a close 19-20 loss in once again a disappointing manner. Five wins followed the Garsfontein hiccup which included the big win against Paarl Gim with 29-26 at Affies.
Grey College was criticised a lot for their all-out attacking mindset allowing their opponents to score a lot of points against them. During Wildeklawer Grey started to show a lot more willingness to earn their right to go wide and an improved their effort on the defence. This "cost" them a win against Paarl Gim and resulted in a much talked about come-from-behind win against Paarl Boishaai a week ago.
Affies on the other hand showed several weaknesses in their early matches with their lineouts and scrums the worst of the lot. At the Noord Suid Rugby Festival, they seemingly found their sweet spot, playing a fast but well-structured game using the driving maul to overpower their opponents with great effect. Although they lost to Garsfontein they showed steady growth to not only beat Paarl Gim but also to be reckoned as the best in the country. "Strangely" Affies started to show a tendency to attack at all costs which almost cost them the game against a well-structured defence of KES a week ago.
Affies becoming Grey and Grey becoming Affies? I know which game plan I prefer.
What will happen on Saturday? Only a fool will even attempt to predict the outcome. Therefore, let me give it a try. Grey College should dominate Affies in the scrums and lineouts while Affies' will look at their driving mauls as a base to attack from.
Affies' well-structured defence pattern, even under severe pressure, should make this a low scoring match with the result still up for grabs during the final minutes.
Affies' decision making during the last minutes against KES unfortunately did not convince, with them willing to risk a win in order to play their attacking game at all costs. Grey College, on the other hand, showed against Boishaai and Selborne that they know how to win a match with minutes to go.
The wet weather may be to the advantage of Affies as they are "used" to playing in wet conditions, however, showed against Helpmekaar and Garsfontein that they do struggle in wet conditions.
The head coaches of both sides are two young men who are backed up by most probably the best Heads of Rugby in the country. Their gameplans and decision making next to the field will be vital.
Therefore, two very well balanced teams will take the field playing rugby with passion, speed and aggression.
Who will win? Mmmm Grey College if ....... but Affies could also if .........................