Please note changes to the programme
| TIME | DATE | SCHOOL | SCHOOL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14:00 | 03-Mar | Vories u16 | DHS u16 | ||
| 14:55 | 03-Mar | Carter | Linpark | ||
| 15:50 | 03-Mar | Vories 3 | Greytown | ||
| 16:45 | 03-Mar | DHS 2 | Westville 2 | ||
| 17:40 | 03-Mar | Vories 2 | 28 | 27 | Howick |
| 18:35 | 03-Mar | Maritzburg College u16 | 17 | 13 | Westville u16 |
| 19:30 | 03-Mar | DHS 1 | 12 | 18 | Westville 1 |
| 20:35 | 03-Mar | Vories 1 | 0 | 26 | Maritzburg College 1 |
| 14:00 | 10-Mar | Carter 1 | Vories 3 | ||
| 14:55 | 10-Mar | Treverton 1 | Linpark 1 | ||
| 15:50 | 10-Mar | Vories u16 | Westville u16 | ||
| 16:45 | 10-Mar | Sarel Cilliers 2 | Westville 2 | ||
| 17:40 | 10-Mar | Vories 2 | Weston 1 | ||
| 18:35 | 10-Mar | Maritzburg College u16 | Sarel Cilliers u16 | ||
| 19:30 | 10-Mar | Maritzburg College XV | Sarel Cilliers 1 | ||
| 20:25 | 10-Mar | Pom – Pom’s | |||
| 20:35 | 10-Mar | Vories 1 | Westville 1 |
Voortrekker in Pietermaritzburg will once again host several KZN schools on successive Friday evenings (03 March and 10 March 2017). Well-known schools DHS, Maritzburg College and Westville will use the shortened matches as part of their pre-season preparations. Adding some unique Country Districts flavour to the event are the likes Sarel Cilliers, Treverton and Weston.
Fixtures are still to be confirmed.
DHS’s Scott Mathie, a former Sharks scrumhalf and quickly rising up the ranks provincial youth week coach these days, will guide his alma mater for the second season. He has a more than capable and experienced starting XV under his wing, and if they can stay injury free it could turn out the be a very rewarding campaign for DHS.
College and Westville will both pitch up with brand new 1st XV coaches.
Like DHS, College will look to an old boy in the form of Ryan Kyle who reunited with the Red, Black, White for a second time from Creston College in Port Shepstone. Due to their rich rugby history it’s hard for any College team to fly under the radar. Word is that their preparations have been going very well, which is good news because their last game of the 1st term is a home encounter against another very high respected rugby school – Grey College.
Westville named Dirkie Strydom as Roland Norris’ successor. That makes it three different 1st XV coaches in three seasons for ‘Ville who will be hoping that Strydom can bring about both stability and success. Strydom is an Affies (Pretoria) Old Boy, who like Mathie has represented the Sharks. He recently coached at HTS Middelburg. Prior to the promotion to 1st XV, he coached the Westville u16A and is still the Head of Rugby, which is a role both Kyle and Mathie are also very familiar with. The benefit of coming off a poor season like 2016, is that the Westville 1st XV is likely to be underestimated and eager to perform well to set a few records straight. Based on the players available, if they do gel, better than expected resulted are a probability this season.
@beet: Well thats good to hear. At least something. Agreed – would like to see them do more. Although you cant always read much into pre-season games they would also have a more realistic picture about where they stood if they faced a DHS, or Westville in a short format. Well i hope for the best. DHS this weekend will be one way traffic i suspect. Tough season ahead
@Skywalker: I look at Clifton. They are playing Kloof at Riverside this afternoon. A nice start to get their teams into the swing of things. They back that up with a fairly long trip up to House. Those sorts of opportunities are out there for NW as well, without having to travel as far. I believe the Knights 1sts have had a couple of runs against club rugby teams in chukka format over the past few weeks.
It confuses me that Northwood don’t seem to take part in any pre-season tournaments any more. They are always rusty and under cooked it seems in comparison to the other teams come the first few games. They play DHS for goodness sake this weekend! It is going to be carnage…
@beet: What time is the GW/Hilton warm up game?
Yes House have a ton of work to do before the Westville game. From what I saw on Friday, Westville have been at it for some time.
@Bush: Yeah I think they have had some good battles coming up via the age-groups. After a match when they were still u15, one Glenwood staff member even remarked that the particular game was like times of old in that it contained all the on-field and sideline elements of a once typical Horseflies vs Grasshoppers derby.
I think Hilton vs Glenwood practice match is still on this Saturday. Anyone attending that will get a far better feel for their respective capabilities this season.
House take on Clifton I see. MHS will also need to hit the ground running because Westville will basically be one match conditions warm-up ahead of them going into the game on 18/03.
@beet: The GW vs DHS going to be a humdinger. Those DHS boys are well conditioned and very fit. They will match GW for size and pace.
@star: Yeah I would encourage every DHSOB and supporter to get to at least one of their games and watch this DHS team. I’m sure the boys will make all proud.
Most Westville players including BB struggled with confidence last season. I have a feeling the 1st XV is going to be a lot more trusting of their own abilities and each other this year and hopefully for them this aspect shows up in the results and the season as a whole.
@beet: Thanks for that Beet. I am glad that Westville showed some ” dog” in the fight and that Brogan played to his true potential. After the 2015 season I really thought he would push on to higher honors but seem to go missing in 2016 with basic ball skills letting him down.He must give 2017 a full go to end on a deserved high. JP can also put some of the demons of the past behind him and go out in style. From what you have said DHS could be a team to challenge for the top spot and I think no one will begrudge them of that.Already the season is starting to shape up nicely. Roll on 2017.
@star: Sorry I’m late to the party. I didn’t see the 1st half of the Westville 2 game but it was a one-sided affair. I thought Ville had a big team and no shortage of keen ball carriers who proved to be very effective while taking it up. Early days and encouraging signs with ball in hand but the work will have to done on getting these big players a little more mobile to work off the ball and especially to commit to rucks. Nice to have gainline breaking ball-carriers but on some days far more valuable to have beefy tight-5 player who thrives on smashing into opponents at breakdowns and cleaning out as opposed to watching the loosies win ball while parking off in the 10-12 channel.
The energy level in the Westville vs College u16 game surprised me. I didn’t expect that sort of tempo. As expected for a first run it was a very start-stop game. Ville will be doing work on their setpieces this week I’m sure while College will need much better lineouts. It was nice tussle. The College right wing Reddy scored the best try of the evening IMO. His speed, balance and read was so good. Pity he didn’t get more ball in space – he reminded me a bit of Donny du Randt who had serious X at u16 level. Anyway after the College try, Ville got back into the match via a MC mistake when they coughed up a ball they tried to run inside their own 22. A Ville player gathered the knocked on ball and got thru to finish. Later MC scored another try from a close range carry by a forward from 5m out and held that lead to the end.
I think the biggest positive Westville 1 got out of their game vs DHS was character. With their backs to the wall at halftime they showed the fighting spirit that the 2016 team seemed to lack and somehow turned around a game they were soundly beaten in in just about every department. Another big ups was to the courageous Ville defence which stopped DHS on their tryline about 4 times. Granted Ville like College 1 are on a different preseason plan to DHS who play their first KZN regular season game vs Northwood this Sat, so in a sense it was expected that DHS would arrive more prepared and it definitely showed. I think this Friday will provide a much better assessment of where Ville really stand and there are no illusions, they will be looking for a lot of improvements. I would also make a special mention of Brogan Boulle the veteran centre. He scored a great individualist try which was characterised by something we didn’t see enough of last season, his wonderful strength on his feet in contact. He got by 2 tackles that needed to be made after his line break and finished from there. He probably covered about 40m in the process. He also landed 8 points with the boot. I think he and JP Pelser who’s had rotten luck with injuries could really add a special edge to this Ville team if they stay fit and committed.
DHS lost but I thought they were marvellous. They unfortunately don’t have much depth as the DHS 2 result showed but if they can somehow keep this same team fit for the season and get Nohamba and Pepsi back, they are going to be such a special team to watch. Plenty of flair, serious pace and even without the 2 SA Sevens players, some serious X-factor amongst a few other starters. And some grunt when they need it as well to carry into traffic and win contestable tackled ball.
@star: Westville were very clinical. Your 2nd team played an outstanding game, as for your 1st Team WOW. I thought Greytown were great. Very well drilled side. For the size Vorries are(number of boys playing rugby)they played very passionate rugby against College. It was a lovely evening. Was hoping to get there this Friday, but the Flya series starts at Crusaders this Friday??????
@star: Howzit Star, @Bush was there, he’ll give you an assessment.
@beet: Were you there on Friday night. And if so who or what impressed?
What a super idea to include u16 matches
Fixtures will be out this Friday most probably.
Any fixtures finalised for this series yet?
@beet way to get my hopes up, guess we’ll have to wait until the 13th then. This series should still attract alot of attention nonetheless.
@GreenBlooded: getting fit – slow process
@Grasshopper:
Started moments after landing in Durban……..
@GreenBlooded: I see a Banting coming…
@Proud OD: Oh kak. My bad. I read again. 03 Feb is the cutoff date for participant confirmation. 03 Mar and 10 Mar the match days.
Thanks
@Proud OD:
Thanks for that great news! Gives me a few more weeks to undo the China damage. And the December damage……..
The Voortrekker Night series take place in March and not Feburary
@GreenBlooded: Whahahaha. I read a joke the other day about a woman motorist showing another driver the bird simply because he was pointing a stick with a marshmallow at the end at her Ford Kuga
Good to hear that you are still enthusiastic about blowing the whistle and hopefully you can catch up those on those 3 weeks.
@beet:
I normally start a strict diet on 3 January and start running once I’ve she’d a few kilos. Cycling normally starts well before. This year I postponed it due to a business trip to China where eating and drinking is s big part off the business process. Got home on Monday do into it now – albeit 3 weeks late.
Bottom line: I’m more apprehensive about running onto a field than I would be charging a Galaxy Note in a Ford Kuga!!
@GreenBlooded: @Rugger fan:
I forgot about the reffing angle to the start of the season and the fitness implications.
I guess these short preseason outing are just as valuable to the society refs as they are to the coaches and players???
@Rugger fan:
Are you fit?
Eish – just over 1 week to SBR season kick off! Looking forward to it
@Grasshopper:
Yes DHS is happening this year but due to challenges posed by the school calendar, many top KZN schools had to prioritise interschools matches, so DHS could not attract as many top KZN schools as last year for their 150th. They want to keep it going because next year’s calendar is lot more favourable and they are optimistic of a good turnout.
I haven’t heard any word from the Porties organiser but I’m sure they will continue on because its been a successful event for them.
Is the Porties Night Series and DHS Day happening again this year?
I was saying to one of the organisers that every time I’ve been to the Vories NS it’s rained. Last year it was a match postponing an electric storm on one of the evenings as well. This year I guess all in attendance would welcome some rain.
Great to see, our first little look at some schoolboy rugby, looking forward to see who comes out on top.