{"id":94235,"date":"2026-04-24T21:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=94235"},"modified":"2026-04-24T21:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:59:12","slug":"armitage-steers-maroon-machine-to-comeback-victory-over-garsie-bere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=94235","title":{"rendered":"Armitage steers Maroon Machine to comeback victory over Garsie Bere"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
PHOTO: Frans Lombard\/Actionpix<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Masterful performance in the second half by Paul Roos Gimnasium<\/strong> replacement scrumhalf, Tristan Armitage<\/strong>, steered his side to a memorable victory of 21-18 over Garsfontein in the main match of the opening day of the Absa Wildeklawer Festival<\/strong> in Kimberley.<\/p>\n

Armitage is the first-choice scrum-half of the Maroon Machine<\/strong> but started from the bench for this important clash against the Garsie Bere.<\/p>\n

Armitage dictated play and added the necessary impetus to the team from Stellenbosch’s effort to turn the tide in the second half of the encounter.<\/p>\n

In the first half, there were only one team on the field, and it was the Garsie Bere. The team from Pretoria led by 15-7 at the break. Tries by wingers Neil de Kock<\/strong> and Yuvrah George<\/strong> led the charge.<\/p>\n

George’s try after a perfectly timed and weighted pass by flyhalf, Ruan Fluks<\/strong>, was one of the highlights of the match. Paul Roos only entered Garsies’ half of the pitch twice in the first half, with hooker, Lehan Barnard<\/strong>, crossing the tryline in one of these visits.<\/p>\n

Paul Roos definitely also missed the boot of Travis Pheiffer<\/strong> at flyhalf, but his replacement, Daniel Whitehead<\/strong>‘s kicking at goal, also played a major role in their victory as he converted all three of his side’s tries.\u00a0In the pack of forwards, Werner de Bruin<\/strong> (eighthman) was his side’s best player, while Cadynn Samuels<\/strong> (left wing) was dangerous every time he was put in possession.<\/span><\/p>\n

The team from\u00a0Pretoria, led by captain and eighthman\u00a0Lourenz de Jager<\/strong>\u00a0and hooker\u00a0Justin Blom<\/strong>, led the physical charge up front<\/span>.<\/p>\n

The hosts, Diamantveld<\/strong>, gave their loyal supporters something to cheer about as they defeated Queen’s College<\/strong> by 40-29 with some exciting running rugby. Diamonds led 21-10 at half-time thanks to tries by Tyler Campher<\/strong> (fullback), Mikyle Muller<\/strong> (right wing) and Heinrich Swart<\/strong> (eighthman).<\/p>\n

Campher was superb throughout, and it seemed that he had time to spare when in possession. They also managed to unlock space for their wings, Muller and LJ Buys, <\/strong>almost at will, against a side well known\u00a0for its backline play.<\/p>\n

The highlight of the match was, however, the try by the replacement scrumhalf, VJ Davids<\/strong>, which started mere metres from his own tryline. The home side’s forward also deserves a pat on the back as they came out on top in the physical battles.<\/p>\n

Nico Malan<\/strong> of Humansdorp bagged a memorable 31-24 victory over EG Jansen<\/strong> of Boksburg.<\/p>\n

Their fullback, Leighton Lawrence<\/strong>, was well-deservedly named Man of the Match for his performance. He had his kicking boots on and converted all four of his side’s tries and slotted a penalty, which proved to be the difference between the two sides.<\/p>\n

Their flanker Erich van Zyl<\/strong> was a livewire and also deserves a mention.<\/p>\n

Scorers:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paul Roos Gimnasium 21 (7) –<\/strong> Tries: Lehan Barnard, Tristan Armitage, Werner de Bruin. Conversions: Daniel Whitehead (3).\u00a0Garsfontein 18 (15) –<\/strong> Tries: Neil de Kock, Yuvrah George. Conversion: Ruan Fluks. Penalties: Fluks (2).<\/p>\n

Diamantveld 40 (21) –<\/strong> Tries: Tyler Campher, Mikyle Muller, Heinrich Swart, LJ Buys, Wian Maritz, VJ Davids. Conversions: JG van Heerden (5). Queen’s College 29 (10) –<\/strong> Tries: Inganathi Mnunu, Zimi Deleki, Ncutu Kepe, Sinqobile Xhentsha. Conversions: Bongolwethu Nyakaza (2), Mnunu. Penalty: Nyakaza.<\/p>\n

Nico Malan 31 (7) –<\/strong> Tries: Lleyton Minnie, Sima Ozah, Noah Krige, Tequane Koopman. Conversions: Leighton Lawrence (4). Penalty: Lawrence. EG Jansen 24 (10) –<\/strong> Tries: Tyrone Smith, Jaco Engelbrecht, Werner Breytendach, Aljay Oliver. Conversions: Renaldo October (2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Masterful performance in the second half by Paul Roos Gimnasium replacement scrumhalf, Tristan Armitage, steered his side to a memorable victory of 21-18 over Garsfontein in the main match of the opening day of the Absa Wildeklawer Festival in Kimberley. Armitage is the first-choice scrum-half of the Maroon Machine but started from the bench […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-94235","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94235","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=94235"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94235\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/94245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=94235"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=94235"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=94235"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}