From EP Rugby:
THERE will be plenty to play for when the Meyer Sauerman tournament takes place at Brandwag in Uitenhage on Saturday (May 16) as players from around the province vie for spots in the provincial teams for the junior weeks to be played in July.
Securing a spot in your provincial age-group team must be top of the agenda for any aspiring young rugby player and EP’s triumph in the Craven Week in Middelburg last year brought recognition for many of the region’s junior stars.
The Meyer Sauerman tournament effectively acts as the final U18 trials and the U16 trials, for the Grant Khomo Week, and will take place on Saturday, with the teams expected to be announced a few days later. The U18 selectors will choose two teams for the Coca-Cola Craven Week, to be played in Stellenbosch from July 13-18, as well as two Academy sides for the Coca-Cola Academy Week in Vanderbijlpark from July 6-9.
The Coca-Cola Grant Khomo Week will be held in Oudtshoorn from July 6-9.
The trials will lead to a shortened schools programme this weekend, but there are still some interesting fixtures on the schedule.
Coming off the high of beating St Andrew’s, Graeme will have to quickly get back to earth when they host the dangerous Queen’s team. The Queenstown side were pushed all the way by Kingswood last week, but showed their resilience by pulling away in the last minute in a high-scoring match.
St Andrew’s and Kingswood will also host Border rivals, with the Andreans looking to bounce back against Cambridge, while Kingswood should have the beating of Port Rex.
In PE, Ithembelihle will be out to regain the winning touch against Humansdorp at the New Brighton Oval, while VP will be looking to continue an excellent season when they host DF Malherbe.
Woodridge, who suffered a narrow one-point loss to York last weekend, will be looking to bounce back when they host a competent Alexander Road side.
In East London, Selborne can expect a backlash when they host a Grey College team thirsting to get back to their winning ways after three straight losses. Selborne will be no pushovers, but they are sure to come up against a fired-up Bloem outfit.
The fixtures, subject to change, are (home teams first, 11.30 start unless stated): Woodridge v Alexander Road, Adelaide Gym v Cradock, Bertram v Solomon Mahlangu, Port Alfred v Cillie, VP v DF Malherbe, Ithembelihle v Humansdorp at New Brighton Oval, Otto du Plessis v John Walton, Uitenhage v McCarthy Street, St Andrew’s v Cambridge (14.30), Kingswood v Port Rex (14.45), Graeme v Queen’s (14.55), Selborne v Grey College (12.30).
@beet: I can only hope that sanity prevails and he remains at Grens
@BoishaaiPa: Anyway may this youngster get many good after school rugby offers come his way and hopefully he gets to finish his schooling at Grens in Border. I know EP and the Bulls have shown interest in him and he’s therefore been connected with a couple of moves to new schools, one being rumoured to be in KZN (but not the green one)
@BoishaaiPa: Hey man you’ve got Ncusane
Anyway it’s not like the WPRU scouts need help doing their jobs. They are pretty much on the ball. We had to go thru a year of Butch “Jols”, John Smit’s maatjie as chief recruiter for a whole season. What a disaster!
@beet: Thanks Beet…I also put the word out now..
@Frik: Yeah Frik. Lots of people talking about the Grens no.8. He sounds like a very good prospect. I did my duty a few weeks back and made sure Jacques Botes heard about him
HANRO SIRGEL – probably a name worth committing to long term memory
@Frik: They have already done it with the Boland schools
@BoishaaiPa: I can think of any number of schools willing to take them off your hands..
@Knight_CHS07: He is! Scored two tries against us as well. I was very impressed with Grens nr 8 also.
@Playa: Makes even less sense now why they are sending a CD team to CW. It usually consist only of players from two schools in Marlow and St Andrews and a smattering of some Union and Volkskool players….totally defeats the purpose when there is a huge pool of talent in the WP that doesn’t even get a look-in at the Academy week!
@Frik: That Grens fullback is something else hey? He has a lethal step on attack…he caught Selborne napping on two occasions and scored two tries.
@Frik: Hahaha! Very ‘cheeky’ of them. I really wonder why they would do this. I can see no benefit for the Country side, at all.
Thanks for the well wishes. I hope the boys have put last week’s disappointment behind them.It should be a good game
@Playa: By the way, good luck for Grens this weekend?
You should win relatively easy in my opinion. They got a good 8 and 15 is very quick as well.
@Playa: I agree. Does not seem entirely fair. However no one at EP Rugby thought to ask my opinion for some reason..
@Frik: Eish but that will weaken the EP Country side though.
Interesting approach by EP rugby this year, selecting EP Craven week sides from combined EP and EP Country schools together and thereafter EP Country side from country players only. Same goes for the Academy sides.
I suppose it is to select the strongest possible side for Craven week?
Anyway, good luck to the boys, hope you can repeat last year’s performance!