All the supporters of Affies, myself included is always reminded that there is no "plaas" in Sunnyside. Then they start comparing the "Bulls" from Pretoria to a real bull. A bull on the farm performing like the "Bulls" of Sunnyside would have been shot ages ago. The difference pointed out regarding the cows can not be repeated here. So no surprise when I asked where must I park when visiting, they said next to cow dung no 5.
Boland Landbou hosts fellow agricultural school Oakdale from Riversdale for their annual interschools on Saturday the 20th of August. For Boland Landbou their last fixture of the season while Oakdale may still find them in a game or two in the Burger competition later on.
In will be the 23rd time that the two giants of Agriculture schools will meet. The first few meetings were very close and home ground advantage played a huge role. It was only in 2001 that an away team won for the first time when Boland Landbou with a certain Derick Hougaard at pivot, took the honours 15-0 in Riversdale.
For the next eight years Boland dominated the Interschools and Oakdale only managed one win which was in 2005. The score on the day was 8-6 in a very hard fought game in Riversdale. The 2009 Interschools was abandoned due to flooded fields at Oakdale. Home ground advantage has been key in the past five years and this might may well continue in 2016.
Boland Landbou this season up to now reads played 17, lost 4. The reason for the losses against Wynberg two weeks ago as well as that against Diamantveld is a mystery, especially taking into account their performances against Boishaai and Paul Roos. Boland Landbou is synonymous with big forwards bullying their opponents into submission. This year we witnessed the "new" Boland. Still with impressive forwards but combined with a backline that can score tries. So expect them to be playing a fifteen man game with forwards willing to do the hard work, Carstens at 9 controlling and a backline who knows how to run and score tries.
Oakdale is also experiencing a excellent season winning 15 of their 8 matches this year. Their 3 losses was against Grey College, Paarl Boishaai and Paarl Gim. All top 5 schools. Oakdale is more experienced in playing a fifteen man rugby. Their forwards may be smaller than Boland but will not go backwards without a major fight. Their backs renowned for running other teams to pieces.
Home advantage AND the pitch will be the deciding factor. I heard from a reliable informer that the grass was not cut for a month and that the sprinklers is on the whole night. So Oakdale will face a Boland team on a heavy pitch. So Boland by a small margin?
Scores through the years: