Leading to the question of who will it be in 2017, here are my personal Schoolboy Rugby Blog awards for 2016.
u18 Player of the Year 2016:
Gianni Lombard (HJS Paarl BH)
The prolific point scorer showed amazing BMT in the big games of 2016. Who could forget his man of the match effort in the all important HJS versus Affies test match.
Other standouts considered:
Western Cape: Salmaan Moerat (HJS Paarl BH), Muller Uys (Paarl Gim), Zak Burger (Paarl Gim), Damian Willemse (Paul Roos)
Eastern Cape: Athi Halom (Kingswood)
Noordvaal: JC Pretorius (HTS Middelburg), Wandile Simelane (Jeppe)
Free State: Janco van Heyningen (Grey College)
KZN: Dylan Richardson (Kearsney)
Craven Week Player of the Year 2016:
Wandile Simelane (Jeppe / Golden Lions)
The creative attacking maestro displayed a wide range of skills and was sublime during the first two matches. Runners-up the Golden Lions had an excellent tournament and the outside centre played an instrumental role in helping them to make it to the final.
Other standouts considered:
Western Province: Gianni Lombard, Salmaan Moerat, Muller Uys, Damian Willemse, Manuel Rass (HJS Paarl BH)
Golden Lions: Tyrone Green (Jeppe)
Pumas: Golden Lions: JC Pretorius
Damian Willemse the kingpin flyhalf of the Paul Roos team received SARU’s official Craven Week Player of the Year 2016 award. Apart from playing SA Schools for a second year running, he represented Western Province in the under-19 Currie Cup final of 2016 and has been fast-tracked into the Stormers Super Rugby training group in 2017.
Team of the Year 2016:
Hoër Jongenskool Paarl / Paarl Boys’ High (statistically listed as HJS Paarl BH on this blog)
A second undefeated season in a row says it all! Having taken on all the top contenders for the national number-1 ranking, their incredible 100% win record was definitely no mean feat!
Worth a mention: (it was a year in which the national powerhouses generally did not disappoint)
Eastern Cape: Dale
Free State / Griquas: Grey College
KZN: Kearsney
Noordvaal: Affies, Helpmekaar
Western Cape: Paarl Gim
Overachievers of the Year 2016:
Helpmekaar
A outstanding season filled with good performances by the Braamfontein based private school. Their achievement included a 30-15 win against their strong Lions region powerhouse Monument.
Worth a mention:
Eastern Cape: Dale, Kingswood, Hudson Park
Free State / Griquas: Welkom Gim
KZN: Kearsney, DHS
Noordvaal: Lichtenburg, Ben Vorster
Western Cape: HJS Paarl BH, Brackenfell, Swartland
Coach of the Year 2016:
Sean Erasmus (HJS Paarl BH)
It’s been an incredible three seasons in charge for the head coach. After helping the school to be amongst the overachievers of the year in 2014, the 2016 season’s outstanding achievement resulted in HJS extending their 2015 unbeaten run to a fantastic 38 games.
Other standouts considered:
Sean Jackson (Helpmekaar)
Griffy Griffith (Dale)
Barend Steyn (Kearsney)
Wessel du Plessis (Grey College)
Pieter Rossouw (Paarl Gim)
Jan-Hendrik Hattingh (Affies)
Surprise Package Player of the Year 2016:
(this award is for a non-high profile player who performed excellently during the season)
Arno van Wyk (Affies)
The tighthead prop stood out for his workrate. A really good ball-carrier and did his job in the setpieces.
Other standouts considered:
Henlo Marais (Boland Landbou)
Aphelele Fassi (Dale)
Brody Erlich (Kearsney)
Christopher Havenga (Monument)
Sicelo Thole (Muir)
Chunier van Rooyen (Helpmekaar)
u17 Player of the Year 2016:
Shared award:
Forward: Dylan Richardson (Kearsney)
For someone who wasn’t the biggest player on the block and still a year off being regarded as senior, his domination of collisions was awe-inspiring. Positional flexibility, great finishing ability and a growing awareness of creating opportunities for those in support added to his value.
Back: Janco van Heyningen (Grey College)
A young attack-minded outside centre with the frontfoot attributes of Jurie Linde, a former two year SA Schools player, in that he made getting through holes look so effortless at times.
Other standouts considered:
Rikus Pretorius (Grey College)
Franke Horn (HJS Paarl BH)
Muller du Plessis (Paarl Gim)
Mark Snyman (Helpmekaar)
Jano Labuschagne (Affies)
u19 Player of the Year 2016: (for players turning 19 during the year)
Embrose Papier (Garsfontein)
A special year for the lively 2014/15 SA Schools scrumhalf who helped his school retain the Beeldtrofee, represented South Africa at the u20 World Championship and earned Blue Bulls under-19 Currie Cup caps.
Other standouts considered:
Josh Vermeulen (Paul Roos)
JP Duvenage (Outeniqua)
Co-Ed School of the Year 2016:
Helpmekaar
Private School of the Year 2016:
Helpmekaar
Best Broadcast Match of the Year 2016:
HJS Paarl BH 29 – 25 Affies
One of three games (that were all shown on TV) ultimately decided who the South African number 1 schoolboy rugby team of 2016 would be.
u18 Team of the Season 2016:
01. Nathan McBeth (Monument)
02. Daniel Jooste (HJS Paarl BH)
03. Arno van Wyk (Affies)
04. Salmon Moerat (HJS Paarl BH)
05. Ruan Vermaak (Monument)
06. JC Pretorius (HTS Middelburg)
07. Dylan Richardson (Kearsney)
08. Muller Uys (Paarl Gim)
09. Zak Burger (Paarl Gim)
10. Damian Willemse (Paul Roos)
11. Christiaan Prinsloo (Affies)
12. Manny Rass (HJS Paarl BH)
13. Wandile Simulane (Jeppe)
14. Marnus Boshoff (Grey College)
15. Gianni Lombard (HJS Paarl BH)
Special thank you for valued media contribution to School Rugby coverage:
(not part of the who will it be in 2017 as all these guys are definitely around and working hard so please support them):
Carl : Ruggas
Desmond : SchoolRugbyScores
Hannes : SchoolofRugby
Johan : AffiesRugby
Paul : Rugby365
Rogan : SASchoolSports
Tony : Stoopstats
FNB Classic Clashes
Premier Interschools
SARugbyMag
SchoolSportLive
@McCulleys Workshop: look at the bottom of my post ,do you see se smily faces….do you understand the consept of humor
@Smallies: Get a TV.
@TheGoose: Thanks. Good idea
Gebaseer op games wat ek gekyk het,is die MY beste spelers vir 2018,
15 Kriel
14 Botha
13 Vlitoor
12 Smith
11 Small Smith
10 Du Plessis
9 Braude
8 Steenkamp/Gouws
7 Marais
6 Gouweia
5 Beukes
4 Cronje
3 Aggenbach
2 Venter
1 Wessels
?????????????
@Greenman: I am confused…you are a Grey Alma Mater but yet you sport a Glenwood Jumper?
Oh wow, what a pleasure to take a short trip down recent memory lane thank you Beet. Just wondering what ever happened to Arno van Wyk? I haven’t heard anyone talk about him last season, but I know he spent his u19 season with the Xerox Lions. As we saw Chuiner van Rooyen burning rubber in the VC last night, many of the names mentioned are still playing with the sport, some even at Super Rugby and Blitzboks levels and that’s good to know. The name of Louwritz van der Schyff is absent from the above, but what a centre he was for Affies!
@beet: Think its time you did another one of these posts – for 2018 retrospectively.
Also – who are the players to look out for this year, especially at the Easter Festivals?
@beet: The combinations is important and I have mentioned that earlier. If you want to move someone to any of these positions start early. Not when the game is on. I am quite excited about this year and if , that is an if, we pick right on form, we might pull a couple of surprises still come game time. Not just the stars and the names but the workers to. No messing around just balls to the wall.
@McCulleys Workshop: Yeah who can forget Chris. Fantastic leader and good solid hard player. Fondest memory of him should be my worst. He wasn’t meant to play against Kearsney on Gilfillan in 2012 but made himself available to help out his team by playing out of possie at prop that day. Hilton went on to win.
Chris had a really good season of u19 CC for the Sharks the next year. He was captain of what was meant to be a weak Sharks team but when the then temperamental J-L du Plessis (now Stormers 1st choice) stayed focused, his vision and passing game seemed to have no equals and helped set up a lot of tries. The team overachieved. After that good season I think injuries took their toll on Chris.
Interestingly in 2012, Chris lost out on CW selection to a nice kid Stephan Hartman from Michaelhouse who was also a backrow convert having played no.8 the year before.
@beet: Reminds me of Chris De Beer. He convert from 8 to hooker in Matric and played Sharks u19/20 and currie cup at hooker. He’s spent some time in Montpellier and is now back in DBN, but considers loose forward his better position.
@Greenman: Good question. Kearsney still has Cherry who probably played more games at hooker than DR last season. So in terms of what’s of overall benefit to the KC team, it makes sense to play DR in the backrow. In terms of what’s better for DR in the long run, he needs as much match-time exposure to throw-ins as possible.
Buiding on what you’re saying, if KZN wants to perform well at CW or even just improve their form over 3 match days, it starts with making sure all the boxes that they can tick do get ticked. Poor lineout work has impacted on KZN’s performance less than 5 years ago. How everyone in the setup could have forgotten that hard learned lesson so quickly is beyond me.
@beet: Is DR now a hooker or a lossie. Must say did not see much of him prior to Kearney week but they boys rated him. Don’t think the selectors did him any favours in playing him hooker. It was a mess. I am sure that there was better specialized hookers and if so can feel cheated. Hope we don’t have to do any of this out of place playing again this year.
@BrotherBear: You’ll know from watching SBR over a period of time what you come to expect from a player of a certain age and each year makes a huge difference in development. When you see those expectations exceeded, you sit up and take notice. Richardson in my opinion outperformed all senior players in KZN last year as an u17.
If my choice I would have picked Larkan ahead of DR for SA “A” in 2016. This selection on performance and especially technical aspects of the specialist position. I’d seen Larkan play both live and on broadcast. Very good player. Not as strong or as explosive as DR though and certainly when I watched him in 2015 as an u17, nowhere close to DR. Like Malcolm Marx a few years back who was a loose-forward turned hooker, DR has to buckle down and sort out his lineout work. It’s not something that comes naturally. He’ll have to practice it as much as a place kicker trains to improve his accuracy and range.
@boerboel: Most of the provinces are spoilt for choice when the season is planned. KZN not so lucky and need to cross the borders to fill the season and test the strength. Glenwood has drawn some new schools to fill the void. It should still be a tough season and would deserve where ever they finish on the log. Not sure what Kearsney, Maritzburg, Michaelhouse, DHS, Westville and any other biggies have installed for the year.
@beet: Fair point-i just think its mentally and physically tougher in the WC than KZN due to the nonstop nature of competitive games.
but i get your drift
@boerboel: Part of me wants to agree with you because yeah there are tough opponents in the Cape (incl SWD + sometimes Drostdy) and over the course of a season that having to withstand harder challenges is taxing. Also if a good school operates in a weaker region that’s not properly categorised in terms of its overall strength for rankings its an issue. But half the WPPL is the SS teams and against those KZN teams have performed quite admirably. So there are suggestions that a KZN would have to be ridiculously good to finish top of the WPPL but would not have to be off the charts to claim 4th spot. And 4th spot in the WPPL is often a guaranteed Top 15 national finish. 3rd spot in the WPPL much harder but is a Top 10 finish.
Glenwood shouldn’t fall shy of difficulty rating of its fixture list in any given season. And the BHP via strength of opponent categorisation has shown good KZN teams of the recent past like Kearsney and Michaelhouse where the ceiling ranking is even if unbeaten.
@beet: as u/19 player, Bees from Garsies also made his mark. Workrate and physical impact was commendable and he was also selected as standout forward of the U/19 PUK tournament. Think you pitching Richardson quite hard, but he is a talented player with grunt. Thought he was an 8 with some exposure at 2. So you rate him higher than Buthelezi (DHS)?
@beet: Agreed-especially as we are playing them in Bloem-and i agree with the backline call
@beet: Eish! 5 min of life gone as you say.
@beet: Grey College soft spot being a alma mater. Obviously my loyalty must be in KZN. Hope we can make somehow somewhere KZN count again.
@Greenman: I’m not sure some days its instantaneous and others it’s 5 minutes of watching a hanging circle and praying you don’t lose your comment.
@Greenman: @boerboel: I don’t want to jinx it for them, but if I have to bet on a team this year, I put my money on Grey College to come out on top. I just look at that backline of theirs and get visions of their 2010 and 2007 teams.
@beet: How do one circumvent this 5 min delay in posting. Not needed as I stick with first thoughts!
Has any top teams played this year?
@Greenman: correct sir-early days
@boerboel: Hows your team looking! More of the same this year?
@boerboel: Then they must be real ….. and that with a system that favours them. We will have to see then, wont we.
@Greenman: Do not see a kzn team under the top 10 this year.and the system favours them.
@Grasshopper: No offence intended my man!
@beet: Carefull in sticking the neck out. Thought last year was the year. Started well and then lost the plot. Rather take it game for game. Rather safe then Grashopper
@Greenman: Haha. I went with my gut feel but I can live with the label. Tag me if you must.
I’d much rather we get into a genuine SBR related disagreement than one of those sideshows that have been plaguing the blog of late.
Also it doesn’t prohibit you from sharing your choices.
Also I’m hoping to inspire people to leave their comfort zones and tell you which teams they suspect will be up to the challenge in 2017.
Hell Beet. If I did not rate you I would have thought you joking! Serious! Only Kearsney in KZN? No others in any category need mentioning. Wow!Stay neutral mate. Don’t let me tag you.
S
No PJ Botha or PJ Jakobs of Monnas OR Cabous Eloff (Affies) or Liam Larkin (SACS)?