Johannesburg visitors Jeppe produced a five-star first half backline performance on their way to recording a 46-14 victory against Northwood. The Jeppe backs combined brilliantly to exploit the spaces on the field. Using speed, superior handling and vision, they scored five tries in the first 35-minutes, helping their team to change ends at 41-7 to the good. All credit to Northwood as well. The second half score of 7-5 in the home team’s favour speaks volumes about a team that never threw in the towel and showed a lot of character.
Northwood may have been outclassed out wide but in the battle up front the home team were extremely competitive. Here they played with structure and patience, leading to many ball-in-hand opportunities throughout the match, of which several included useful go-forward phases. From the platforms established there were a couple of good backline moves that allowed the hosts to break the line but generally their backs’ ball-handling skills and speed were inferior to those of their opposite numbers, meaning that where Jeppe could make something out of nothing, Northwood were challenged to do the same.
Jeppe’s SA Schools centre Wandile Simelane deserves a special mention as he operated on a different level to just about all other players on the park. Whenever the ball came his way, it looked like he had that much more time to make decisions. Apart from having decent pace and lateral movement ability, he has quick hands and his reading of the game is very good as well. These skills made him a difficult customer to mark and also an excellent playmaker. Added to this, he is an above average place-kicker.
Scoring.
3-0: A scrum binding penalty against Northwood (NW), allows Simelane to open the scoring for Jeppe Boys (JB).
10-0: From the very next kickoff, impressive JB inside centre Cameron Burke makes a telling linebreak, feeds to Simelane who maneuvers well before putting quick scrumhalf Dylan Wadely away for the try. A feature of the half was the support running play of the JB.
10-7: After missing an earlier penalty shot at goal and not being able to capitalize on a redzone opportunity, NW finally got on the board through a well-worked try. Coordinated and patient pick and low body position driving play assisted by good ball protection at the tackles allows for retention all the way to a few metres out from the JB line. Then at the key moment Knights flyhalf Jasey Van Kampen quickly moves around the back of ruck and collected the pass on blindside. Using this surprise element and the angle of his attack to his advantage, he dissected two defenders and crossed the white chalk.
17-7: What starts off so well for NW ends horribly. The home team produces an excellent play from the kickoff. It culminates in good inside pass to centre Robin Weersma and he races straight into space but with no support or pace to outgun the last defender. Good technique in the tackle and quick arriving NW players leads to recycled ball and a few offloads later its NW wing Louis Mngadi who does ever so well to hold a pass and then chip ahead to increase the pressure. However adventurous JB fullback Tyrone Green who is an x-factor player of note is in position, claims the mark and wastes no time to tap and spin a long pass wide right from inside his 22. The recipient is Simelane who cherishes the space in front of him created by the quick thinking pass. The outstanding centre carries, manipulates the defence and once through offloads to his right wing Moemisie Mosheledi putting him away.
20-7: An infringement by a NW prop at the lineout results in a penalty.
27-7: NW struggled at times with ball handling. After good initial work, they cough up a pass giving JB a scrum in a fairly unthreatening position on the field. JB scrumhalf Dylan Wadely has other ideas and his snipe from the base using good pace to create separate is the catalyst for Burke’s try when the solidly built centre who had a standout game is on hand for the pop on the inside.
34-7: Straight from the next kickoff the Wandile Simelane Show continues. It wasn’t the smartest thing for NW to kick deeper as it just offered JB the time to catch and go wide straight away. The visitors seemed unconcerned about how close to their own goal-line they were, such was their confidence. Simelane sprang into action again when he received a ball deep in his own half. His ability to hold the defence in check by keeping the ball in two hands was top drawer stuff. His key pass frees up fullback Green who’s able to use his electric pace on a long run that sees him cut inside and have the presence of mind to pass to centre Burke on an unmarked line. The burly centre finishes untouched.
41-7: A scrum to JB inside their own 22. They use blind, bringing Green and his awesome pace into play again. Left wing Mangaliso Ntimba had a few good touches on the ball during the match – his 1-2 with with Green opens up the space for the fullback. A NW defender makes a good effort to stop Green but the JB player is able to score in the corner with arriving support on hand on his inside. Simelane slots the conversion from the corner.
It’s halftime and the Northwood supporters have reason to be seriously concerned about how bad the final score might be at the rate JB are going. The JB backs seem almost impossible to stop.
46-7: Although NW now has the benefit of the wind at their backs, they don’t start the half particularly well. A JB lineout set and won after a penalty results in an excellent roll maul before unleashing the dangeroud backline once again. A long cutout pass in the wind shows skill and wing Mangaliso Ntimba with a ton of work still to do steps off his outside foot, shimmies and somehow gets through the traffic to score.
46-14: The tide changes and a determined NW begins to dominate territory and also have the better part of possession. Their reward is a try in right corner by replacement Thami Thabete (22). Full marks in the build-up to hardworking NW openside flank Victor Huurman –his perseverance saw him fighting off upperbody tacklers who had initially stopped him and in doing so he generated the frontfoot ball that led to the try. Both conversions were via centre Robbie Weersma.
@seabass: Eish, bones are going to fall out the closet. Your score card for the season is looking good this season.
@Grasshopper: nope, he’s from a lot closer than that
think cattle squelching through mud…
@Bush: Ah so you could be Herkie Kruger or one of the Grey Bloem boys shipped in…hahah
@Grasshopper: It must have hurt the boy. But the boys at House are very accepting. I was a Post Matric from out of town. The boys in that school accepted me in a flash. From that I will support the school not matter what. We have our Gaudies and I have never felt left out ever. 2…3 HOUSE
@Bush: Toti is lekker, my gran was part of the first families to live there, well Nyoni Rocks to be exact. She lived there from 1918 to 1935, turning 98 this year. Got a good few mates from down that way too.
Totally agree, hence why post matrics never worked either. Imagine the poor House fullback/flyhalf in grade 11 hearing Herkie Kruger was coming from Grey Bloem to do a Post Toastie (what we called it)….jeez man.
@Grasshopper: Hey Toti’s a Lekker place, I come from there. So Lucky ended up in the US of A. Good for him and well done to Helen.
It’s right to be proud of your Old School. It can’t become the trigger of destruction for other kids that don’t cut it. That intake you have should be schooled, nurtured and developed to be the schools number one boys. Not some grade 11 oke from Out of town
@Bush: Lucky got a Bronze in the 800m at the 1997 African Junior Champs, running 1:49.86. I checked the Glenwood school records, he still holds them all for anything 800m and over in all age groups.
3,000m (1998) – 8:27.50
1,500m (1998) – 3:45.60
800m (1998) – 1:46.80
I remember him lapping all the other schools best. Interestingly our oldest athletics record dates back to 1977, J Pousson in triple jump, 14,76m. Our high jump record is 2.10 by Tyrone Peacock. Not sure that will ever be broken as kids don’t seem to specialise in athletics any longer.
Here are Lucky’s last few events online;
Event Result Venue Date
800m 1:45.73 Durban (RSA) 06.03.1999
800m ind. 1:50.18 Boston (USA) 12.03.2005
1000m 2:22.03 Esch-sur-Alzette (LUX) 07.06.2002
1000m ind. 2:28.03 Cedar Falls (USA) 07.02.2004
1500m 3:44.03 Palo Alto (USA) 26.03.2005
Mile 4:08.21 Austin (USA) 03.04.2004
Mile ind. 4:05.56 Fayetteville (USA) 12.02.2005
@Bush: Not sure hey, he was borderline SA Olympics at some point. Probably the Sepeng/Mulaudzi era so maybe 3rd in the rankings. I’ll dig a bit.
@Bush: I am told we have about 800 applications for grade 8 every year, with only 250 places. I reckon (don’t hold me to it) that 200 go to local boys and 50 to scholarships and boys from further afield eg Richards Bay, Pretoria, Pofadder etc. The problem with relying on Old Boys is you can’t. Take my year, 1996 only 50 of the 220 are living in SA, the rest have left SA. Also the Glenwood area has deteriorated so relying on local paying parents is dwindling. Areas like the Bluff, Toti and Queensburgh are not exactly affluent either. So as things get tighter the school has to promote itself nationally, so having strong sports does this. The applications to Glenwood are not only from KZN so there is obviously an attraction with something. The rugby certainly helps and I can tell you that tthose 1st team rugby boys all wanted to play for Glenwood, probably based on results of the 1st team 5 years ago. It’s a fine balance between sport and academics. I’m glad Glenwood have thought out of the box and offering Cambridge matrics now too for those more academically inclined. Glenwood is in survival-mode and trying to offer as much as possible to keep the school thriving. Looks events like this TK-one, Marne-gate, Tom-gate etc certainly don’t help and there is a perception Glenwood are dodgy, but I know that 99.9% of the teachers, parents and OB’s are not. They just want to keep the legacy going in a tough environment. Schools like House with affluent parents seem to be less affected. A 3% increase in interest rates, inflation and things like that seem to affect the wealthier far less. However, it could start affecting them too at this rate. I honestly think Glenwood are doing bloody well currently. Strong rugga, cricket, hockey and waterpolo. Ranked in the top 5 in SA across the main sports (yes all rankings are dodgy, but give a feel for things). Academics on the up….I’m proud of them..
@Grasshopper: It’s going to be about taking money out of everything, but I doubt TK is going to go quietly or alone.
Helen’s paying for Lucky had nothing to do with his sport, it had to do with her helping out a young man she met through running. It’s got very little in common with what’s under discussion. What is pertinent is as you say, private money paid to the school to allow them to improve their sporting talent pool. Probably a fair amount of it. College has other grants available, such as those offered by the College Foundation, but they’re 100% visible and the money is all audited. I know House and Kearsney have “fly now, pay later” arrangements that can be made, but also auditable. That’s not the sort of stuff that gets you fired and criminally charged..
I think the prime indication that there is large money sloshing around is the number of out-of-province players in top teams and staying in BE’s.
@Grasshopper: Whatever happened to Lucky Hadebe? He was a legend. Some of his school records stand to this day.
@Grasshopper: Your Old Boys should be strong, bringing their off-spring to the school. You have mentioned GW Prep been a supporting school GW. Surely with all the greatness GW achieves on the sporting front. The doors should be popping open like Parliament does when they come for Juju. Why the free handouts after grade 10?
@Gungets Tuft: I bet it’s more about taking money out of sponsorships than bursaries. Puma might even get involved. 80% of funded kids are never known. I remember Lucky Hadebe in the 90’s had Helen Lucre as a surrogate mom and she paid his way at Glenwood. Plenty of that going on that cannot be linked to bursaries. I was told there are many boys who want to get into Glenwood but can’t due to lack of funds. All are looking for some Good Samaritans or mentors. I was close to doing this but needed buy in from the whole company which I didn’t get unfortunately.
@Bush: demand to get into house in these days will be super high. NSC and Gov exams will be worthless soon. Hence Glenwood now offering Cambridge exams. House is an elite school up there with private schools in the UK, Aus and USA. Every parent would love their son there or Hilton/Kearsney, that is why they probably get over 1000 applications for 10 to 20 bursaries. Glenwood unfortunately has been surrounded by lower income people so are not going to attract too many, hence the focus on ALL sport. I can tell you now that of those 20 odd 1st team players they wanted to go to Glenwood because of rugby & because of their fixture list. It’s a very tough balancing act, promoting the school through sport and getting academics right. House & Glenwood cannot really be compared on an apples vs apples basis.
@Bush: I suspect the secrecy about bursaries and recruitment will all be lifted when a certain court case gets heard.
@Grasshopper: Those bursaries the GW boys would be on would be only for rugby. The boarding would be free. They are not local boys and would need accommodation. I think around 20 of the 23 boys in the 1st are not local boys. They are given the bursaries to get them to GW as rugby players. None of them go through a selection process. If a scout finds a great player outside the province he is given a bursaries(with conditions and criteria).
House has bursaries/scholarships for various categories. You apply for those bursaries and scholarships.The financial structures are needed for the day to day running of the school. The demand for House is such, that another two Houses are been built. Those were donated. Insane- yes.
House has its feeder schools like Cordwalles, Ciliton Notties (JHB, Overseas and Old Boys kids etc etc.) So the aggressive searching for kids I don’t think is as great as it is for GW.
@Bush: probably all of them, I don’t know. I would say some are on partial bursaries too, so school fees free but boarding not and vice versa. The cost to school and board at Glenwood is R39,500 for fees & R52,000 for boarding per annum, so R91,500 per annum. House fees are R221,000 plus R27k acceptance fee. So let’s say House is 2.5 times more expensive. I bet the Rand amount foregone on House scholarships & bursaries is equal to that of Glenwood or more. That would only be the public ones. The backhanders, silent investors, Good Samaritan payments etc must be insane…
@Grasshopper: Good point to debate. Due to the costs at House 1 in 3 boys require financial assistance. From your current 1st team how many boys have a bursary?
@Bush: Glenwood’s last 5 SA Schools players were all there from grade 8, Jaco Coetzee, Kenny Van Niekerk, Marco Palvie, Morne Joubert & the 2015 prop…all there from grade 8
@Bush: in grade 8, when its fair game, yes. After then, no. They recruitment a handful in grade 10, not entire teams. That is a fallacy. House recruit at grade 8 too just like everyone else. The red herring is the public bursaries given. What is not disclosed is the wealthy old boys paying for sportsman to attend house.
@Grasshopper: Hilton “took” one player, GW “take” a complete team. Is how people see it.
Reading the FNB School Boy Rugby Annual, Wolf Rosenburg played for Grey PE and for Jeppe. Did he do a Post Matric at Jeppe or was he purchased in Matric by Jeppe :evil:. Interesting to know
@Skywalker: Bossr joined in grade 10 and is not playing rugby this year, hockey & cricket only. Hilton also picked up the Glenwood star fullback Calvin Smith I think it was a few years back. You see it’s hypocrisy deluxe, fine for Hilton to do it absolute out roar and rage if Glenwood do it. Northwood will get stronger over the next 10 years as long as there is no big gov boys school in Ballito. I was thinking Northwood for my boy if we had stayed in Ballito. What was interesting was we were in Tinley Manor at there was a Kearsney bus taking boys up to Botha’s Hill.
@Skywalker: Fair enough, but with regard to this statement,
“Look at Westville vs Hilton this past weekend…Westville u14A wins by 40 points yet by the time they hit u16 its a tight game, and then a year later Hilton wins at 1st team level. If the same boys played each other from u14 – 1st team that would not happen.”
It absolutely does happen. I experienced it 1st hand and have witnessed it time and time again.
Agree that BE boys benefit greatly from playing together and all that comes with that. Not saying its only based on recruitment and of course boys and teams grow and evolve differently. Not taking away from what Hilton are doing at all.
I was just pointing out in response to Tang that schools do still recruit after u14 level as a fact, to a greater or lesser degree, and the boys that arrive are not playing 3rd team badminton…
They are strategic players that help to enhance a 1st team or fill a gap that a team has identified by u15/u16 level. Hilton did it with 2 of your recent 1st team captains, Jason Gouws (Glenwood) and Cameron Wright (Westville). Both arriving after u16. Glenwood added Bossr to the mix last year from Selbourne. My point was simply it does happen, at most schools and will need to happen at around u16 to stay with the rules.
@Skywalker: That’s a long entrenched pattern of performance at Hilton and generally has nothing to do with recruitment. In every intake there are plenty of Jo’burgers who’ve had little exposure to rugby at primary school and take a few years to get up to speed. Add to this the benefits associated with being a full boarding school (touch rugby all year round, culture, school spirit etc…) and a generally high standard of coaching and you get those sorts of turnarounds. In my day we took a few hidings at u14 level and generally managed to reverse those results within 2 years with zero change in personnel.
@Vleis: Sorry, I meant this years u14A team, lost badly to Westville, but by the time 1st team rolls around in 5 years time, that wont be the case. Some new boys would have joined the ranks, prob on both sides.
Was just saying it is a fact in almost every school. Recruitment happens through bursaries etc to get the best boys in at u14 level which is perfect, and ideally you wont need to add to that over the 5 years to follow. But it does of course happen (within the rules), to a bigger or lesser degree.
@Skywalker: There has been very little movement in the Hilton team, which is why the result v Westville is so surprising. That said, four mitigating factors need to be taken into account:
1. Hilton does have BMH back as 1st team coach and he is very astute and knowledgeable school rugby coach. This is the single biggest factor.
2. They do have two u19 players (prop and wing), who were obviously not in the age group teams that got hammered as they were playing in the age above, which was quite a strong age group.
3. Westville have had a very difficult start, so are short on confidence.
4. It was at home for Hilton.
@Tang:
Not sure, just saying they have to prop up the 1st team if possible before the younger age groups come through. Again, not sure, but its quite normal for schools to recruit and supplement at u16 level if required – its the last chance to bring in any players.
Look at Westville vs Hilton this past weekend…Westville u14A wins by 40 points yet by the time they hit u16 its a tight game, and then a year later Hilton wins at 1st team level. If the same boys played each other from u14 – 1st team that would not happen. There is always movement after u15 – even in the Glenwoods of the world (who have dominant teams from u14).
@beet: You have no idea how similar the match report sounds like the Boys High clash. The difference being that Jeppe were slow to start against Boys High.
Well done Jeppe. Good result away from home.
@Skywalker: Where would Northwood recruit from? Is this normal for NW to recruit and supplement teams?
I had predicted that Jeppe might hit 50 this year…came close. Glad to hear that NW never gave in. Still a tough year ahead. So frustrating. The big win over Jeppe in 2014 seems a distant memory (even the close encounter last year in JHB).
Bashy and the team need to keep building though. Some useful players in u15A team – desperately need some big recruitment to join them for the next 2 years though!
Enjoyable read thanks Beet…. I know it unfair to the boy but I have been drawn to making comparison between Green and the chiefs fullback Damien Mckenzie both deceptive runners and very deadly when returning the high ball hope we keeps his eye for the gap the higher up he goes