This will be the Golden Lions’ 7th Craven Week “final” in 13 seasons since 2005. Their last win was back in 2005. The Lions have 14 titles to their name. This is KZN’s 1st final since 1990. That’s 27 years ago. KZN has 2 titles to their name. The two teams met 30 years ago in 1987 when they shared the spoils.
@4X4
I agree with you.
Something very big missing at the CW side.
But this is not new.
Everything in our union currently being very suspect.
I do not have to mention any more facts. These are already known and discussed for years.
And I do not see when who and how it is going to be fixed or even replaced ?
Moeilike tye…
Die Leeus was briljant. Baie geluk seuns. Ek vermoed dat daar erens iets baie verkeerd geloop het met die Bulle se span keuses…die A-span verneder en die akademie span wen hulle week??????? Hello keurders reuk die koffie…of nee julle het espresso nodig!!! Of dalk nuwe afrigters….’n paar Minions of is dit nou Mitchells? Ek is die mening toegedaan dat die tekort aan goeie afrigting ‘n paar goeie kandidate ‘n plek in die SA span gekos het!
@robbie: Ek was ‘n jong laaitie en het ook die finaal gekyk in ’87 in die Paarl. Dit het definitief gereen op die dag, so you are spot on!
Officially or not-officially, all will say the team who won the final day is the champion. The organisers can just as well make the competition officially by starting on the Thursday of the week in stead of the Monday and fit in four games for each team, whereby every one will have a chance to be crowned official winners.
@KES Oldboy: At the risk Die Ken mentioning the Whatsapp slogan to me today, someone posed how many SBR games are actually decided by poor reffing decisions. Isn’t your comment an outstanding example of how much on paper in black and white actually means in the long run. 30 years down the line and we have a published list of so-called CW winners, only to receive a bit of background info that in 1987 there might have actually been or probably were two teams better than the chosen finalists slash co-winners. There probably are a number of other years with the same consequences.
I must have been dreaming. I remember driving rain on a field that couldn’t handle the water. On top of that I agree with your sentiments regarding the final.
@robbie: I know we are going back 30 years but it was not a wet final. Natal & Tvl drew in a high scoring match. It was a controversial “final” as both Tvl & Natal had both lost to EP & E.Tvl respectively. The EP VS E.tvl match was the 2nd last match. EP were therefore the only unbeaten team of the top 4.
@robbie: Yes, of course. You are right in that instance. What I am saying is that not all players with potential will move, but nowadays most of them will. If an area like Mooreesburg (just as an example) has 4 Boland CW players, at least 3 of them will NOT be going to their local high school. There can be various reasons for them to move, but move they will, unfortunately to the detriment of the local school. But this has been going on for many years already and is not something new!..Despite this, your Platteland schools will still produce some top class players aka Pieter-Steph et all!
McCulleys Workshop No, it would have had to be a Golden Oldies team for me to play. 1 was part of the committee.
Boishaaipa I can think of two reasons why a talented rugby player from Moorreesburg will not move to any of the Big 4 in the Winelands for more exposure : 1. LOYALTY 2. FINANCES. There are still many people who are loyal to the communities where they live and where their parents word – sometimes to their own detriment 2. It is extremely expensive to move to the Big 4 if you are not on a bursary. I have heard that the Big 4 are feeling the financial pinch as all other schools are and that their super rugby programmes are under threat and that bursaries are not as available as they were in the past. I don’t know how, but we need to support/protect country schools as they are the life blood of South African rugby.
@robbie: Did you play in the game?
Craven Week 1987. Final played in teeming rain. The only time I can remember where the organisers seriously comtemplated calling off the final due to the weather. Still a great match.
Craven Week 1987. First time the senior and junior CW were played in the same town – P
@McCulleys Workshop: Jeremy Thompson made SA Schools in 86 but played for Natal in 85.
@odie15: Not Ehrentraut – he played fullback in 89.
@McCulleys Workshop: Errol Stewart & Udo Goedeke both made SA schools rugby & cricket in 1987. Remember too that there were only 20 players in the squad back then.
@BoishaaiPa: Hooit would say stay on thread content!!!!
@BuffelsCM: @Roger: http://schoolboyrugby.co.za/?p=9606
I thought Lesur was 87.
@McCulleys Workshop: I’ve had a quick look at / in our friend Google: Errol did in fact play SA Schools’ in 1987
@Roger: Howzit, I’m not sure Errol did make SA Schools, Star would know all things pertaining to Westville. He was very fast and a good center – for CW partnered a college guy Le Seur. I think the flyhalf was Goodeker from College, with Falkson at 6 from Westville as captain and Dieter Kriese at 7. Very good side.
@McCulleys Workshop: sorry – meant Errol Stewart – confused there for a second – he was blitz vinning. Did he make SA Schools in 87 – I think so?
Apologies for flooding the blog now…but!…Reading all these posts over the last couple of months I came to realize that passion is maybe not such a great thing!. We are all here on this blog because we have one thing in common. We all love SBR, Beet created this forum for likeminded people to converse and talk about SBR. Some way along the line it has become much the same as the old Rugby365 blog ending up in people not respecting another point of view and insults flying all over and schools images getting caught up in the behaviour of their supporters. This is not on!..That Schoolboy blog at R365 was stopped because of this type of blogging. I was one of those bloggers way back then that got totally emerged in the passion and forgot what it is supposed to be about. Spies/Andre T will be able to confirm this as he was as guilty as me in this instance!
We all want “our” boys and “our” school to do well and succeed in whatever they are doing..but not at the cost of losing one’s decency. In the end we are all passionate about the schools we support (and represent in some way on this blog..something to think about!)..But it all ends up in providing players for our beloved Springboks. If more schools can provide more opportunities for players to develop and become better players I say kudus to them. Don’t matter where they come from, as long as they get the opportunity to exhibit their potential. How else will we as a rugby playing nation unearth the gems? SBR is vital to SA…That is a given. We have more players playing this game than NZ have sheep!..yet we are sucking hind tit to them…why?..because we will always be fighting against another instead of working together!..If the WP with their abundant natural talent cannot accommodate all the players of colour in their “traditional” rugby schools, what is the problem for these players to get opportunities elsewhere wherever that may be?..Our systems are to put it bluntly..fucked up..If you are not in a high profile school you have to work so much harder to get through and recognized in any system!. That is why our “platteland” schools systems have gone to the dogs in terms of rugby. They cannot compete in terms of exposure to the top rugby schools. Why would any player with some ability even want to stay in Moreesburg when he can get an opportunity at a Paarl Gim or a Boishaai or a Glenwood or a Garsfontein . In the end it is all good development for SA rugby. Watching the Supersport series I recognise names I remember from SBR days that I thought was forgotten in the system. Playing for whatever team it may be, coming from whatever province or school, at least they are getting exposure!. A Winnaar from Dale..(with his exuberant hairstyle!) playing for the Sharks as an example.
What I am trying to converse here is that over a long span of time I have learned to respect views from other bloggers like Rugbyman, Kattes, Djou, Rainier, Riempies, Grizzly,McCulleys, Roger, Playa, CharlesZa, Chief, Sewes, Greenman, Tzavosky, Bush, Hooit, Gungest Tuft, Umtata, Ringo, 4×4, Vleis, Ruggerfan, BuffelsCM , my fellow Boishaai bloggers and a few others ..I apologize if I left someone out..yes..even my beloved Spiesie and T!…Even if I don’t always agree with your views what I have learned is that my views are not always the right view!…We are all exceptional individuals passionate about SBR with obviously our own agendas when it comes to the teams and schools we support, BUT…we need to give each other some sort of leeway and stop this Blog into deteriorating into something we all despise!..being seen as that tannie with the handbag running next to the touchline!….
Beet started something here and gave us the opportunity to discuss SBR in a decent and civilised atmosphere because some of us were part of a site that lost its structure and original intent. Please guys, don’t let the same thing happen here. I was part and parcel of that original blog and I must confess that sometimes I did overstep the lines over here as well. I think it is time that we all take a little introspective look and try and get back to what it is supposed to be all about. I would like to petition Beet to get bloggers like Bog and Hopper back again as I think we would all like to get their views (however we might disagree) back on this forum. I think it will be good for us a SBR community (and that is what we are..like it or not) to bring back people that will not always sing from the same hymnbook, but at least have some different points of view as it should be. All we need is someone to now and then just give us a “ruk in die bek” and remind us when we stray from the given topic. Our viewpoints will always differ, and that is great, but all our school are all great and the boys playing this beloved game are all great, be they from Putsonderwater playing for Garsies or Buffelsfontein playing for Boishaai. At least they are getting exposure!..and this is partly what this blog is all about as well. ! Don’t let your schools colours judge your point of view!..
This was not written under duress or threatening emails from Spies!…
@McCulleys Workshop: Fullback was James Small, right wing Pieter Loubser and Michael Ehrentraut think that’s the spelling…
@McCulleys Workshop: best right wing ever for SA schools in 1987….actually that back 3 were awesome!
@Carl de Kock: maak klomp geld in frankryk
@Roger: Howzit Roger, I think Jem Tompson was 85.
1987 was a cracker – Lions team had James Small in it and KZN Jeremy Thompson – two of the quickest school boy players I have seen!
@odie15: that Lions team in 2012 was bloody good too …. but I remember Rohan Jansen V Rensburg had a blinder for the Bulls
@Smallies: …en kyk waar speel hulle nou…?
@odie15: 2007 was veronderstel om WP se jaar te wees, toe draf Robert en Sias op die veld….
@Hooit: Hooit the 2012 score is eina!!!! Like 2010 for us…..
@Playa: I loved the 95 game really enjoyed it!!!! Aaah sorry not the year but the score
hehehe…..after that game I stood next to Mr Ras! Gareth Wright came over and congratulates him! Introduces me and I say yes and we’ll hand these botys over to snr coaches who will take their talent and throw it in the bin! U19 CC last year proved that…
@Hooit: Het jy Bulle vs Vrystaat gekyk?Wat dink jy van Diego se game vandag?Dis al game wat ek op A veld kon kyk.
@4×4: So Kaap rugby is n grap en nie kompeterend nie want daar is nie n beker nie?
Kan daar ‘n saak uitgemaak word dat die CW ‘n grap is of dat die glad nie kompeterend is omdat daar geen beker is waarvoor die provinsies speel nie?
@Playa: If I had to give a gold medal for the best answer ever – it is yours!!!
@Hooit: Ek sit nou en wonder oor watter verskil dit sou maak, as hulle by Craven Week vir ‘n beker gespeel het. Moontlik die Craven Cup toernooi
@Djou: The main game is seen as the unofficial final. The reason many team end CW undefeated is because they do not play against top teams. Think Pumas was undefeated last year but would have been destroyed by Liobs an WP.
That 95-0 stands out like a sore thumb.
@Djou: Technically it is a final…because it’s the final game of Craven Week
There is no final in the Craven Week. Just the main game. Many teams left the week undefeated – and they did not play in the main game.
@beet: My dad played in 69 and 70. No finals correct.
@Carl de Kock: No final before 1971 apparently.
Wat van die CW uitslae voor ’71?
26 years ago
