This season the Cheetahs senior team has rewritten the history books by qualifying for the Super Rugby play-offs for the first time since they became an independent franchise back in 2006. In addition to this they finished the regular season ahead of two major rivals namely the Sharks and the Stormers (WP in disguise). Now their junior Currie Cup teams are off to a good start. …
Thank you very much to Tzavosky for this wonderful contribution that analyses the birth dates of the Craven Week players and the current Springboks:
It has been known for some time and supported by several studies in different sporting codes that an athlete’s date of birth can determine their success at an elite level in that code. Studies have been done for soccer, Australian league and Canadian Ice hockey that I’m aware of.…
The KZN under-18 Craven Week team as well as the Sharks under-19 and under-21 teams were in action against Border teams on Saturday.…
By Shawn Belluigi
13 July 2013 Western Province beat the Golden Lions 45-29 in the unofficial final of the 2013 Coca-Cola Craven Week in Polokwane on Saturday.
The win meant that Western Province became the only team at the week to win all three of their games, and they were rewarded with the inclusion of seven of their players in the SA Schools team that was announced at the end of the tournament.…
| DAY | DATE | TIME | TEAM | TEAM | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 08/07/2013 | 08h30 | Griquas | 17 | 35 | Zimbabwe |
| 1 | 08/07/2013 | 10h00 | Border | 38 | 20 | Namibia |
| 1 | 08/07/2013 | 11h30 | WP | 40 | 24 | Pumas |
| 1 | 08/07/2013 | 13h00 | Blue Bulls | 46 | 22 | KZN |
| 1 | 08/07/2013 | 15h30 | Limpopo Blue Bulls | 26 | 31 | Boland |
| 2 | 09/07/2013 | 9h30 | EP CD | 31 | 10 | Leopards |
| 2 | 09/07/2013 | 11h00 | Griquas CD | 51 | 0 | Border CD |
| 2 | 09/07/2013 | 12h30 | Valke | 37 | 37 | Griffons |
| 2 | 09/07/2013 | 14h00 | Lions | 34 | 27 | SWD |
| 2 | 09/07/2013 | 15h30 | EP | 21 | 32 | Free State |
| 3 | 10/07/2013 | 09h30 | Namibia | 27 | 10 | Griquas |
| 3 | 10/07/2013 | 11h00 | Limpopo | 5 | 43 | Zimbabwe |
| 3 | 10/07/2013 | 12h30 | Border | 39 | 19 | Boland |
| 3 | 10/07/2013 | 14h00 | KZN | 18 | 40 | Pumas |
| 3 | 10/07/2013 | 15h30 | Blue Bulls | 6 | 30 | WP |
| 4 | 11/07/2013 | 09h30 | Leopards | 64 | 0 | Border CD |
| 4 | 11/07/2013 | 11h00 | Valke | 44 | 24 | Griquas CD |
| 4 | 11/07/2013 | 12h30 | Griffons | 26 | 20 | EPCD |
| 4 | 11/07/2013 | 14h00 | EP | 14 | 40 | SWD |
| 4 | 11/07/2013 | 15h30 | Free State | 19 | 20 | Golden Lions |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 09h15 | Zimbabwe | 10 | 33 | Namibia |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 09h15 | Limpopo Blue Bulls | 36 | 39 | Eastern Province CD |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 09h15 | Border CD | 5 | 94 | Griquas |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 10h45 | Border | 14 | 77 | KwaZulu Natal |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 10h45 | Griffons | 34 | 27 | Boland |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 10h45 | Griquas CD | 17 | 34 | Leopards |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 12h15 | Blue Bulls | 29 | 37 | SWD |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 12h15 | Eastern Province | 29 | 18 | Valke |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 13h45 | Free State | 22 | 25 | Pumas |
| 5 | 13/07/2013 | 15h15 | Western Province | 45 | 29 | Golden Lions |
| # | NAME | TEAM | SCHOOL | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ox Nche | Free State | Louis Botha | |||||
| 1 | Thabani Mtsi | Border | Selborne | |||||
| 1 | Thomas du Toit | WP | HJS Paarl | |||||
| 2 | Daniel du Plessis | WP | HJS Paarl | |||||
| 2 | Francois Steyn | Bulls | Affies | |||||
| 2 | Joseph Dweba | Lions | Florida | |||||
| 3 | Conraad van Vuuren | Pumas | Nelspruit | |||||
| 3 | Ruan Kramer | Free State | Grey College | |||||
| 4 | Daniel du Preez | KZN | Kearsney | |||||
| 5 | Abongile Nonkwantana | Bulls | St Albans | |||||
| 5 | JD Schickerling | WP | Paarl Gim | |||||
| 6 | PJ Toerien | Bulls | Garsfontein | |||||
| 6 | Refiole Rampeta | Free State | Louis Botha | |||||
| 7 | Jacques Vermeulen | WP | Paarl Gim | |||||
| 7 | Jean-Luc du Preez | KZN | Kearsney | |||||
| 8 | Rikus Bothma | WP | Paarl Gim | |||||
| 9 | Justin Phillips | Bulls | Waterkloof | |||||
| 9 | Remu Malan | Outeniqua | SWD | |||||
| 10 | Brandon Thomson | Pumas | Ermelo | |||||
| 10 | Dewald Human | SWD | Outeniqua | |||||
| 11 | Duhan vd Merwe | SWD | Outeniqua | |||||
| 12 | Warrick Gelant | SWD | Outeniqua | |||||
| 12 | Daniel du Plessis | WP | Paul Roos | |||||
| 13 | Leolin Zas | Boland | Hermanus | |||||
| 13 | Jurie Linde | Bulls | Affies | |||||
| 14 | Grant Hermanus | WP | Paarl Gim | |||||
| 15 | Malcolm Jaer | EP | Die Brandwag | |||||
| 15 | EW Viljoen | Free State | Grey College | |||||
| ADDED | Free State | Grey College | ||||||
| 15 | RG Snyman | Bulls | Affies | |||||
| 15 | Marco van Vuuren | Valke | Transvalia |
A highlight of the final day of Craven Week has always been the announcing of the SA Schools team, following the unofficial final. It has been confirmed that this year 28 players will be picked. Although Academy Week players will be considered, unless they were absolutely brilliant at Academy Week, chances are there will be no Academy Week players included in the SA Schools team.…
UPDATED.
| # | TEAM | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Western Province | 20 | 12 | 0 | 8 | 382 | 352 | 30 |
| 2 | Free State | 17 | 8 | 0 | 9 | 317 | 275 | 42 |
| 3 | Blue Bulls | 9 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 221 | 144 | 77 |
| 4 | Golden Lions | 9 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 139 | 160 | -21 |
| 5 | Eastern Province | 7 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 110 | 116 | -6 |
| 6 | Pumas | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 66 | 57 | 9 |
| 7 | South Western Districts | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 69 | 67 | 2 |
| 8 | KwaZulu-Natal | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 53 | 76 | -23 |
| 9 | Boland | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 44 | 43 | 1 |
| 10 | Golden Lions | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 46 | 120 | -74 |
| 11 | Griffons | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 16 | 31 | -15 |
| 12 | Border | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 22 | 23 | -1 |
| 13 | Pumas | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 18 | 1 |
| 14 | Leopards | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 16 | -7 |
| 15 | Valke | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 30 | -11 |
| 16 | Griquas | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 11 | -11 |
…
A Noord – Suid final after all.
| DATE, TIME | TEAM | TEAM | DETAILS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sat, 13 July 2013 | |||||
| 09h15 | Zimbabwe | 10 | 33 | Namibia | |
| 09h15 | Limpopo Blue Bulls | 36 | 39 | Eastern Province CD | |
| 09h15 | Border CD | 5 | 94 | Griquas | |
| 10h45 | Border | 14 | 77 | KwaZulu Natal | |
| 10h45 | Griffons | 34 | 27 | Boland | |
| 10h45 | Griquas CD | 17 | 34 | Leopards | |
| 12h15 | Blue Bulls | 29 | 37 | SWD | |
| 12h15 | Eastern Province | 29 | 18 | Valke | |
| 13h45 | Free State | 22 | 25 | Pumas | |
| 15h15 | Western Province | 45 | 29 | Golden Lions |
| DATE, TIME | TEAM | TEAM | DETAILS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu, 11 July 2013 | |||||
| 09h30 | Leopards | 64 | 0 | Border CD | |
| 11h00 | Valke | 44 | 24 | Griquas CD | |
| 12h30 | Griffons | 26 | 20 | EPCD | |
| 14h00 | EP | 14 | 40 | SWD | |
| 15h30 | Free State | 19 | 20 | Golden Lions |
Following KZN’s 46-22 defeat at the hands of the Bulls, blogger Tarpeys planted the seed with his comment suggesting that a change was due This give rise to several other comments being made on the topic:
…
Injuries in both the Western Province and KwaZulu-Natal camps have forced them to fly in replacement players for Craven Week at Polokwane in Limpopo Province.…
| DATE, TIME | TEAM | TEAM | DETAILS | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tue, 09 July 2013 | |||||
| 09h30 | EP CD | 31 | 10 | Leopards | A surprisingly one-sided match in the first half. The emphasis seemed to be on cohesion. The EPCD are predominately from just 2 achieving schools – St Andrews and Marlow – making it a lot easier for the team to gel. The Leopards don’t have a high flying team and their strength appears to be from drawing players many different schools and bonding them. In the first half the EPCD structures and understanding was better. They produced good carries and generated a lot of go-forward. Their counter-ruck was also very good and in flyhalf Jason Vers they found a player to dictate play and make things happen. The Leopards looked far more composed in the second half. They protected ball and attacked off the fringes. At 21-10 they missed 2 crucial opportunities to score a try which might have changed the complexion of the game. Instead EPCD repelled them and scored 2 late tries. |
| 11h00 | Griquas CD | 51 | 0 | Border CD | One-way traffic. One really has to feel for the Border CD players and also wonder what the point is. For the sake of quality and achieving the desired objective it’s time to replace the Border CD with a second Western Province team |
| 12h30 | Valke | 37 | 37 | Griffons | Quiet an incredible game of rugga. The Griffons caused a major surprise by taking the match to the highly rated Valke team. Good well-drilled phase play set the platform for continued attacks. It really looked like the Valke had underestimated the Griffons. At halftime the Griffons led 23-10. The Valke lifted their standard of play in the 2nd half. Reduced the deficit to 23-17 before the Griffons capitalised on Valke mistakes to extend the lead to 37-24 with just a few minutes left. Somehow the Valke managed to score 2 unconverted tries and a penalty at the death to level the score. Amazingly there was still time to play after this scoring and Griffons man of the match Shaun Reynolds missed a last ditch penalty to win it. Marco Holmes of the Valke impressed with strong ball carries. |
| 14h00 | Lions | 34 | 27 | SWD | |
| 15h30 | EP | 21 | 32 | Free State |
With the help of Ludz and Noordwes, I’ve put together this Team of Day 1.…
The KZN team for today’s Craven Week opener against the Bull Bulls…
Ruan Potgieter, 
ns Craven Week Flyhalf, will be in the hunt for the SA Schools no 10 jersey when participating in this year’s Craven Week in Polokwane.
Potgieter, now in Grade 12 at Dr.EG Jansen in Boksburg, will be attending his second craven week this year, as he was also the flyhalf in last year’s competition at only 16 years old, and ending at 6th overall on most points scored in the tournament.
Article by Rynand Weyers
…
Just in case you didn’t already know this, the Blue Bulls and Western Province will NOT be playing in this year’s Craven Week final. I guess this one brings the glass half full or half empty concept into play.…
| DATE, TIME | TEAM | TEAM | DETAILS | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon, 08 JULY 2013 | ||||||
| 08h30 | Griquas | 17 | 35 | Zimbabwe | Zimbabwe caused quite an upset in an untidy game. Structurally the neighbouring country’s team was really good at times and produced some pleasing plays. Zim left wing Matukwa’s try was the result of excellent set move passing, handing and timing execution. Their contesting of the tackled ball was outstanding, helping them to win key turnovers. Griquas lacked cohesion and were their own worst enemies most of the time. Their setpeices weren’t good, they made basic handling errors, they failed miserably in attempts to protect the ball at the breakdown and they fell off regulation tackles. The margin between the teams would have been larger had Zimbabwe not had a player unfairly sinbinned – Griquas scored 14 points (their only 2 tries) during this spell. | |
| 10h00 | Border | 38 | 20 | Namibia | A good contest. It was 24-20 with less than 10 minutes to go. Both teams made errors which stopped the flow at times but the speed and urgency made this game a lot better than the one before. Namibia proved to be no pushovers. They did some good things. Border’s passing out wide needs a bit of work and their scrum struggled a bit. Otherwise they produced quite a few team tries. Flyhalf Lungelo Gosa brought his super stepping ability to Limpopo province. Centre Simila Jho won man of the match. There was also a good performance by flank Jerwyn Harty. Namibian flyhalf Chris Arries looked decent and it’s a pity that the guys out wide could not get more and better quality ball. | |
| 11h30 | WP | 40 | 24 | Pumas | Awesome game. The first half was high tempo and action packed. Pumas dominating the collisions and tight forwards doing exceptionally well with loosies making big contributions. WP backs are creative, quick and lethal. Their speed of execution is exceptional. At the start of the 2nd half, defences improved and errors started to creep into the game. WP showed more composure though and ended up scoring a further 3 tries to stretch their narrow halftime lead of 19-17 to a comprehensive one. Inside centre Daniel du Plessis proved just what a class act he is by not only scoring 4 tries but doing so many positive things during his time on the ball. There were some other excellent performers. Stand outs included Pumas flank Daniel Maartens and his skipper at TH Conraad van Vuuren, while WP had halfbacks Damian Stevens and Dennis Cox to thank for some smart play. WP wing Grant Hermanus and Pumas scrummy Rowan Gouws also worth looking out for as the tournament progresses.
|
|
| 13h00 | Blue Bulls | 46 | 22 | KZN | The wind picked up for this game. The first half quality could have been better yet there were some very memorable moments. KZN no.8 Ayron Schramm continued to impress with 2 bits of brilliant individualism, both resulting in tries. The Bulls lock RG Snyman showed x-factor of his own. It’s become a bit of a trademark of his but the huge boy continues to surprise all with his distribution skills. He provided 2 assists by being aware of where his support runners were after doing good work with ball in hand. 17-17 at the break turned into 46-22 at full time as the Bulls dominated the 2nd half. KZN struggled to get their hands on quality ball and the lineouts turned out to be a nightmare with KZN showing little innovation to help overcome tall timber of the Bulls that contested very well. For the Bulls, their outstanding centre combo of Franco Naude and Jurie Linde stood out but the foundation was laid by some good forward play. They were strong in the set pieces and backed it up with good consolidation at the breakdown. That said, there is still a bit of work ahead. Prospects look very bright for this Bulls team though. | |
| 15h30 | Limpopo Blue Bulls | 26 | 31 | Boland | A highly entertaining game. The winner was hard to pick. Both teams went for it. Defences could have been better at times though. Boland are able to secure good set-piece ball. Their lineout was particularly good. They also produced some slick handling plays and were very dangerous in broken play. Captain Hanro Liebenberg featured prominetly. The Limpopo Bulls have a never-say-die attitude about them and seem to thrive on drives around the fringes. Limpopo flyhalf Andries Bruwer seemed to be the catalyst in most things good. He was confident and added much value. Late in the game centre JP van Wyk came into his own as well. The game produced an exciting finish with the lead switching hands a few times late on and the game ending with Limpopo being held up over the Boland line in their last gasp attempt to win the match. |
Should they have even been allowed to play in that final?
This is a first hand account by a parent who attended Academy Week and witnessed the game between SWD and WP on match day 2, which SWD scraped home by 22-19 but appeared to break the quota rules in doing so:…
The popular selecting of an Academy Week team after the conclusion of the event is back this year. It’s not sure what the team will be doing but even if the announcement is just for prestige is will be a feather in the cap for the 22 players named.
In years gone Academy teams have played against the SA Schools team, played at Craven Week and even had an international under-18 match against France.…
Wednesday was D-Day for making final calls on KwaZulu-Natal Craven Week players that were carrying injuries over the past few weeks. Thankfully Corne Vermaak, Marcel Coetzee and the Du Preez twins are all fit and ready to go but the news wasn’t good for scrumhalf Matt Reece-Edwards, who has not recovered from an injury sustained during the closing stages of Kearsney’s final game against Maritzburg College and will miss the trip to Craven Week.…
Academy Week plays an important role in South African rugby. The Sharks will testify to this. In 2009 Paul Jordaan of Grey College attracted interest while representing the Free State Academy team as an under-17 player. He ticked all the right boxes and soon after the national youth week he was signed up by the Sharks on a very good junior contract. Today, four years later he’s a Super Rugby starter. …
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