Photo Credit - Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool - Affies Facebook Page
Affies travel to Johannesburg tomorrow to face the might of KES in a much-anticipated match. A lot of passion and emotion is associated with this clash. Due to COVID19 restrictions, no crowds are allowed, however, one must not think it will be less so for the teams that will line up against each other.
Affies and KES have faced each other in ten matches since 1997 with Affies winning 8 from 10. The match in 2017 was cancelled due to excessive lightning. It must be said, KES was in front when the match was stopped, however, the Affies supporters will be quick to point out that they were coming back hard at KES and would have won.
Results:
1997 Affies 20-13 KES
1998 Affies 40-23 KES
2002 Affies 42-15 KES
2012 Affies 15-13 KES
2013 Affies 46-06 KES
2014 Affies 38-10 KES
2015 Affies 92-00 KES
2016 Affies 61-07 KES
2017 Affies vs KES (cancelled)
2018 Affies 12-3 KES
2019 Affies 29-33 KES
What to expect from KES:
All we know from the 2021 KES 1stXV team is the performances of their u/15 and u/16 squad from 2019. To make any assumptions will be stupid, however, Mzwaki Nkosi is their Director of Rugby. He attended the Monnas and the Noord/Suid Festivals and would have analysed Affies 1stXV and 2ndXV thoroughly.
What do we know of a typical KES 1stXV? They will stand toe to toe with Affies until the end. They will not ask for favours nor give any. Nkosi will most probably try to play a fast game and run Affies off their feet, however, his scrums and line-outs will be more than competitive.
What to expect from Affies:
Affies have already played 3 matches in 2021, and if one has to be brutally honest, they did not impress. They won against Noord Kaap (19-07), lost against Oakdale (21-46) and won their last game at the Noord/Suid Festival against Welkom Gim (31-26).
Affies tight five must be one of the smallest of the current Top 20 schools. The pack of forwards was outplayed by their opponents almost at will. The loosies are a brilliant combination with 8th man Dillon Smith the spear of their attack upfront.
Their inside backs are dangerous on the attack as well as defence while, unfortunately, their back three does not do justice to the hype. They were found wanting on defence several times with "primary school errors" causing tries scored against them.
There are no injuries in the squad but I expect several changes to the starting lineup. The replacements and 2ndXV players have put up their hands in their 3 matches and some surprises are definitely on the cards.
Prediction:
The honeymoon for the new Head of Rugby and 1stXV coach at Affies, Ryno van der Merwe is over. Unfortunately, he will be judged by the success and failure of the 1stXV. Some wonderful work was done by him and his team to correct the failures of the past five odd years, and Affies rugby will be in a wonderful state in three years or so. But ............
KES will definately be short on match fitness and preparation going into this fixture. However, they will be an unknown factor to Ryno and his boys while KES will know 100% of what to expect where and when.
It will be a close game with Affies maybe just the favourites, if only for their match fitness and preparation. However, if Affies can not meet the pride and passion with which KES play rugby they may just travel back to "Die Plaas" as losers.