The opinions of a SBRer in response to this comment made about the Grey College Cherries 31-26 win against HTS Louis Botha:
Continued question-marks about the well-being of Free State school rugby as a whole. Clearly the balance is not right when stand out rugby players would rather play 2nd team of one school than the 1st teams of several others in the region. A great result for Grey rugby this result but long term this kind of situation is not healthy for SBR.Just a few thoughts in reply to your comment on the state of Free State Schoolrugby.
Yes, Grey Bloem sets the standard in the Free State in especially Rugby. The tradition,resources and number of available players at Grey is difficult to compete with by the likes of Voortrekker and Witteberg in Bethlehem, Hentie Cilliers in Virginia, Rooiskool in Kroonstad and the other Bloem Schools like Sentraal, Louis Botha etc.
What is interesting though is that since the new Headmaster took over at Grey this year, there seems to be more fixtures between Grey and the other schools in the province. Even though Grey ran out comfortable winners against these schools, I see these games in a positive light as it shows the other boys where the true standard lies.
With regard to the quality of rugby in the province outside Grey, I can tell you that we often see rugby of a fairly high quality from teams like Voortrekker, Hentie Cilliers, Rooiskool, Sentraal, Louis Botha and others. The derbies in Welkom, Bethlehem and Kroonstad are special events when the respective towns come to a virtual standstill.
I would like to see the other schools in the Free State get some recognition for sustained good performance. This year Hentie Cilliers was invited to Wildeklawer despite the fact that Voortrekker beat them this year and last year. Should Voortrekker not perhaps get the chance to compete there? Would it not be fair if the two top teams in every province be invited to Wildeklawer with the sponsor’s prerogative to invite a few wild cards? Just a thought.
My rankings for the Free State Schools will look something like this:
1. Grey
2. Bethlehem Voortrekker
3. Hentie Cilliers
4. Rooiskool Kroonstad
5.Jim Fouche
6. Sentraal
7. Louis Botha
8.Welkom Gimnasium
9.Witteberg
10. Goudveld
(Grey College Cherries excluded)
@BOG: Agree with you 100%
What has been said here, really confirms what I have been saying all along. The “problem” in the FS is not so much the weakness of the other schools in the Free State, but the strength of Grey? And the solution ? Find ways to weaken GCB. What I jokingly said about a handicap system for Grey, does not seem so outrageous in the minds of some. As if the quota system, as it stands, is not obnoxious enough, the school, to bring it down to the level of others, should be penalised further. And I dont mean that arrogantly. I do think that HTS LB, Sentraal and JF, should be above both Voortrekker and Hentie Cilliers on a FS “ranking”.
@ Beet: How would the quota system apply to Free State where you get Both 1st XV’s being the strongest and probably having 2 or 3 players who would fall under being a ‘PD’. There might be a few PD’s from schools like Louis Botha, Ox Niche, to name 1. But I doubt that they could be able to find 8 worth it PD players.