Affies will host Garsfontein in the first of the Pretoria Cup matches of the season on Saturday at 13:30 (SA Time) on the "Plaas".
Affies and Garsfontein have met six times before with Affies beating Garsfontein five times while Garsfontein won 20-19 in 2022 after not playing each other since 2010.
Garsfontein is still unbeaten after playing four matches already in 2023. Although Garsfontein struggled against Pretoria Boys High, Jeppe and Stellenberg they came together in their Noord/Suid match against Oakdale and showed why they are so highly rated in 2023.
Garsfontein is one of the best-balanced teams in 2023 with big forwards which they use to bully their opponents before their excellent halfback pairing distributes the ball to their extremely dangerous backline who will run any defence to pieces if given the opportunity.
Affies also played four matches in 2023, however, they struggled against Diamantveld, Helpmekaar and DHS. Their only loss was against Paarl Boishaai (19-26) at the Noord/Suid Rugby Festival, which ironically was their best performance of the year.
Affies play a very fast 15-man rugby gameplan and although exciting they will have to limit their errors, which gave their opponents of 2023 several opportunities from turnovers. unfortunately for Affies, they do have shortcomings in one or two departments which will cost them against the top 1stXV's in South Africa.
Garsfontein must be the favourites, however, if Affies can play 70 minutes as they did during the first 35 minutes against Paarl Boishaai it will become a very long afternoon for the Garsies supporters.