The first round of the Varsity Cup Young Guns for under-20’s saw the defending champions Tuks squeeze by the Shimlas 18-16 while the UCT Trojans thrashed NMMU 44-15. This week NMMU are going to need all the home support they can get for a very tough encounter against the Maties while the Pukke should be too strong for Wits at the Fanie du Toit Stadium in Potchefstroom.
Pukke and Maties teams:
| NAME | SURNAME | SCHOOL | NAME | SURNAME | SCHOOL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reginald | Standers | Bloefhof | 1 | Anton | Versveld | Paarl Gim |
| 2 | Thomas | Dreyer | Transvalia | 2 | Cullen | Collopy | Kearsney |
| 3 | Gawie | Liebenberg | Upington | 3 | JE | Van der Merwe | Paarl BH |
| 4 | Alex | Du Plooy | Helpmekaar | 4 | Ryan | Odendaal | M.College |
| 5 | Emile | Odendaal | Jim Fouche | 5 | Michael | Murphy | Paarl Gim |
| 6 | Mark | Reinecke | Volkskool (Potch) | 6 | Jacobus | De Kock | Boland Landbou |
| 7 | Dean | Basson | Rustenburg | 7 | Pieter | De Wet | HTS Drostdy |
| 8 | Tiaan | Liebenberg | 8 | Petrus | Uys | Swellendam | |
| 9 | Pieter | Smith | Grey College | 9 | Bjorn | Bernardo | Durbanville |
| 10 | Kobus | Du Plessis | Martin Oosthuizen | 10 | Andre | Le Roux | Paul Roos |
| 11 | Ryno | Wepener | Oakdale | 11 | Boutros | Mbina | Strand High |
| 12 | Marnus | Tack | Volkskool (Potch) | 12 | Wilhelm | Visagie | Calvinia High |
| 13 | Jaap | Pienaar | Klerksdorp | 13 | Johnny | Kotze | Bishops |
| 14 | Blessing | Makhavhu | Maragon | 14 | Lihleli | Tini | St Andrews |
| 15 | Rhyno | Smith | Paarl BH | 15 | Wihan | Lombard | Grey College |
| 16 | Jaco | Buys | Noord-Kaap | 16 | Craig | Corbett | Paarl BH |
| 17 | Wynand | Breytenbach | Affies | 17 | Johnny | Meyer | Paul Roos |
| 18 | Durren | Filies | Waterkloof | 18 | Myles | Tucker | Rondebosch |
| 19 | Loftus | Morrison | Wittenberg | 19 | Sifiso | Shabango | Jeppe |
| 20 | Chriswill | September | Drostdy | 20 | Cameron | Opperman | Selborne |
| 21 | Gihan | Megannon | Swartkop | 21 | Kobus | Putter | Charlie Hofmeyr |
| 22 | Eswyn | Heyns | Upington | 22 | Beuton | Nero | Piketberg |
| 23 | Jandré | Venter | Outeniqua | 23 | G-D | Orlam | Windhoek HS |
FNB NMMU Young Guns: 15 Gary Loest, 14 Khaya Malotana, 13 Ayabulela Dlepu, 12 Siphumelele Msutwana, 11 Zuko Ndlela, 10 Mitchell Turner, 9 Wandile Mbambeni, 8 Marius le Roux, 7 Kevin Kaba, 6 Zane Marx, 5 Brendan Hector, 4 Ervine Slabbert, 3 Mzuvukile Sofisa, 2 Tyrone Rankin, 1 Yakha Qinela.
Replacements: 16 John-Henry Schmitt, 17 Similile Qinela, 18 Pelser Hanekom, 19 Riaan Barkhuizen, 20 Sonwabo Majola, 21 Tiaan McGregor, 22 Gregory Lutge, 23 Ruaan de Jager.
FNB Wits Young Guns: 15 Christopher Mills, 14 Joshua Jarvis, 13 Ryan Pinto, 12 Luca Zambetti, 11 Ish Nkolo, 10 Keegan Rylance, 9 Ettiene Wessels, 8 Cameron Shafto, 7 Peter Smit, 6 Richard Crossman, 5 Daniel Bope, 4 Matthew Phillips, 3 Lebogang Lekganyane, 2 Rowan Kovel, 1 Daniel De Gouveia.
Replacements: 16 Shaun Dendiere, 17 Hikekani Mongwe, 18 Matt Stallwood, 19 Brendon Wessels, 20 Jarryd Fernandez, 21 Alastair Blair, 22 Lyle Joubert.
Tukkies = Bulls side, please pick proper students
@QC86: Ye flip only just under 2 years before the big 50 so what i remember is only the good things. If i remember you were under 15,s when i left school.
@Queenian: and the older we get the better we were
@QC86: Thanks Rudi hey if i remember you were not a bad No 8 yourself.
@QC86: Daar sy!!!
@Queenian: Meyer is at the sharks,was in the u19 sharks squad last year ,but hurt his knee very badly in a warmup game,and thus did not play at all last year,he is now in the sharks vodacom cup side and started at no 8 in the warmup game this passed weekend,scored a try i heard,so back in,he is highly rated by the sharks guys
@Queenian: Didnt he head up to the Bulls?Or was it the Sharks…one of the 2 though.Not sure what his progress has been.
@QC86: Do you know what happened to the 2011 Queens No 8 Meyer were did he go or is he not trying to further his rugby carreer i thought he would go far as he was big and quick.
I see quite a few Queens boys in the NMMU team that good looks like good for the Kings if they can just keep themselves in the Super15.
@beet: EP needs to be an option for boys coming from outside.Current Kings SR squad of 35 has only 12 okes who schooled in the EC. So one can say there has been a fair amount of ‘buying’ going on in senior level.But the juniors (U19 and U21 sides) have been doing well, albeit in the first division, with the bulk being local talent.My view is that they need to be able to retain talent first, before focussing on shopping.Or else they may find themselves taking 2 steps forward, while moving 10 steps back.EP needs to be first an attractive destination for non-contracted players
@Umtata: @QC86: The unofficial Sharks report is that the drop out rate is 50% in year 1 and another 50% in year 2. So if 100 start, 25 are left after just 2 seasons.
@Umtata: There is no doubt that the Eastern Cape has been a very good source of player recruitment for the Sharks over the years. If the Kings can retain their place in Super Rugby, more junior places will in all likelihood be made available by the RU and confidence will increase amongst EC school leavers. The Kings will hold onto even more star players from their region to the Sharks’ detriment. At the same time this might open up a whole knew opportunity for the Sharks in what was traditionally the Lions’ sphere of influence as faith in that union dips.
For now Sphu and Jho might be pioneers of a soon to be established trend. But at the same time I think the Kings will be foolish to just rely on their own homegrowns. They must also do a bit of shopping to the gaps in areas of need.
@Umtata: what you find is that the players that see the writing on the wall head home,some of the bulls dropouts have come home to durban,you have over 100 first years at the sharks academy so the dropout rate is very high,plus players see a new franchise starting and looking for players so after the currie cup squads are chosen the left overs move to new opportunities
@beet: A lot of the boarder boys are leaving the Sharks and going back to the EC, look at the nmmu 1st team. Late last year I saw Ace Jho in PE I think he might also be in the EP set up
@QC86: Plus I know Odendaal from his days at College. He must be 1.86m max and I think Murphy was a loose forward before so I assume he isn’t that tall either.
@QC86: He must be studying very hard
@beet: Myles Tucker only as a sub????
@Umtata: Yes Sphu got virtually zero game time with the Sharks u19s last year. They had SA Schools centre Tyler Fisher as the regular first choice. Sphu was mainly limited to time a bit of time as a wing. He was not considered a no.12 at the Sharks so its a surprise to see him playing there now for NMMU.
Sphu Msutwana is back in the EC, didn’t know about that. I guess he couldn’t cut it at the sharks. I hope this improves his chances of playing for EP u21. Good to see some boarder boys in that Nmmu team. Most of them are in the EP Academy