The Sharks Craven Week team will be in for a baptism of fire as they are lined up to play Western Province in their opening game at Craven Week 2024.
The coaching staff for the various 2024 Youth Week teams were announced at the annual Sharks Schools AGM.
| YOUTH WEEK | YTH WEEK POSITION | COACH NAME | SCHOOL | TITLE |
| u18 Craven Week | Head Coach | Dusty Noble | Westville | DoR |
| u18 Craven Week | Assistant Coach | Njabulo Zulu | Westville | 1st XV HC |
| u18 Craven Week | Assistant Coach | Tim Orchard | Maritzburg College | 1st XV HC |
| u17 Academy Week | Head Coach | Naseeb Abrahams | Northwood | 2nd XV HC* |
| u17 Academy Week | Assistant Coach | Kelvin Elber | Maritzburg College | 1st XV AC |
| u17 Academy Week | Assistant Coach | Heinke vd Merwe | Glenwood | 1st XV AC |
| u16 Grant Khomo Week | Head Coach | Kwanele Ngema | Kearsney | u15A HC |
| u16 Grant Khomo Week | Assistant Coach | Burger Nel | Hilton | u16A HC |
| u16 Grant Khomo Week | Assistant Coach | Sibs Ncamani | Michaelhouse | u15A HC |
| u15 Rhino Week | Head Coach | Mzi Nyathi | St Charles | DoR |
| u15 Rhino Week | Assistant Coach | Anela Sibhoko | Northwood | u15A HC |
| u15 Rhino Week | Assistant Coach | Grant Ball | Michaelhouse | u14A HC |
| u17 Rhino Week | Head Coach | Cameron Fraser | Hilton | 1st XV AC |
| u17 Rhino Week | Assistant Coach | Lyle Matthysen | Durban HS | u16A HC |
| u17 Rhino Week | Assistant Coach | Nhlanhla Bulose | Westville | 2nd XV HC |
| u18 KZN Wildebeest | Head Coach | Mpumelelo Zondi | Greytown | 1st XV HC |
| u18 KZN Wildebeest | Assistant Coach | Clifford Jacobs | Pionier | |
| u18 KZN Wildebeest | Assistant Coach | Ruan v Rensburg | Kloof | 1st XV HC |
* will oversee u14s and assist with 1st XV
Old post 09/11/2023
KZN will hold its annual Sharks High School Rugby Association AGM at the Greyhound at Kearsney College on Saturday 11 November 2023.
It’s an interesting event to attend.
The new youth week coaches/managers will be announced and there will be report backs from the various youth week tournaments. In this regard, hopefully there will be a bit of emphasis placed on the impact that injuries had on the Craven Week call-ups after the team had been announced and the challenges these posed. Personally I thought the coaching staff of Dusty Noble, Njabulo Zulu and Tim Orchard handled a potentially difficult situation in such an admirable and intelligent manner to ensure that the squad didn’t suffer any noticeable setbacks or limitations, caused by withdrawals. Injuries will happen and will cause late changes but with targets in place, a lot of flexibility is lost and hopefully there are suggestions on how to improve on the ways to overcome these challenges.
A good deal of the attraction is the discussions around everyday rugby related issues and challenges facing the high schools. It definitely creates a sense of appreciation for the work that goes and the part played to keep rugby in SA healthy.
Hopefully some attention is given to overall well-being of the local tier-1 interschools season. Congestion due to schools not playing third term rugby and state versus independent school holidays are two areas. Every official basically looks out for his own school and their are healthy aspects to this competition that have resulted in strong and competitive league. For that main role players deserve praise. Sometimes its also good to take a step back and admire the overall achievements as a collective and find ways to work together to improve or even maintain the structure.
An item that may not come up for discussion but is very much at the forefront of KZN schoolboy rugby is the youth week trials process and how best to go about this. The one thing that the various coaches do seem to have in common, is that they do not want their players to be engaged in midweek trial matches when alternatives for selection of elite/core players are available.
@Rainman (Comment #3)
Unfortunately that’s only fixture I know for now. It was leaked at the KZN AGM.
YOUTH WEEK VENUES 2024
DHS - GLENWOOD
Hopefully all differences have been put aside.
DHS teams will play at the Glenwood festival in 2024. Organisers are not Glenwood, they are just the hosts.
Will Glenwood and DHS be there…wonder how and when reinstating that fixture may be raised?