Port Natal’s annual night series sponsored by tyre experts the Geldenhuys Broers Bedryf got off to a good start on Friday, 31 January. As usual a good crowd gathered and were treated to some much better than expected rugby for this time of the year. The A-team competition saw the Glenwood Invitation A team beating Durban Development 46-0.
Durban Development has become the whipping boys of this tournament over the years and not much changed in this A-team opener. Development has a reasonable sized pack this year and played with the usual courage that one has come to expect from them but as a team they were disjointed as it looked like they were still getting to know one another; sort of what one had come to expect from a pre-season friendly like this. Understandably they did a lot of defending and the highlight feature of their game was the textbook old school low and hard tackling executed by many of their fearless small backs, who lacked the upperbody strength to wrap up the ball-carrier higher than waist level.
The Glenwood Invitation team turned out to be my A-team of the day. Blogger Greenwood used the perfect word to describe their performance by saying it was “polished”. It may not have been a perfect performance and it was possibly against the weakest team in the competition but it was thorough and highly entertaining. It also gave a clear indication of the advancement of schoolboy rugby towards being more professional. Here were boys barely back at high school for a few weeks of the new year, already looking in tip-top physical condition, playing at speed and at a level of precision that could not have been far off their best effort.
Although there was speculation about the make-up of the Glenwood team beforehand, it turned out to be a true invitation team. With the exception of prop Kenny van Niekerk who made a cameo appearance in the second half, none of their expected 1st XV starters suited up for the game. This meant that just those competing as 1st XV fringe players and 2nd team starters did duty. The incentive to make the 1st XV cut must have been high on each player’s priority list. It showed in the performances. A lot of dedication was came to the fore and never any complacency. Of all the team’s the Glenwood Invitation team played with the best variation, which added to the excitement of watching them. All-in-all they scored 9 tries. In spite of the attacking, it was their speed on defence which stood out most for me. If the Development team had well thought out plays to use the precious little ball they had wisely, these were dissolved by fast arriving tacklers who were able to force their opponents to surrender possession well behind the advantage line.
There were many good GI performances but here are two that I singled out because of special interest in their moves to new positions:
1. Donovan du Randt. Last year DdR as an outside centre was quite possibly the most exciting under-16 player to watch in the whole of KZN. He’s game-breaking ability was not easily rivalled. He was however a very individualistic player and is now quite small for an open-age group player. My feeling was that Glenwood would have to shift him to the back three, however their plans saw him shift in the opposite direction, to flyhalf in fact. During this match his new position forced him to work on several of his weaknesses: teamwork, quality passing and temperament. If this positional switch works out, it will be fantastic for Donny’s development as a player. His x-factor quickness was still noticeable and although the GI did not kick out of hand, his penalty kicking for touch was of the highest standard of the evening.
2. McMillan Muller. A flank last season, MM is now being tried out at hooker. He made a good impression. At this stage it’s unclear who will block his path to 1st XV rugby but if he continues to improve in this new role, he could possibly even set his sights beyond 1st XV selection to challenging for one of the two Craven Week jerseys were the early frontrunners must surely be returner Masikani Mazwi (College) and Bradley Roberts (Michaelhouse).
Harder challengers lie in wait for Glenwood. For Durban Development there is still a chance that this was as tough as they come in this year’s competition.
Results of other games? Are these 20 minutes a side games?