Eastern Cape school rugby preseason vibes
Rugbyfan has been out and about. He had a chance to catch up with some of folks from the various top Eastern Cape rugby school and got some feedback from them on what lies ahead in 2014.
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DHS assignment for Donald Ngwenya
Former Northwood 1st XV coach and current Durban youth rugby coach Donald Ngwenya has been appointed as the new DHS under-16 coach. This means he takes charge of DHS’s all-important 150th birthday 1st XV in 2016 group this season. No pressure! No ways! All the pressure in the world for sure.…
Grey College & Free State – Griquas rugby fixtures 2014
What would amount to an extremely challenging season of fixtures for just about every other South African school rugby team is par for the course for SA’s best Grey College of Bloemfontein. …
Paul Roos looking promising for 2014
A good way to describe Paul Roos supporters ahead of the 2014 season is quietly confident. No one is under any kind of illusion either. Annually Paul Roos has one of the most demanding school rugby schedules in the country which affords them little room for comfort. That said there is a reason why they are labelled as one of South African school rugby’s powerhouse teams. …
Westville’s Eastern Cape recruitments cause unhappiness
Westville who already have tremendous rugby depth in their open age group welcomed two new and very talented under-16 players from Hudson Park in East London into the fold late last year. Both boys were part of the highly successful Border 2013 Grant Khomo team that went through the under-16 tournament unbeaten, including defeating the always competitive Free State along the way.
These recruitments have not to go down well in the Eastern Cape. A positive movement to stop so called “poaching” has started to gain a lot of momentum in the Border region, where young players from less privileged backgrounds are increasingly becoming the targets …
SA Schools post for George Campbell’s Noel Ingle
Noel Ingle, the Chairman of the KwaZulu-Natal High School Rugby Association, has been named as an SA Schools Vice Chairman. Part of the duties include attending 10 meetings per annum where key issues regarding school rugby will be discussed and some important decisions made.…
Sharks u19 contracted players for 2014
The Sharks only hand out a limited number of contracts every year and are very proud of their success rate which is up around 80% when it comes to converting schoolboy rugby players into professionals for the senior team. For 2014, fourteen talented players received contracts and there is a great deal of optimism around about the future prospects for all these youngsters. The Sharks placed emphasis on procuring forwards this year in terms of their succession planning.
Standing L->R: Petrus du Buson, Johan du Toit, Hyron Andrews, Ayron Schramm, Wandile Mazibuko, JL du Preez, Thomas du Toit, Ruan Kramer & Daniel du Preez.
Kneeling L->R: Philip Marais, Cameron Wright, Innocent Radebe, Marius Louw & Andrew du Plessis…
60 not out for uncle Tony
Happy 60th birthday for today Tony Stoops.
Bishops Old Boy and retired teacher Tony produces all kinds on detailed stats for Western Cape 1st XV schoolboy rugby on his website www.stoopstats.co.za. He also runs the largest 1st XV school rugby festival during the Easter holidays, so chances are he won’t have too much time to celebrate this milestone.…
Western Cape school rugby returning players for 2014
Compliments of Stoopstats.co.za here is a list of the players that did duty for the respective top Western Cape school teams during 2013 and will be back to represent their schools in 2014.
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England targets a top Glenwood / KZN school rugby player
Brandon Staples of Glenwood is one of KwaZulu-Natal’s best schoolboy rugby players. The big No.8 who is now under-17 has represented KZN at both under-13 and under-16 levels in the past. He is now very high up on England’s “must have” list. …
Analysis of SA Schools Cricket, Hockey, Rugby & Water Polo Representatives for 2013
Analysing the 78 SA Schools representatives for 2013, shows that Kearsney from Botha’s Hill in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and their Methodist brother school St Stithians from Randburg in Gauteng top the list with 5 representatives apiece followed by the likes of Affies (Pretoria), Paarl Gymnasium and Rondebosch (Cape Town) with 4 each. As a provincial region, no one comes close to the Western Cape (41%) and even by splitting the province into Western Province (WP), Boland and South Western Districts (SWD), WP still commands a 33% share of the overall pie.…
South African Schoolboy Rugby Team & Player of the Year 2013
The SA Rugby Player of the Year awards for 2013 will only take place on 12 February 2014 which is quite a long time off. There is no award for the School Team or Schoolboy Rugby Player of the Year but hopefully SARU will continue with an award for the Craven Week Player of the Tournament award.
For this website, to pay tribute to the achievers of 2013, the awards are as follows:
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Merry Christmas everyone
To all of you reading this blog have a blessed Christmas.
So much of what has been achieved this year has been made possible by the contributions of the regular active bloggers, as well as many generous folks, school officials, union representatives and on occasion supposed “rivals” (who like myself have hopefully come to the conclusion that it is impossible to cover the full spectrum of schoolboy rugby and do it justice as small stand alone websites – the opportunities for growth are still massive).
Without mentioning any names I would like to express my gratitude by way of a BIG BIG THANK YOU to all of you for helping to make the Schoolboyrugby Blog what it is.
May the year 2014 be a prosperous one dominated by the action on the field and filled with good memories of rugby continuing to be played in arguably it’s best and most enjoyable form – the way schoolboys play it.
Have a good one!…
Deon Gericke replaces Sean Erasmus at Craven Week
Current St Charles under-16A coach Deon Gericke has been appointed to replace Sean Erasmus as the KZN Craven Week assistant coach. In all probability Deon will work with the forwards while fellow newly appointed assistant coach Grant Bell (Westville) will handle the backs. …
Glenwood ‘Green Machine’ Rugby – 1910 to 2013 (KZN Opposition)
Check this out. All the Glenwood rugby head-to-head for games against other KwaZulu-Natal opponents from 1910 – 2013:
http://www.schoolboyrugby.co.za/GlenwoodRugby19102013.pdf
(summarised 3mb version)
http://www.schoolboyrugby.co.za/GlenwoodRugby05012014.pdf
(full 15mb version)
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Rapport: “Rugby Boys stranded after promises (broken)”
An article entitled “Rugbyseuns gestrand ná beloftes” by Julian Jansen in the Rapport newspaper highlights that Centurion High School in Pretoria is under financial pressure and has had to close down it’s boarding establishment. The school therefore cannot fulfil it’s bursary obligation to a young talented player Brandon Smith, who was part of the SA Elite under-16 group. …
Kearsney head coach Barend Steyn steps down
This one will come as a huge surprise to those outside the Kearsney circle of rugby interest. The highly respected and humble Barend Steyn, Kearsney’s head coach ever since 2001 and by far the longest serving KZN tier-1 head coach, has made the decision to step down and allow his assistant Francois Lubbe to take up the reins. …
Grey High appoint Hayidakis as interim coach
Message from the Grey High (PE) Rector regarding the 1st XV coaching set up:…
It’s official Rudi Dames is the new Glenwood coach
Glenwood have moved swiftly to fill the 1st XV head coaching position vacated by Sean Erasmus who has moved to Paarl Boys High. Assistant coach Rudi Dames will be the man steering the Green ship from 2014 onwards. …
Nominations completed for SA Rugby Player of the Year Awards
From SARugby.net
Five key members of the Springbok squad in 2013 will go head-to-head for the annual SA Rugby Player of the Year Award, while the Steval Pumas have been rewarded for their great form this season with nominations in four categories.…
South Africa’s greatest ever sportsmen
As a tribute to former four-time world flyweight (50kg) boxing champion Baby Jake Motlala who sadly passed away at the age of 51 recently and is regarded as probably South Africa’s most successful boxer of all times, I thought it would be a fun exercise to find out who you believe SA’s top sportsmen of your time are (preferably in rank order).…
Grey High School (PE) Rugby Tour to UK 2013
A squad of 25 prospective Grey 1st XV players undertook a 13 day and a five match of the United Kingdom in late November and early December. Much is expected of this group of U17 and U16 players who will make up the Grey 1st XV next season, and they didn’t disappoint – winning all 5 of their matches on tour.…
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013)
Nelson Mandela, the father of the nation, died on December 5 2013 at the age of 95.
A great leader who respected all and earned the respect of all.
He will be remembered forever throughout the world.…