Helpmekaar run riot
24 Jul 2010
Helpmekaar Kollege won the Golden Lions title for big schools for the third year in a row when they thrashed Riebeeckrand 60-0 in the final on Saturday.
They were as dominant as the scoreline suggests, and played some exhilarating rugby, running in 10 tries, some of them quite breathtaking in their execution.
Golden Lions Craven Week centre Sebastian van Heerden showed his undoubted class, scoring a hat-trick of tries, and he had a hand in a number of the others. Also impressive was flanker Jean Bester, who is clearly too short to continue as a loose forward, but nevertheless has a future in the game.
The most impressive thing about Helpmekaar was they kept their shape throughout and never lapsed into individualism as the score piled up.
The first try was scored by left winger Kobus Marais in the second minute of the game, and the last by right winger Willem Krog in injury time. In between Bester dotted down, Van Heerden got his three tries, Marais nabbed a second and the others came from fullback Quinton Norris, centre Boetman Groblerand No 8 Andre van Heerden. Flyhalf Walter Behr converted five of the tries.
Helpmekaar are coached by former Transvaal player Gert Lindeque and he was obviously delighted with their performance.
‘Everything came together nicely today and I am pleased that the players stuck to the game plan right to the end,’ he told keo.co.za. ‘It was a fitting reward for this dedicated group of players who have worked very hard this season.’
Helpmekaar were eliminated at the quarter-final stage of the Beeld Trophy last year and Lindeque is hoping that this talented side can go all the way this time. They have a bye next weekend and then go into the quarter-finals of the North Vaal competition the week after that, against opponents yet to be determined.
Linden beat Randburg 27-8 in the medium schools final and Alberton High beat Hoerskool Primrose 16-9 in the small schools final.
By Gauteng correspondent
3 Comments
28 Jul 2010, 16:14 pm
Excellent play by the WHOLE Helpmekaar team. Really unfortunate that two players should be singled out in such a massive game. I felt that the return of 3 players who couldn’t play the previous week made a big difference in establishing the rhythm in the team. Willem Krog provided stability on wing, especially under the high ball where Boetman Grobler was shocking the previous week, Lloyd Vermeulen did excellent work on scrumhalf and the moves between him and eighth-man, Andre van Heerden was fluent and Tiaan Raubenheimer provided the stability in the scrums and at line-outs which was severely lacking the previous week against Roodepoort. His excellent linking in the backline also lead to two tries. Walter Behr put Riebeeckrand under severe pressure with his massive line-kicks and Quinton Norris’ following-up was something special. Great team effort!
28 Jul 2010, 16:16 pm
Hey Simon what happened to my comment?
28 Jul 2010, 16:40 pm
Goodness
When I read the headline I thought the coloureds were out of hand again.
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