It could get ugly, but SACS will give all

SACS will have to give it their all if they are to triumph over mighty Paarl Gym in their Western Province Under 19A match today.

Home- ground advantage is sometimes worth a 10-point start, but SACS are up against the number one team in the country.

The best they can hope for is an effort to limit the damage in terms of the final score.

Then again, no team is unbeatable, a message SACS coach Graeme Wepener will be imparting to his charges. “If we come into this game thinking the impossible is possible, then we have an outside chance of causing a major upset,” Wepener said.

“Playing Paarl Gym, the number one school in South Africa with four SA Schools players, is obviously a privilege, but also quite daunting. We have chosen to embrace the challenge and the boys are determined to give everything they have. One of the beauties of sport is that anything can happen on the day and although the odds are heavily stacked against us we will try our best to get the win.

“It is great for us to have flank Dean Basson back from injury. He was consistently our best forward before he got injured.

“In the backs we have been forced to move captain Keagan Wheeler into scrumhalf after Michael Henning broke his arm at Cape Schools Week. The player to watch in the backs though is centre Seb Roodt who has been a revelation for us this season.”

Gym coach Christoff Lötter and his assistant Hendrik Weber have forged a winning combination over the past couple of years.

Key to the Boland school’s success has been the the fact that the players selected for first team duty, do not forget to respect opposing teams, never saying that a lesser side isn’t a threat no matter how poor they are.

“We will never approach a game believing it has been won already; that would be courting disaster. But we are driven to win every game we play against all-comers,” said Lötter.

“So far this season we’ve managed to stay unbeaten, and we hope to continue playing a winning, 15man brand of rugby with the focus on the boys enjoying the occasion and representing the school with pride.”

Gym’s unblemished record of 15 wins and one draw will no doubt strike fear into the hosts, not to mention the try- scoring count which includes 19 tries scored in three games during Cape Schools week.

The Gym SA under-18 players are Grant Hermanus (starting at right wing), No 8 Rikus Bothma (captain, on the bench) and flanker Jacques Vermeulen (on the bench).