Awards for Player of the Day, Back and Forward of the Day, Team of the Day, Game of the Day, Spirit of the Day
These are just fun awards based my opinions
Player of the Day:
I had a feeling it was going to be a day for seeing top quality fullback play and I don’t think I was wrong. Considering there are some seriously big name fullbacks at KERF this year, a few of the surprises performances were produced by the fly under the radar type players. Amongst these were big Rooi Bulle fullback Barend Smit who was rock solid for the most part, Westville’s Brad Smith who gave a good account of himself and Dale College’s Justerino Davids who proved to be a delightful to watch attacking player. Top of the pile though were two of the very best players in the country. The more I thought about, the more I struggled to identify who made more of an impact in his game of the two, so I chickened out in the end and decided to share the dues. Eduan Keyter of Affies and Henry Immelman of Grey College – in a class of their own on Day 1 – the joint players of the day. Eduan has a gift for selecting the right line. He’ll then put his foot down and he also is so strong on his feet that he can combine these attributes to do irreparable damage to a defensive system. A good Selborne struggled to cope with his ongoing threats. Henry Immelman is a tall player with some toe and lateral manoeuvring skills that make beating first time tacklers look effortless. What I love about him is there is no “gloryboy” about his play, he’s always looking to advance the team’s cause. As a result he makes meaningful offloads. He also packs a good punt. Like in Eduan’s case, the fact that he is able to stand out against a good team like EG makes the performance that much more special.
Forward of the Day:
I asked a number of people beforehand about Hendre Stassen, the 2-metre tall, 110kg EG Jansen lock. The feedback in every case was positive. You however have to see it with your own two eyes to appreciate how valuable a player he is. This youngster (still only under-17) can jol. He’s not just about taking lineout ball and then content to be a support player learning the ropes from other more physical seniors. He clearly thrives on being the go-to guy, the leader of the assault in broken play. He doesn’t hold back for anything and gets stuck in wherever he can. At this stage it looks like he has a very bright rugby future ahead of him.
Team of the Day:
The term “Dream Team” gets tossed about a lot in SBR. You never hear of the opposite though. The so-called “Nightmare Team” I came to KERF expecting to see the Witbulle “Nightmare Team”. The team that seemed to frustrate so many with supporters with their lacklustre performance against Waterkloof a week earlier. They were meant to be disjointed, frustrating to watch etc etc. But the truth is on the day, Affies, playing against a good team, were brilliant. Headed by the starting loose-forward trio of Gavin Foster, Eduan Lubbe and Rohan Roelofse (captain), they dominated the breakdown. What they did not win, they turned into the slowest ball imaginable. The forwards were focused and almost always seemed to arrive quickly and in numbers. DP du Plessis really impressed as a carrier in the second half, showing high workrate. Their scrumhalf Divan Henning is one tough little player. Eddie Fouche played flyhalf. He is not the quickest player but his big boot with super hang time was effective a lot of the time. At inside centre Henco Jordaan complimented Fouche and proved to be a great distribution as part of backline that came up with crisp passing. Tiaan Schmulian is built more like a flank than a centre and he was also a significant contributor. The star was however Keyter. With help from Jordaan’s run Keyter got the first try. The fullback’s individual brilliance then got him a second try. Keyter then joined the line at pace for the play that resulted in Schmulian’s try. Three tries and Affies were up 19-0 after just 12 minutes through good team work and some Keyter magic. He would complete his hat trick in the second half. I have watched Selborne. In this game there were just a couple of passages where they played to their true potential and when they did they got points because they can carve up any defence when they click. During this game they also made some uncharacteristic unforced errors which cost them. But take nothing away from Affies. Affies were clinic. If this is the “Nagmerrie” then Witbulle supporters better stock up on sleeping pills so that it does not end anytime soon.
Game of the Day:
HTS Middelburg 31 Kearsney 26. As much as I hated the end result, this was a good game to watch and had a very exciting finish. HTS plays an attractive brand of rugby with good balance and combination play between forwards and backs. They looked especially good when making use of forwards skills in positions away from the breakdown points and their motive always seemed the same, suck in defenders and then use the width. It was out wide where they really exposed Kearsney’s defensive frailties and this paved the way for HTS to score five tries. What really impressed is how the visitors turned redzone pressure into points time and time again. Kearsney had opportunities earlier on in the game to grow their score but at one stage they looked to be staring down a barrel at 11-31 behind fairly early on in the second half. The home team mounted a strong-willed comeback which produced two tries, reducing the gap to less than a converted try. While they were on the attack, deep inside the HTSM 22m area, Kearsney appeared to have run out of festival clock time. Although they had been issued a penalty because it was not taken from the right spot, the ref called play back and by that stage he was totally out of time and had to end proceedings. Tough life for Kearsney but a nice game of entertaining rugby to start the festival. I must add that the Monnas – Framesby game also went right down to the wire with the cool, calm and collected Framesby team also ending the game deep on attack, within a score of causing the upset of the day.
Spirit of the Day: Dale College and Grey College.
Dale has upped their conditioning programme and now the school that one assumes will go out and try to play 15-man Sevens rugby has a physical edge to their game. They came up against a good well-organised Glenwood team but it did not stop the smaller Dale forwards from mixing it up with Glenwood up front. The result was some big collisions as Dale boys rammed into the Green wall. In the end Glenwood won the forward battle and the match but just the fact that Dale’s small pack were not standing back made for some great rugby to watch. They also scored some wonderful tries by moving the ball through the hands, bringing the game back from 19-0 to 19-17 at one stage in the 2nd half. This after Dale had suffered a number of first half injuries.
Grey College rugby talk is mostly centred around their results and the talent of their players. Not that much gets said about their wonderful on-field temperament. As good as they have been over the years, Grey boys have a well-established reputation of play the ball and not the man and they don’t give the referee lip either. The Greyt attitude was on show yet again during the EG Jansen encounter.
Superb artickle Beet. IMHO your SBR blog must now be the best schoolboy sport blog by a long shot. Love the quality, insight and passion of the bloggers(except ofcourse the mountain goat bloggers and the blogger from the west rand, who knows puck all)
@GreenBlooded: Give me your address and your cheque will be in the mail immediately.
@beet: Yip. EGJ attacked time and again but the efforts were quickly snuffed out by some superb defence. The push-over try towards the end were the only way EGJ were ever going to score. The tactical kicking of EGJ also could have been executed far better with many kicks not finding touch but rather a Grey player who was quite happy to run the ball back at them with pace.
@GreenBlooded: I’m happy for all opinions on games and players
so appreciate you viewpoint. For me the game I looked forward to the most was the last one – Grey vs EG. At 8-3 I imagined EG coming back into it via their forwards slowly gaining the upperhand but GCB changed the tune of this and at the end of the day I believe that a major difference between the two teams was the midfield. Grey got the ball through the hands, which is their style. EG with two big centres looked more geared towards carrying it up over the gainline, a tactic that had little effect against the speedy Grey looseforward trio + their usual mobile locks who double as loosies.
@BOG: No I haven’t. Grey College etiquette and sportsmanship is beyond reproach from what I have seen. At the Skonk festival last year (or was it the year before) the referee of the U14 match told us that he approached the coach for a pre-match talk and was politely told: “We are here as spectators. There is no need to speak to us. Our captain is in control of the team and is your point of contact.” That was the last words uttered by the coaches until after the match. They did not even speak to the team at halftime.
You are correct. There is no chirping on the field, no heroics, no show-boating. Just flawless execution and humility. Something we do not see enough of sadly.
@beet: I know it’s your opinion – but are you perhaps being a little partisan on your ‘match of the day’ award?
For me it had to be that frenetic clash between Grey College and EG Jansen. What a spectacle. Since I followed both games very closely
I think I get to make the distinction….. 
@beet: Divan Henning, the official programme is wrong.
@Ooploop: Thanks. What is the name of the Affies no.20 scrumhalf please. I don’t think it’s the boy in the official programme?
@BOG: More like ‘whine’ at the ref like he is being hard done by. Warren Whiteley on the other hand does it the right way….
Good article Beet. Worth noting that the Affies side had at least 5 start-up changes compared to the team that played against Kloof. The loosies were much better, this combination a big improvement. I also like the 9 and 10 combination that played yesterday – in fact the whole backline looked better. Still some work for one of two players on their defensive play. All and all more like the Affies we know so well done to the team and coaching staff for the turn around. Affies has two tough games ahead.
I was very impressed by EG Jansen. Well balanced and coached team with a good combination of size and speed PLUS they are a bunch of young boys. On the day they were just beaten by a better side.
@GreenBlooded: Have you ever seen them jump on each other after scoring? Yet another “unwritten” rule- its simply not done.
@Grasshopper: I said, at school, and later in marriage. None of us know how subordinate they, or at least one, to the missus. The one is married and the other is captain, so one would expect him to talk to the ref.
Lekker man lekker Affies my nederige verskoning. Hou nou op om ‘n ou man sulke hartaanvalle te gee. Mnr Keyter weereens ‘n groot game.
I will tell you this though – one feature of any Grey College team is that the coaching team are inconspicuous. You will never see them parading up and down the touchlines shouting instructions to the players – in fact you hardly know they are there. That’s what happens when the team is well coached during the week and know the game-plan and how to adapt on the fly – the coach becomes uneccessary. Some of the behavior of certain coaches at KERF leaves a little to be desired!!
@Grasshopper: Bwahahahaha.
@BOG: seems Jannie and Bismarck missed that lesson…
The fact that the GCB players are taught not “to give the ref lip” , helps later in life when they get married too.