If Christmas is the season to be jolly, rugby preseason is time for supporters to be optimistic. The actual season doesn’t always work out the way people planned though. That said Port Natal fans genuinely have cause to feel confident going into the 2014 season. Firstly their 1st XV has far more experience in terms of first team caps that the one that did duty last season. Also broadening the smiles on the faces of the support base was the successful set of trial chukkas held at the school 0n 17 January, merely one week into the new school year. The players vying for the right to represent the White Knights looked particularly sharp and fitness was of a high standard already given the time of year. These last couple of weeks would have been spent working hard on set-pieces and ball-carrying amongst other things and if Porties can up their game in these areas, their supporters will be in for a treat.
The Port Natal Night Series sponsored by the Geldenhuys Broers Bedryf cc and featuring DHS, Durban Development, George Campbell, Glenwood Invitation, Pinetown and the hosts kicks off this afternoon.
Port Natal 1st XV Squad
| # | PORT NATAL |
|---|---|
| 1 | Andre Janse van Rensburg |
| 2 | Wayne Wesson |
| 3 | Frans van Rensburg |
| 4 | Le-Clue Bierman |
| 5 | Charl Sonnekus |
| 6 | Jan Welthagen |
| 7 | Ewlth Kok |
| 8 | Andre Nortje |
| 9 | Frans Janse van Niewenhuis |
| 10 | Carlo Gresse |
| 11 | Ghano Prins |
| 12 | Estienne Verster |
| 13 | Karl Terblanche |
| 14 | Chestwin Gaffley |
| 15 | Xander White |
| 16 | Koos Kruger |
| 17 | Sewus Geldenhuys |
| 18 | Eugene du Preez |
| 19 | Ruan Smook |
| 20 | Janus de Vos |
| 21 | Andre Bothma |
| 22 | Dean Badenhorst |
| 23 | Duane Smit |
Fixtures:
| Date/Time | Compo | Team | Team | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri, 31 Jan | |||||
| 15h00 | B-team | Glenwood Inv B XV | George Campbell 2nd XV | ||
| 16h00 | B-team | Port Natal 2nd XV | Pinetown 2nd XV | ||
| 17h00 | Official opening | ||||
| 17h30 | A-team | Glenwood Inv A | 47 | 0 | Durban Development XV |
| 18h30 | A-team | George Campbell 1st XV | 7 | 24 | DHS 1st XV |
| 19h30 | A-team | Port Natal 1st XV | 22 | 0 | Pinetown 1st XV |
| Tue, 04 Feb | |||||
| 17h00 | A-team | Pinetown 1st XV | Durban Development XV | ||
| 18h00 | A-team | Port Natal 1st XV | George Campbell 1st XV | ||
| 19h00 | A-team | Glenwood Inv A XV | DHS 1st XV | ||
| Fri, 07 Feb | |||||
| 16h00 | B-team | Port Natal 2nd XV | Glenwood Inv B XV | ||
| 17h00 | B-team | Pinetown 2nd XV | George Campbell 2nd XV | ||
| 18h00 | A-team | DHS 1st XV | Durban Development XV | ||
| 19h00 | A-team | Port Natal 1st XV | Glenwood Inv A XV | ||
| 20h00 | A-team | George Campbell 1st XV | Pinetown 1st XV | ||
| Tue, 11 Feb | |||||
| 17h00 | A-team | Port Natal 1st XV | Durban Development XV | ||
| 18h00 | A-team | DHS 1st XV | Pinetown 1st XV | ||
| 19h00 | A-team | George Campbell 1st XV | Glenwood Inv A XV | ||
| Fri, 14 Feb | |||||
| 16h00 | B-team | Glenwood Inv B | Pinetown 2nd XV | ||
| 17h00 | B-team | George Campbell 2nd XV | Port Natal 2nd XV | ||
| 18h00 | A-team | George Campbell 1st XV | Durban Development XV | ||
| 19h00 | A-team | Glenwood Inv A XV | Pinetown 1st XV | ||
| 20h00 | A-team | Port Natal 1st XV | DHS 1st XV | ||
| Fri, 21 Feb | |||||
| 16h00 | B-team | 3rd Place on log | 4th Place on log | ||
| 17h00 | A-team | 5th Place on log | 6th Place on log | ||
| 18h00 | A-team | 3rd Place on log | 4th Place on log | ||
| 19h00 | B-team | 1st Place on log | 2nd Place on log | ||
| 20h00 | A-team | 1st Place on log | 2nd Place on log |
@burra: oh, Glenwood 3rds/2nds vs DHS 1sts. It will show something as last year Glenwood win the 1st and 2nd team games by big margins…
@Grasshopper: Your answer should be answered this evening Or rather you’ll get an idea as to ‘have they really awoken from hibernation’
Are these the first signs of a DHS recovery? Has the sleeping giant been awoken from its hibernation?
@Jordaan:
Very difficult to say. 9 days out of 10 I reckon we’d lose by 35 ish points but this is SBR and an upset is always on the cards so I guess we’ll see.
But this is a good victory for them especially since there have been murmurs that GC could take them.
Well done to DHS on the victory
@Jordaan
I reckon T minus 35
@HORSEFLY NO.1: How competitive do you think you will be against College, Westville and Glenwood this year?
@Grasshopper: Looks like a big ask for Campbell to take Glenwood again this year.
@HORSEFLY NO.1: On the face of it, not knowing which team GC fielded, that is a great result.
@Grasshopper:
DHS beat George Campbell 24-7 with Buthelezi,Tembe,Khumalo and Peter scoring all of Schools tries
Results?
@Bonthuis: yes Bobthuis, along with all the other declining Afrikaans schools in KZN. Parents are realizing that their kids need English for business and to recognized at they highest level they need to be in an A league school, playing with and against hundreds of quality players. It is unfortunate but is the way schools are going. If I was a good schoolboy rugby player I would prefer to bd playing Affies, Grey Bloem, College, Westville, Monnas, Kearsney etc than against Kuswag, Suid Natal, Gelofte, Voortrekker, New Forest and Grosvenor. There are exceptions like Marcel Coetzee, well done to him but that is the exception not the rule…
Porties – The nursery of Glenwood rugby!
again i say that GW should be putting the 3rd team in here and playing them at the A team level, one needs to look in 2012 the results that the 2nd and 3rd Teams achieved in the year form playing at that level and look at what they achieved last year and build it by bringing in the 4th team to the B section
My Pick tonite will be Campbell 1st Vs DHS 1st and Porties 1st Vs
Pinetown
Looking forward to this rugby. So glad the weather is a bit cooler for the players.