Day 3 of the Noord/Suid Rugby Festival, hosted at Affies on Monday, 30 March 2016, will still keep supporters on the edge of their seats, as the organisers have got the matchups spot on.
At 10:00 on Monday morning, one of the surprises of the Noord/Suid, EG Jansen will face Framesby, who was beaten by Nelspuit (29-14) on Thursday. EG Jansen’s team is a balanced team that will use their slick backs whenever they can, while Framesby showed against Nelspruit that playing a conservative game plan is the way to beat the “modern” run-from-anywhere game plan, which basically ignores any defence. If Framesby opt for the conservative game plan, they should beat EG Jansen in a close game; however, if they opt for the popcorn game plan, it is going to be a high-scoring game with the bounce of the ball and the vital missed tackle that will decide the outcome of the game.
At 11:00, Nelspuit should cruise to an easy twenty-plus point win over Voortrekker Bethlehem. Voortrekker was demolished by a very good coached Zwartkop (50-14), who are playing in the NoordVaal competition one division lower than Nelspruit, who did beat Framesby comprehensively on Thursday.
At 13:00, Waterkloof will face their second Top 10 test of the 2026 season, when they face Outeniqua. Outeniqua came up against a highly motivated KES whose defence was certainly the best over the first two days of the Noord/Suid. It took a special effort from Outeniqua to beat KES 30-17. Waterkloof, on the other hand, cruised to a 45-07 win over Diamantveld, who failed to impress. Outeniqua has already shown this year that they struggle against teams that play a fast game plan, losing to Paarl Boishaai 22-26. It will be irresponsible to claim that Waterkloof is in the same class as Paarl Boishaai; therefore, despite the quality and class of Waterkloof, Outeniqua must be the favourites.
Jeppe and Diamantveld must be the disappointments of the 2026 Noord/Suid. Both teams travelled to Affies with brilliant wins in the early season; however, Diamanveld lost 07-45 to Waterkloof, and Jeppe lost 37-10 to Paarl Boishaai, making their clash at 14:30 one to get their season back on track. Jeppe should be the overwhelming favourite, depending on whether Diamantveld can bring the form they showed in beating Monnas (36-35) to this clash. Despite everything, this should be an entertaining clash.
At 16:00, Drostdy HTS will face Monnas, one of the top 5 teams in South Africa, on current form. At the Noord/Suid on Friday, Drostdy beat EG Jansen (43-24) while Monnas lost 17-21 to the top-ranked Paul Roos. Both teams have big forwards with silky backs; however, the biggest difference between the two otherwise similar teams is the speed at which Monnas play rugby. A twenty-plus win for Monnas will not be a surprise.
We all know Paul Anthony and his coaching staff’s brilliance; however, I do think this could be a bad day at the office when Pretoria Boys High faces Paul Roos at 17:30. Expect a good Pretoria Boys High, building to their 150th birtdau Easter festival, to frustrate Paul Roos for the first forty to sixty minutes of the match, unfortunately, then ...................
The main match scheduled is one of the most awaited clashes of the 2026 Noord/Suid. Paarl Boishaai arrived in Pretoria as a team that we have not seen at its best, while Garsfontein had a slow start to the season, with not much known of the team and the game plan that the new coaching staff will use. However, Paarl Boishaai made a statement (37-10) win over Jeppe, while Garsfontein beat a highly rated Stellenberg (21-20) on day one of the Noord/Suid. Both teams play a similar brand of rugby at a similar speed. Both teams’ defence was among the best during the first two days of the Noord/Suid. However, the size of the Monnas players may just be the difference. A close Monnas win, less than five points, should be “fair”; however, the speed of the attack of Boishaai is similar to that of Grey College and Paul Roos, who did beat Monnas. This should make Boishaau the favourites with ten or more points?
