The appointment of Ryno vd Merwe as the Head of Rugby in late 2019 created a lot of excitement and expectations from the Affies community. Unfortunately, Covid19 severely disrupted his first two seasons in charge, which was, to say the least not memorable when the 1stXV results are discussed.
Admittingly the two years since his appointment saw some great juniors deciding to enrol at Affies and the same can be said of the 2022 intake. Unfortunately, the two age groups that will play 1stXV rugby failed to impress nor dominate in their years preceding the 2022 season. The building blocks to return Affies to a regular top 5 school is in place from 2023 onwards.
The appointment of Ruan Jacobs as the head coach of the 1stXV team has raised many eyebrows. Everybody expected that Ryno vd Merwe will still coach the 1stXV in what seemingly will still be a "challenging" year for the 1stXV.
Looking at the fixture list for 2022 it is evident that the 2022 season was carefully planned. It was certainly a difficult exercise to balance the players' interests, historical opponents and supporters demands in an already demanding season. However, Affies will have to balance their "obsession" to play historical opponents with the performances of said opponents on the field.
Their decision to include Garsfontein and Menlopark in their 2022 season is commendable but also extremely dangerous. Should Affies fail to dominate against these two powerhouses in Pretoria they will find it difficult to attract the top local talent which was a formality five or six years ago. Winning is therefore not negotiable.
Affies start the season "slow" with an easy fixture against Diamantveld in Kimberley whereafter they will travel to Helpmekaar in what could prove, as, in recent years, a very tough assignment as Helpmekaar once again will have a powerful and talented 1stXV. At the Noord/Suid festival will see them play Paul Roos and Durbanville whereafter Garsfontein awaits.
Boland Landbou at the st John's Festival on Monday will be a stern test for Affies.
The visit of Paarl Gim to the Plaas in April should be a lot more competitive than their previous visit to Pretoria a few years ago. The result of the 1stXV clash unfortunately will not be something the host will remember for a long time.
The Wildeklawer will not see the annual battle between Affies and Paarl Boishaai. However, Oakdale which will also test Affies will be their first opponent whereafter Glenwood awaits.
The rest of the year is made up of the "normal" opponents with the hosting of an extremely dangerous Grey College the highlight of the year, depending on what side of the fence you will be looking at the results.
One or two "unexpected" losses could see Affies ending up outside the Ruggas.co.za Top 10 rankings as their current fixture list does "almost" not deserve a top 10 ranking.
1stXV Provisional Fixtures (Home team 1st)
12/03/2022 Diamantveld vs Affies
17/03/2022 Helpmekaar vs Affies
26/03/2022 Affies vs Paul Roos (Noord/Suid)
29/03/2022 Affies vs Durbanville (Noord/Suid)
09/04/2022 Garsfontein vs Affies
18/04/2022 Affies vs Boland Landbou (St Johns Festival)
23/04/2022 Affies vs Paarl Gim
29/04/2022 Oakdale vs Affies (Wildeklawer)
02/05/2022 Glenwood vs Affies (Wildeklawer)
14/05/2022 KES vs Affies
21/05/2022 Affies vs Grey College
28/05/2022 Affies vs Jeppe
04/06/2022 Affies vs Menlopark
23/07/2022 Maritzburg College vs Affies
30/07/2022 Affies vs Waterkloof
06/08/2022 Pretoria Boys High vs Affies
Other important dates:
17-23/03/2022 u/14A Grey College Festival
25-30/03/2022 u/16A Jean de Villiers Festival - Paarl Gim
31/03 - 04/04/2022 u/15A Francois Swart Week - Affies
