No Image

Currie Cup u19 & u21 semi-finals

16 October, 2013 beet 9

The semi-finals of all the competitions take place starting on Friday afternoon. The log toppers of the u19’s were the Bulls while WP finished first in the u21’s. Both teams are expected to progress to their respective age-group finals. The real attention will be on the other two semis which are expected to be closely fought affairs. Here the Lions u19’s host the Sharks u19, while the Bulls u21 strengthened by the return of several senior Currie Cup players are home to the Sharks u21.

Two very important junior promotion-relegation matches between sides from Border and the Eastern Province Kings are also scheduled to take place this weekend.…

No Image

Straueli’s departure could be good news for College & Westville

16 October, 2013 beet 10

There are reports circulating in the media that Commercial Director Rudolf Straueli will leave the Sharks shortly to join the Lions.

If he does go, there is a chance that more details about his management style during his time in Durban will be talked about more openly and perhaps in that lies the opportunity to find out more or less what kind of a decision-making influence he exercised over schoolboy rugby in KwaZulu-Natal.…

No Image

New Hilton College rugby coach confirmed

15 October, 2013 beet 13

Hilton has confirmed the appointment of AC Blume as their new 1st XV rugby coach. The energetic young Afrikaans teacher and assistant housemaster was assistant coach to Brad Macleod-Henderson over the past couple of seasons.…

No Image

KZN Craven Week 2004 – 2013 : team of the decade

14 October, 2013 beet 62

He’s quite possibly the most well-known SBR blogger in the country, so when it came to finding someone to share his opinion on the Kwazulu-Natal Craven Week team from representatives of the last 10 years, who better to ask than KZN’s very own Grasshopper. Here are his picks:…

No Image

More schoolboys playing in the Currie Cup under-19

11 October, 2013 beet 55

The list of schoolboy players involved in under-19 Currie Cup rugby continues to grow. This week EG Jansen’s successful captain Pieter Jansen will be in action for the Lions against Border while the selection of talented Innocent Radebe, the St Stithian’s and Golden Lions flyhalf on the Sharks under-19 bench for Saturday’s match against Western Province has come as a bit of a surprise.…

No Image

We should take a close look at rugby factories

10 October, 2013 beet 31

KlofiePa drew my attention to this really good article from the Business Day written by Liz McGregor who visited Dale College in King Williams town. She writes about a possible reason why we produce so few black Springboks.…

No Image

A new DHS in Ballito?

25 September, 2013 beet 22

I came to hear about this over the weekend for the first time. Just remember you know the context whenever someone starts a statement with the word “apparently” so here it goes: …

No Image

Glenwood versus Westville back in 2014

19 September, 2013 beet 32

Finally the adults seem to have that put their differences aside, meaning that in 2014 the boys from Westville and Glenwood can again do what they have always wanted to do all along and that is to just play some good hard rugga against each other. …

No Image

WP u18 Sevens team

19 September, 2013 beet 2

The WP Sevens team for the national provincial under-18 tournament to be held at Curro Hazeldean on 23/24 September 2013.…

No Image

Hilton College interviewing rugby head coach candidates

17 September, 2013 beet 22

Well it’s quite possibly the most lucrative schoolboy rugby coaching position in South Africa so you can bet your bottom dollar that the list of applications received by Hilton College for the post of rugby head coach contains numerous familiar names in KwaZulu-Natal local rugby circles and from outside the province as well. Given the potential salary involved there might even be one or two very high profile coaches with professional or maybe even international experience applying for the position.…

No Image

KZN u18 Sevens team 2013

16 September, 2013 beet 23

The Kwazulu-Natal Sevens team that will be participating in the national under-18 tournament to be played in Pretoria at Curro Hazeldean, from 16 -17 September is:…

No Image

New Varsity Cup rules set to place more emphasis on student qualification

16 September, 2013 beet 17

The new Varsity Cup rules are due out anytime now. It’s expected that for the 2014 season, in order to qualify, players will have to have at least one full completed year of study under the belt. For 2015 this will increase to 2 years of study. In other words they will have to be real students and not just posers.…

No Image

Queens wins the Hirsch Shield again

15 September, 2013 beet 2

In athletics, Queens won the Hirsch Shield for something like the 12th time in a row, beating out numerous well-known Eastern Cape rivals. A truly outstanding achievement by Queens. Selborne were second followed by Grey High and St Andrews College.…

No Image

IRB statement following NZ v SA match

15 September, 2013 beet 17

Following an initial review, the IRB confirms that it was incorrect for referee Romain Poite to issue a yellow card to Bismarck du Plessis in the 17th minute of The Rugby Championship match between New Zealand and South Africa in Auckland on Saturday. 

…
No Image

DRSU Youth Rugby – Finals

10 September, 2013 Pedantic 56

The DRSU Youth League comes to a close this Sunday with the finals of all age groups being played at Northwood Crusaders in Durban North.

In the 8 week club season we have seen no less than 600 players representing 33 teams in the various age groups with the top 110 players being selected to represent the DRSUYCA regional teams that will be touring to Pretoria for an inter provincial tournament at the end of the month.…

No Image

u19 Currie Cup: the unstoppa-Bulls

9 September, 2013 beet 24

The Bulls are expected to make a press release during September with regards to their 2014 contracted players. Look out for at least 8 SA Schools players to be in that mix. So they will be mounting another serious challenge for top honours come next season. For now though, it’s their powerful 2013 group who are living up to expectations and are currently 7 out of 7 in this year’s Absa under-19 competition. Their lead over the chasing pack is so big coming into this round that even their bye seems to have done little eat into the comfortably on top. …

No Image

Sharks Academy not threatened by the UKZN Impis under John Mitchell

8 September, 2013 beet 8

This has been in the air for a while: talk that a possibly reason behind the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Varsity Cup campaign struggles to really get off the ground is the Sharks who see the Varsity’s potential rise to prominence as a threat to their own institution, namely the Sharks Academy. In other regions, there appears to be a good working relationship between the rugby unions and the varsities. So I asked the about the Academy’s general feeling towards the UKZN Impis and the appointment of John Mitchell as their new director of coaching and here’s the response I received:

…

No Image

Schoolboy rugby coaches – overseas opportunities

8 September, 2013 beet 19

We focus a lot of the attention on the kids on the field but what about the coaches? Schoolboy rugby isn’t just a stepping stone for the best players which might open the door for them to possibly play at pro level here or abroad, it’s also a good starting point for best young coaches to gain valuable experience before moving onto big things.…

No Image

Free State under-19 players for 2014

5 September, 2013 beet 41

Under the guidance of under-19 head coach Andre Tredoux, Free State have worked very hard on recruitment this year. Helped by the Cheetahs excellent 2013 Super Rugby season, all the effort put in seems to have paid off. The 2014 group is a strong one, filled with known talent as well as a few wildcards who could just go on to become the next big thing in SA rugby. All-in-all 3 SA Schools players are part of a talented squad that should do very well in the under-19 Currie Cup next season. Apologies, although provided the names of Gunther Janse van Rensburg and WP Eloff were overlooked but have now been added.
…

No Image

Western Province Rugby Institute players for 2014

5 September, 2013 beet 77

The Western Province Rugby Institute (WPRI) has released their list of 43 players that will be at their facility for the best part of 2014. It is possilby their strongest ever assembled squad with 11 SA Schools players and 19 or so other Craven Week players. …

No Image

The Witness Newspaper ranks the KZN rugby Top 10 for 2013

4 September, 2013 beet 16
Not too long ago the KZN Traditional Schools function was held. Kearsney was awarded the team of the year prize. The organisers however seemed to come up with a pretty messed up ranking that saw Westville and Hilton unfairly done in. One blogger was spot on, it was a case of a bit of credibility lost as a result of the inaccuracies.
…
No Image

SA Schoolboy Rugby Combo Rankings for 2013

4 September, 2013 beet 6

For one last time, here’s the exercise of combining the rankings of 5 websites including this one which makes use of the BHP formula driven system. The scoring method is simple 20 points for 1st place down to 1 point for 20th.…

No Image

Water polo season underway

2 September, 2013 beet 10

The water polo season has begun and it seems like College were first out the blocks to establish themselves as “Numero Due” behind Clifton in KZN.…

No Image

A new reason to take concussions seriously

2 September, 2013 Gawie 1

The NFL has just settled litigation relating to a class action by ex-players in respect of post-career illnesses they allege they suffer as a result of concussions suffered during their playing careers. The settlement is for an amount of $765 million.…