One for the history books- 16 years on

THE year was 2000 when Vryheid Rugby Club made history with a record-shattering score of 229 – 0 against the Durban club, Wanderers Raiders.

The match took place on August 19 at Cecil Emmett Park and former coach, Jakkie De Jager, remembers like it was only yesterday.

The Vryheid Herald caught up with Coach De Jager, who was Vryheid Rugby Club’s coach from 1997 to 2012, on the sixteenth anniversary of that historic match that literally earned the team a place in the record books.

De Jager points out the players in the 16-year-old issue of the Vryheid Herald, recalling each one by name, with pride in his voice and a sparkle in his eye.

“This was a team that knew what commitment was,” he beams. “These guys could be called upon at any time and I could always count on them.”

“It’s not that the Durban team was really bad, but these guys were really good,” he recalls proudly.

According to reports, Vryheid scored a total of 35 tries in that astonishing match, including 16 between wingers Louan Roberts and Fransie Lourens. The previous highest in a South African club match was 219-0, when Germiston thrashed Edenvale.

De Jager, who played for Vryheid Rugby Club from 1976 to 1996, was prolific in the number 8 jersey, before he exchanged his boots for the role of coach in 1997 and had dedicated a total of 36 years to laying down a legacy at Vryheid Rugby Club until 2012.

“To all my old rugby pals,” he says, “thanks for the support over the years.”

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