Grey PE, the school that came from 26-0 down to beat Paul Roos, the current no.2 ranked team in SA, by a single point in one of the most memorable games of the season, looked all set to claim a national top 5 position back in April. But what happened to them? Well in a couple of games where they were leading and looking in control, they ended up suffering narrow defeats to highly rated schools Menlopark and EG Jansen. Then Waterkloof put a 15-point final score gap on them. However all three defeats were not train smashes. Grey had lost to three very good teams. The crash happened in Queenstown when locals Queen’s College caused a major upset by winning 29-25. Suddenly the Grey season looked to be in rankings free-fall and they were in serious risk of being labelled as 2014 underachievers. The Grey fixture list is amongst the toughest in the country though, so looking at it from a glass half-full perspective, there are still a few opportunities for Grey to redeem themselves and claim a Top 10 finish in 2014. It starts with this Saturday, their Reunion Day with a difficult game against highly ranked Wynberg (no.9). A win could put Grey PE (currently no.20) back on the right track and with games against the likes of Dale College, Framesby, Grey College and Selborne still to come, they can still afford to think big.
TEAMS:
| GREY HIGH SQUAD | WYNBERG | |
|---|---|---|
| Johann van Niekerk (c) | 1 | Sam Henriques |
| Jeremy Ward (vc) | 2 | Bevan Barnard |
| Athi Mayinje | 3 | Alex Goldstein |
| Brody van Goevreden | 4 | Brandon Wood |
| Curwin Bosch | 5 | Michael Pollecut |
| Dean Ballantine | 6 | Staggie Davids |
| Dylan Barendse | 7 | Josh Helmbold |
| Garrick Mattheus | 8 | Keagan Timm |
| Hanno Minnaar | 9 | Ryan Southern |
| Joe Rooyakkers | 10 | Nicholas Scott |
| Josh Mudrovcic | 11 | Grant Turner |
| Junior Pokomela | 12 | Evan Frylinck |
| Keanu Vers | 13 | Jihaad Smith |
| Keegan Branford | 14 | Ibie Adams |
| Matthew Howes | 15 | Karl Martin |
| Matthew Lawson | ||
| Michael de Marco | ||
| Mohammed Connelly | ||
| Paul Briggs | ||
| Robin Stevens | ||
| Stefan van der Westhuizen | ||
| Tristan Jonas | ||
| Wahl Enslin |
Congrats to Grey on the win. See you at Wynberg next year. The Wynberg under 16 team is small but very well coached and talented. Localy SACS under 16 are one of the top teams and it will be interesting to see them up against Paul Roos this week, who only just beat Wynberg.
@QC86 –HA HA, yes, and judging by certain posts every village has one as well!
@Dave41: spot on,from what i have seen any school would be proud too have that Grey side as their own.The other problem is often the parents making the comments are clueless,but you know the saying.opinions are like assholes everybody has one
@QC86, Agree the coach can teach the skills, basics, pattern and create rapport, but the boys have to put it together and play what is in front of them on the day. School spirit, comeraderie and playing for each other etc also pay a role and I sometimes think this aspect of schoolboy rugby is overlooked.
My commments are aimed at the critics of the coaches who make references to playing records of 14-year-olds 4 years ago as a basis of an argument. They are misguided comments and irrelevant. The current Grey first XV is a very good side under very committed and astute mentorship from their coaching staff, but they are not world-beaters-as some one-eyed, overenthusiastic parents/supporters suggest they should be. They beat a very good Wynberg side last weekend and showed good character to seal it off at the end. The coaches and the team still get negative comments after a good win, so one wonders what they have to do to get positive comments?
@Ludz: he’s ok thanx,MCL grade 2 tear,so season over but could have been alot worse.He is very positive and his team mates are keeping him in the loop and making a fuss over him,which helps.He was back in the gym yesterday doing upper body but has put on a couple of kilos already[100.6 kgs]
@Deon Pitzer: Grey beat Wynberg 3-2. u16 1-0.
Rankings PRG 5th, Wynberg 7th, Grey 19th.
The coaches are a vital cog and they do fine tune what goes on, but at the end of the day it is up to the players and we all know how one day the players switch on and the next they look like u9s. There are so many contributing factors to a teams success or failure, one of them being injuries which don’t often happen at age group level in the magnitude that occurs at open age groups. Coaches then have to start over in getting the team to gel again. Having said that, there are still a couple of games to go this year for all schools, so there is time to improve and play to full potential.
@QC86: How’s Grant doing? Heard he injured his knee against Grey Bloem.
@Dave41: Dave i agree with alot of what you say,but the coach as far as i am concerned is the vital cog.He might not carry the ball on the field but he teaches the players how to,he fine tunes the players and he sets the level at what standard of play he will accept.I witness it every game Selborne plays.We dont know how to protect the ball in a tackle
we can’t stop a rolling maul 
gave away 2 tries against monna’s with rolling mauls and to me it was a gleering short fall and yes weeks later gave away 2 more against Grey bloem,so what did we learn in our early games??It is the coach that gets a new crop of players every year and then after summing up there strengths and weaknesses decides what type of game we will play and works through out the year to improve.
A common mistake made by parents and supporters is creating an expectation of a first XV based on their under 14 and under 15 records.
Strength of opposition contribute to those records just as much as how well the team played. At 1st XV level schools are able to draw from a wider pool of players (Grades11-12 usually). A competetive advantage such as size and speed that a team may have enjoyed at age-group level is largely negated at open level and they play against top schools never played against before, who probably would have knocked them over at age-group level.
Another mistake made is to blame coaches…..the last time I watched a game the coaches were on the sideline and not actually carrying the ball or making the tackles. As kids (and human beings) the players will have good days and bad and make good and bad decisions-that is not going to change.
@kingcharles @mike – I agree, the u16A side has been disappointing this season. Losses already to Selborne, EG Jansen, Waterkloof, Paul Roos and now Wynberg. A less than 50% record is not ideal going forward. But their record at u14 and u15 level does indicate potential. Hopefully the Grey structures will pay off in the long run, as this years 1st XV “flagship side” has really under-performed this year (with reference to the pre-season hype of an unbeaten year, top 5 side and seeing that they were unbeaten in u14 and u15 age group). 4 losses already, 3 after throwing away a lead and poor defence – one automatically leans toward coaching. Coaches 1st year in charge of a high school team does have its cons. Having said that – a nice run in for Grey – St Andrews, Dale and then Craven Week to get back on track.
@Kingcharles: I’m not entirely sure what the rugby structure is at the high school but Hayidakis is teaching there. The rugby pro is Brent Janse van Rensburg who headed up NMMU’s varsity cup side last year. He is already well respected amongst those close to Greys rugby structures and I think he is putting things in place for Grey rugby that are going to improve the overall state of rugby at Grey tremendously in the next few years. Him and Hayidakis work closely with Tim Fraser. And then of course there are guys behind the scenes doing some great things. In my opinion, they are absolutely the right men for the job. @beet: We can only hope that 2030 is an unbeaten season then
Well lets hope the same happens at Grey,they still have a few guys out with injury,hopefully they not out for the season,Lamond Bouwer there regular 8th man and Dylen Vermaak there Craven Week wing are just two i can think of,also Nathan Brown on the wing,there present wings in my opinion are fast but just too small,also they have a forward called Dilima who is good enough to be in the 1st squad but playing in the 3rds,why i have no idea.Still time to make these changes and win all the remaining games.Chow
@Kingcharles: It reminds me of a case in 2010 when Maritzburg College had a returning KZN no10 Keelin Bastew and backed him for too long over Marco Pennesi, the 2nd team 10. They had a slump in form but when they made the change, the results started to go their way
HA HA HA Beet,well yes ,i say that tongue in cheek simply because with the talent at his disposal this year at Grey they should have done a lot better,it took him 12 games to realise that the best fly-half was playing full back,and in my opinion the best hooker they have is playing 8th man,and one of there best forwards is playing in the 3rd team,don,t know the politics involved,maybe Mike can help out.
@Kingcharles: Geez. You don’t think much has changed in 16 years of gaining coaching experience
Mike I hope you are reading this. Come 2030, some old boy’s parent out there is going to be judging you by what he sees happening on the field in 2014.
Thanks Mike,maybe you can clear up another matter for me,with Rory Duncan leaving i no longer have any contacts with the present Grey coaching set up,although i do know Andrewe Hayadakis ( he was my sons u13 coach in 1998 ) didn,t think much of him then and had many clashes with his coaching style then,and i don,t think much has changed.Is he Grey,s professional coach ? or just a teacher that is helping out ? or have they earmarked a pro coach for next year ?
Very good result for Grey High. Good to see them playing to their true potential once again. Hopefully the Pajama boys can keep these results coming now until the end of the season.
@Kingcharles: the u16A team were missing 5 first choice players on the day. One or two with long term injuries. Tough to cope with in one age group. It’s different in the open age group when there are more players to choose from. I didn’t get a chance to see them play though. Disappointing to lose on reunion weekend. Besides the 16A team I think all the other sides won.
Congrats to the Grey boys on a fine display of rugby,thank goodness the Grey coaches woke up to the fact that Matheus is a much better fly-half than Bosch,and it worked out brilliantly.For me the big dissapointment was the Greu u-16 A team,they were really poor,the weakest in many years.Mike do you have any info on this team ?no wonder they only have 3 reps.in the GKW team.
@QC86: thanks, was a team effort for sure. @Deon Pitzer: 1sts Grey won 3-2. That’s pretty much the only result I know of.
@Toffee: @Mike: Any hockey news?
Mike , shot on that win, that is a great victory. Always said Bosch hates pressure and now been at fullback will give him the time he likes
Congrats Grey…good win against a very good team..Wynberg had three very tough games the last 3 weeks.
Final score 32-19 to Grey. Coaches decided to move Bosch to fullback and Mattheus to flyhalf as well as let him kick. Made the world of difference. Finally players started to express themselves again. Great game, well done Grey and tough luck Wynberg.
@beet: I know that Wynberg are highly rated but to travel to Grey where they have home ground advantage in front of a partisan crowd is going to be very difficult. Grey by 7.
@Deon Pitzer: That will be a massive victory for Wynberg if they can pull off that margin.
@Toffee: Wynberg by 10 only, only since the Wynberg Boys have to travel. Good Luck WBHS!
Hard game this one. Probably the two better/best English School Boy Sides in the country this year (along with Glenwood and Bishops)
I will go with the Berg – two heart wrenching losses will hopefully inspire them to victory over Grey – this is going to be a great game of rugby
@Toffee: PE is long way from home. It won’t be easy for Wynberg. I think if the Grey 10 gets into his stride it might be the big difference maker otherwise a tight game. His form is unpredictable.
I think what makes me positive about this Wynberg team is that every time I see the team sheet the names are the same. Obviously no big injuries and the guys are also well conditioned. Playing regularly together definitely is an advantage. Hopefully beating Gray is becoming a habit and they can pull of another win.
I think the PR win flattered them a bit. First time PR coaches had to deal with the squad system and they botched it BIG TIME!!!!! They’re not a bad side, but with Bosch missing a lot of kicks in the games, I honestly don’t see them being a top 10 side this year. Wynberg on the other hand is like a terrier that just won’t lie down. I see an upset here. Just my 2c!!