10. Northwood 10 Hilton 7
Northwood put a lot of effort into preparing a team that could step up and record away wins at venues like Gilfillan in the Midlands. Although they had to grind out this one against a determined yet lower rated than usual Hilton, one has to remember this was the Knight’s bogey team – ending their longest KZN losing streak dating back to 2014. Statement made!
9. Diamantveld 29 Trio 27
The arrival of Vlos and Oloff from Boland Landbou are seemingly paying immediate dividends. With back-to-back wins against Voortrekker and now Trio, the Diamands have overcome their two main rivals for this year’s Wesgrow Sentrale Skole Sportsreeks 1st XV rugby title. Statement made!
8. Durban HS 23 Kearsney 0
Expectations were for DHS to be amongst the pace-setters coming out of KZN this season with attacking flair paving the way for success. In this match, although most would agree that Kearsney deserved a closer result, it was the DHS upperbody strength in contact and their commitment to stubborn defence that added the dimensions that could see them progress far up the rankings. Blanking their opponents on the road drew attention. Statement made!
7. Grey HS 44 Hudson Park 5
For a change, Grey who are synonymous with number-one spot in the whole of the Eastern Cape, looked like they were staring down the barrel ahead of the 2024 season. This match restored much confidence as their balanced attack and secondary D-line made the victory against Hudson look easy while offering the prospect of improvement for higher profile challenges to come. Statement made!
6. Menlopark 48 Oos-Moot 7 & Menlopark 53 Middelburg 5
Menlo coming off the annus horribilis of 2023 and playing with 9 u17’s in their starting line-up this season, have put away respectable opponents from the Moot and Middies in the same week. OM went on to beat Nellies to add credibility to the result. Statement made!
5. KES 31 Noordheuwel 27
King Edward VII School being two games behind on the timeline, were expected to receive a baptism of fire as a welcome to 2024 gift in Krugersdorp. Rising stars Nories had headlined for getting the job done but in this one the Red Army took control up front early on and refused to allow their hosts to settle into any sort of rhythm. Loosie Kebotile Maake had a strong game as a carrier who stayed on his feet and was supported by hooker Siphosethu Mnebelele in the finishing. Statement made!
4. St Charles 24 Bishops 28
Unrated St Charles went all the way to the Cape to take on one of the biggest names in schoolboy rugby. Even if the Sharks based school did not win, they gave an excellent account of themselves, especially after conceding 21-points quite early in the match. Big character and discipline in execution, saw them take control up front and get to within two points of Bishops at one stage. The match was a testimony to seriously good coaching. The patience, focus and ball retention against that level of competition was the best of all KZN teams on the weekend. Statement made!
3. Pearson 19 Queen’s 11
Pearson caused the upset of the weekend. Tipped for the top Queen’s came into this season as a team with an outside chance of going unbeaten while Pearson were just expected to make up the numbers and not pose a threat to any leading teams. This was a real standup and take notice performance and perhaps a launchpad to a higher profile future for the co-ed from Summerstrand in Gqeberha . Statement made!
2. Paul Roos 73 Drostdy 10
Paul Roos were talked off as a potential number-one ranked school for 2024 long before the season started, so very few doubted they were going to win this season opener. It was just that Drostdy had made a few waves of their own in terms of their form heading into this match, suggesting they would push PRG quite hard. In the end, it was the margin of victory that has knocked the socks off. Statement made!
1. Monument 64 Welkom Gim 28
Monnas were so quiet in the lead up to this match and expected to live in the shadows this season, to the extent that backing them for a win against a very respectable Welkom Gim seemed like a risky bet ahead of kickoff. So to come out of a match that was believed it could go either way, with 64-points is a lo-and-behold moment. Statement made!
@netnmamma (Comment #11)
Dankie vir die informasie
@jakes (Comment #7)
Hy het in die 3de kwartaal van sy Gr 10 jaar na Monnas toe gegaan. Baie min rugby gespeel want die seisoen was so te sê klaar.
Gr 11 het hy SA skole Akademie span gemaak, maar weens n besering was hy uit vir meeste van die jaar verder. Ons hoop hy het n goeie jaar sonder beserings in sy matriek jaar!
KNIGHTS AND ST CHARLES
St Charles coming to close to Bishops is a big surprise! St Charles were poised to grow in the last 5/6 years in strength and instead went the otehr way. This year they are hardly even playing any of the big KZN schools, as they had seemed to not be able to compete. This suggests their 1st team at least has something there. I wish them well for the season!
@Rugby 4 Life (Comment #8)
Baie dankie vir die informasie.
@jakes (Comment #7)
As Ek reg onthou het Jacques oorgekom na Monnas toe einde 2022. Sovêr ek weet het hy glad nie vir die Monnas U16’s van 2022 gespeel nie. 2023 was hy beseer vir n groot gedeelte van die seisoen. Monnas het baie beserings in die 1stes gehad in die 2023 seisoen. Maar geen idee van waar af hy gekom het nie.
Hoop dit help. Mooi dag manne
NOORD KAAP SPELER NOU IN MONUMENT?
Kan jy dalk vir my sé in watter jaar het die speler van Noordkaap oorgegaan Monument toe? Tot op watse graad was die speler nog in Noord Kaap indien jy weet asb?
Queen’s boys really had an off day, never got going, lineouts all poor and no clicking on attack. Don’t know if it’s cobwebs or what but they should’ve beaten Pearson anyway. Queen’s seems to always struggle at Graeme Day. I just hope it was an off day and not a long season ahead. Time will tell.
@Die Ken (Comment #3)
Dis een ding wat vir my ook opvallend was. Monnas Se 1ste span manne het baie fiks gelyk toe Welkom Gim uit puff uit gehardloop het. Dit het gewys in die 2de helfde.
Die 28 punte wat hulle weg gegee get en hoe maklik dit was is n worry vir my. Maar die 64 punte wat hulle aangeteken het is indrukwekkend. Maar soos ek sê baie werk wat voorlê voor hulle n “finished product” is
4 dinge wat uitstaan
1. Baie fiks across the board
2. Defensive frailties
3. Gevaarlik op die aanval in die forwards en backs
4. Groot mobile pak
I think the hype about Queens was slightly too much. Lets hope they just had a bad day otherwise it’s going to be a up and down season. On the other hand, Pearson is going to knock down some great teams this year. I think this is where good coaching structures and investment in the program can make a big difference. For such a “small” school they have invested in a world-class gym, a sports psychologist, a technical advisor and some good coaches as well.
@Rugby 4 Life (Comment #2)
Hokaai. Nog baie water moet in die see loop. Gim gaan daai pak rond laat hardloop
Some interesting stats of the Monnas 1st team vs. Welkom Gim
10 out of the match day 23 were part of the U16A squad 2 years ago.
2 Monster locks at 2.03m and 2.06 respectively.
Big combined pack weight of about 840 kg’s. To put it in perspective recent Grey pack was 770kg’s
The big question was whether that pack would deliver and also possible mobility of such a big pack. They proved to be very mobile. Overall a good start for the Monnas pack.
Monnas looked devastating on attack coupled with a few defensive frailties considering the ease at which Welkom Gim scored their tries. But for a team lying low not a bad start to the season. But still a lot of hard work ahead.
MY BEER 2.06M LANK