JJ Oosthuizen has played for the first team at Hoërskool Aliwal Noord for the last three years and has never been on the winning team against Hoërskool Hangklip.
However, the Aliwal Noord headboy is determined to change that this weekend when he leads his side out for their FNB Classic Clash in Queenstown.
Oosthuizen is one of those people to whom leadership comes naturally. He has captained just about every team that he has played for since Under-9, and as his school rugby days draw to a close he has his mind set on finishing on a high.
The free-running No.8 is "not the biggest of players" by his own admission, but he made enough of an impact this season to be picked for the EP Country Districts team for which he played all three games at Craven Week.
He heads a strong core of six players who have all played for the Aliwal Noord first team since Grade 10, and they are hoping that their experience gets them over the line against Hangklip this weekend.
Oosthuizen commented: "We have a strong team this year and the guys all enjoy playing together."
He explained that he has relished leading the side in his final year of schooling.
"I enjoy being captain, I have enjoyed taking leadership roles since I was quite young and the guys in the team know me well. They know that I always put the team first and I get a lot of support from them," he told classicclashes.co.za.
Last year Aliwal Noord had their hearts broken when a last-minute try handed Hangklip a dramatic 14-13 victory and Oosthuizen says that his side have definitely learned from that experience.
He explained: "We switched off and lost concentration right at the end last year, but we won't let that happen again this year.
"We had a good training camp during the holidays and we have been making an effort to push hard right at the end of training so we don't make the same mistake."
Despite the fact that they have been training hard, the Aliwal Noord headboy is expecting a fierce test from Hangklip on Saturday.
"They have always got a strong team; we definitely can't afford to miss a tackle. We will just have to man-up and stay focused," he concluded.
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