Kearsney’s rugby season begins with a short warm-up game against the hosts at the KFC Voortrekker Night Series on Friday 28 February. Thereafter they depart for their annual Northern Natal tour where they have lined up fixtures against Vryheid on Monday 03 March and Pionier on Wednesday 05 March. That makes it three reasonably demanding early matches all within the space of five days.
Voortrekker are already a bit of a known quality, having just pushed Westville in a 3-17 defeat last Friday. It the eyes of many, that’s an excellent result for Vories who don’t often get the opportunity to play against the leading KZN rugby schools’ 1st teams anymore. On home ground, under floodlight conditions that are unfamiliar to Kearsney players and with match practice under the belt, Vories should prove to be very competitive come this Friday’s game.
Generally Pionier who excel at Sevens rugby are the stronger of the two Vryheid schools. In 2011 Pionier recorded a famous upset victory over visiting Westville. In the same year lock Johan Klingenberg of Vryheid High School represented KwaZulu-Natal under-18 at Craven Week, indicating that they too are quite capable of producing talented players.
Kearsney’s first KZN Top Schools match is a home game against Northwood on 15 March and that is followed up by the big Highways derby against Westville a week later.
Kearsney squad – subject to changes
| # | NAME |
|---|---|
| 1 | Mzingisi Bam |
| 2 | David Brown |
| 3 | Donald de Cramer |
| 4 | Tristan Dixon |
| 5 | James Hall |
| 6 | Stefan Harris |
| 7 | Langa Hlongwane |
| 8 | Curtis Louw |
| 9 | Nicholas Luyt |
| 10 | Jeremy Maarschalk |
| 11 | Matthew Maddock |
| 12 | Mawabisi Madikizela |
| 13 | Sebastian Pau |
| 14 | Anthony Quenet |
| 15 | Jesse Rich |
| 16 | Kyle Ritchie |
| 17 | Stephen Tedder |
| 18 | Tristan Tedder |
| 19 | James Tedder |
| 20 | Joshua van Vuuren |
| 21 | Tijde Visser |
| 22 | Brendan Vorster |
| 23 | Cullen Waberski |
| 24 | Khanyi Xaba |
| 25 | Patrick Zietkewitz |
| 26 | David Zondi |
Kearsney Fixtures
| DAY | DATE | SCHOOL | SCHOOL | FEST / COMPO | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri | 28/02/2014 | Voortrekker (Pmb) | Kearsney | Voortrekker Night Series | ||
| Mon | 03/03/2014 | Vryheid | Kearsney | |||
| Wed | 05/03/2014 | Pionier | Kearsney | |||
| Sat | 15/03/2014 | Kearsney | Northwood | |||
| Sat | 22/03/2014 | Kearsney | Westville | |||
| Sat | 29/03/2014 | Grey HS | Kearsney | Grey PE Fest | ||
| Mon | 31/03/2014 | Kearsney | Pretoria BH | Grey PE Fest | ||
| Thu | 17/04/2014 | Kearsney | HTS Middelburg | Kearsney Easter Rugby Fest | ||
| Sat | 19/04/2014 | Kearsney | Dale | Kearsney Easter Rugby Fest | ||
| Mon | 21/04/2014 | Kearsney | EG Jansen | Kearsney Easter Rugby Fest | ||
| Sat | 26/04/2014 | Hilton | Kearsney | |||
| Sat | 03/05/2014 | Kearsney | St Charles | |||
| Sat | 10/05/2014 | Kearsney | George Campbell | |||
| Sat | 17/05/2014 | Maritzburg College | Kearsney | |||
| Sat | 31/05/2014 | Kearsney | St Stithians | |||
| Sat | 07/06/2014 | DHS | Kearsney | |||
| Sat | 14/06/2014 | Kearsney | Michaelhouse | |||
| Sat | 21/06/2014 | Glenwood | Kearsney |
A few names have been around for a while and are returning after playing 1st team rugby in 2013. Harris played at the ISRF in Nelspruit 2012 so too Hall, also playing at the same tournament. Hall also played a couple of games off the bench last year for the One stripe, notably against College in a winning cause. Rich played games for the 1st team last year as too Langa Hlongwane, first try at the KERF 2013. They might not be household names yet but will surely put their markers down and won’t shy away from the rough stuff.
@Buffel: I have to be honest, I only recognise the Tedder boys and Tjide Visser, seems a young rebuilding year. These are usually the best as people don’t have the expectations of them…
17 and a half games. A fair amount of rugby squashed into a short space of time. There is also the ISRF at Michaelhouse during the July Holidays that will take the total up to 20 games. This seems to be a well balanced side with a good make up of grade 11’s and 12’s. No easy games here. An even split 10 home and 10 away.