The KZN Craven Week, Academy Week, Country Districts (for Academy Week) and under-16 Grant Khomo Week teams will be announced on Wednesday, 28 May 2014.
Here is what the under-18 set up was for final trials:
KZN FINAL TRIALS FIXTURES:
Game 1: KZN CD trial for Academy Week
Game 2: Team E vs Team F (for players with outside chance for Craven Week or Academy Week)
Game 3: Team C vs Team D (for players with a better chance of Craven Week or Academy Week)
Final: Team A (Probables) vs Team B (Possibles)
| FINAL | GAME | NAME | SCHOOL | NOTE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A01 | D01 | N. Chidoma | Northwood | |
| A02 | D02 | B. Roberts | Michaelhouse | |
| A03 | C03 | K. Mchunu | Greytown | |
| A04 | D04 | T. Dixon | Kearsney | |
| A05 | C05 | K. Du Randt | Glenwood | |
| A06 | C06 | J. Venter | Glenwood | |
| A07 | C04 | B. Ndlovu | Voortrekker | |
| A08 | E08 | M. Palvie | Glenwood | |
| A09 | D09 | J. Hall | Kearsney | |
| A10 | E10 | B. Pretorius | Michaelhouse | |
| A12 | D12 | W. Smith | Westville | |
| A13 | C12 | T. Blewett | Hilton | |
| A11 | C14 | X. Guma | Maritzburg College | |
| A14 | E14 | I Mukendi | Glenwood | |
| A15 | F15 | J. Morgan | Glenwood | |
| B01 | F01 | G. Jackson | Michaelhouse | |
| B02 | C07 | M. Muller | Glenwood | |
| B03 | F03 | C. Thomas | Westville | |
| B04 | E04 | S. Qoma | Westville | |
| B05 | E05 | J. Gouws | Hilton | |
| B06 | E06 | K. Smit | Westville | |
| B07 | D08 | T. Erasmus | Westville | |
| B08 | E08 | D. Goodson | Maritzburg College | |
| B09 | C09 | K. Khanyile | Glenwood | |
| B10 | D10 | C. Jonas | Glenwood | |
| B11 | E11 | S. Matiwane | Glenwood | |
| B12 | E12 | B. Tattam | Michaelhouse | |
| B13 | C13 | D. Du Randt | Glenwood | |
| B14 | D13 | S. Mpontshane | Dundee | |
| B15 | E15 | J. Luyke | Voortrekker | |
| DNP | C01 | K. Van Niekerk | Glenwood | |
| DNP | C02 | P. Mngadi | Glenwood | |
| DNP | C08 | J. Coetzee | Glenwood | |
| DNP | C10 | T. Tedder | Kearsney | |
| DNP | C11 | P. Ngcobo | Glenwood | |
| DNP | C15 | M. Joubert | Glenwood | |
| DNP | C15 | M. Kriel | Maritzburg College | |
| DNP | D03 | K. Tredoux | Glenwood | |
| DNP | D06 | H. Tharratt | Maritzburg College | |
| C01 | J. Els | Westville | ||
| C08 | M. Potgieter | Michaelhouse | ||
| D05 | G. Porter | Michaelhouse | ||
| D05 | A. Vogel | Michaelhouse | ||
| D07 | N. Xaba | Glenwood | ||
| D11 | M. Peter | DHS | ||
| D14 | K. Terblanche | Port Natal | ||
| D15 | L. Buthelezi | Westville | ||
| E01 | T. Visser | Kearsney | ||
| E02 | T. Dunnett | George Campbell | ||
| E02 | M. Mazwi | Maritzburg College | ||
| E03 | D. Dlamini | Maritzburg College | ||
| E03 | K. Motloung | Northwood | ||
| E04 | Y. Thambiran | Westville | ||
| E05 | D. Muller | Westville | ||
| E06 | S. Stuart | Maritzburg College | ||
| E07 | K. Nxumalo | Clifton | ||
| E07 | A. Heystek | Westville | ||
| E09 | M. Dahl | Hilton | ||
| E13 | K. Munangi | Maritzburg College | ||
| F01 | D. Brits | Gelofte | ||
| F02 | N. Mthembu | Northwood | ||
| F02 | R. Pieterse | Westville | ||
| F04 | R. Desmone | Glenwood | ||
| F05 | J. Gold | Maritzburg College | ||
| F05 | W. Jacobs | Maritzburg College | ||
| F06 | Z. Prinsloo | Michaelhouse | ||
| F07 | E. Sibisi | Kloof | ||
| F07 | M. Sadiki | Michaelhouse | ||
| F08 | M. Ntuli | DHS | ||
| F08 | S. D. De Marigny | Hilton | ||
| F09 | T. Walker | Michaelhouse | ||
| F09 | K. Kazemba | Northwood | ||
| F10 | A. Alasouskis | George Campbell | ||
| F10 | D. Weersma | Northwood | ||
| F11 | J. Schwegmann | Michaelhouse | ||
| F12 | X. Kriel | Sarel Cilliers | ||
| F13 | J. Anderson | Westville | ||
| F14 | T. Mamba | George Campbell | ||
| F14 | L. Furniss | Michaelhouse | ||
| KZN CD | J. Tedder | Kearsney | ||
| KZN CD | M. Du Plessis | Ashton College | ||
| KZN CD | S. Mabuza | Development | ||
| KZN CD | F. Hendricks | Ferrum | ||
| KZN CD | A. Khatywa | Grace College | ||
| KZN CD | S Mthembu | Grantleigh | ||
| KZN CD | Dlamini | Greytown | ||
| KZN CD | K. Ngema | Greytown | ||
| KZN CD | P. Zondi | Greytown | ||
| KZN CD | K. Rhode | Ladysmith | ||
| KZN CD | K. Ngwenya | Newcastle | ||
| KZN CD | S. Madi | Newcastle | ||
| KZN CD | W. Vorster | Pionier | ||
| KZN CD | J. Vorster | Pionier | ||
| KZN CD | C. Jacobs | Pionier | ||
| KZN CD | C. Swanepoel | Pionier | ||
| KZN CD | S. Faedda | Pionier | ||
| KZN CD | R. vd Westhuizen | Pionier | ||
| KZN CD | T. Van Staden | Pionier | ||
| KZN CD | A. Pretorius | Port Shepstone | ||
| KZN CD | A. Du Toit | Port Shepstone | ||
| KZN CD | R. Elliott | Port Shepstone | ||
| KZN CD | S. Mbangiswana | Port Shepstone | ||
| KZN CD | L. Moloi | Sarel Cilliers | ||
| KZN CD | S. Sibisi | St Charles | ||
| KZN CD | Pickering | Treverton | ||
| KZN CD | S. Cowie | Treverton | ||
| KZN CD | Gumede | Treverton | ||
| KZN CD | P. Keeve | Vryheid | ||
| KZN CD | D, Aspden | Vryheid | ||
| KZN CD | M. Malimela | Wartburg | ||
| KZN CD | K. Mustard | Weston | ||
| KZN CD | M. Bower | Weston | ||
| KZN CD | K. Malanda | Weston |
@beet: he’s eating well and doing mainly Olympic type lifts in the gym, so it appears to be a natural growth development. He hasn’t even had a minor injury this season so even at that height he is fairly resilient. Holding thumbs he will be our first CW representative!
@seabass: Eish 79kg to 94kg in 6months
. Doesn’t putting on weight that quickly expose him to increased risk of injury?
@seabass: 15kg in 6 months, wow! Either he is eating huge or there are supplements involved. But good on him if he is working hard in the gym. At 2m he would need to be around 105kg or more to not be too lanky/skinny…
@beet: Evans is 2.03m and gone from 79kg to 94kg in 6 months. He has a great work ethic and with a decent off season conditioning program, hopefully with Butch’s team, he will be a real contender in 2015. He will also captain the Clifton 1st XV next year.
@beet: Unfortunately it works as follow:
The boys are friends and accept fierce competition for places in their stride. After the initial disappointment they continue with their life’s and friendships. Then the parents enter the fray and will accuse the selectors and other boys from steriods, bribery and other politics. Unfortunately they will be in 80% of the cases be correct, because as it is in the selectors/coaches best interest to promote their own school’s players. Trade offs between selectors are the norm. Let nobody bull you into believing otherwise. Then worst of all the Unions step in and insist that the players they contracted/like must be attending CW. And on top of all of this the Goverment place certain selection race driven criterias in place. So the whole rugby community is in uproar with a good chance that their gripes is correct. All in the rugby community except for the most valuable part of the community – the children.
I have posted the 4 KZN teams for 2014 on a new thread
@Grasshopper: Glenwood deputy head Tony Pineirho, who is not actively involved in 1st XV rugby nor the head of rugby at Glenwood.
Sean was never a selector
@beet: Who are the Glenwood two? Sean has gone…Rudi and ?
@Grasshopper: Willemse is from Monnas and the scary think is that he was probably bigger at school – over 130kg. The Lions got rid of some of the bulk in U19s. I can’t remember the year off hand but that particular Lions U19 pack included Ettiene Oosthuizen (now at the Sharks), Ruan Botha (Stormers) as well as Willemse and Venter – all 2m. I think that Venter and Botha were the SA Schools locks the prior year.
@kcob: What you are saying makes sense. However I then have to ask if this is the case why isn’t the selection committee picked on that basis that each top KZN school has one selector, who has a say on players from his school that he watches every weekend without fail. In other words College and Westville should be represented on the panel in the form of one voting candidate each.
Glenwood has 2 votes out of 8 at the moment, that is double the amount of other schools and 2 more than College or Westville.
I think the committee should afford one vote each to:
1. Sharks
2. Glenwood
3. Kearsney
4. Michaelhouse
5. Hilton
6. Westville
7. College
with 2 rotating selectors per year from the other schools
making 9 votes.
I think this would be representative of the power balance in KZN nowadays and even spread would give it the appearance of being as fair as one could ever hope for the process to be.
This would mean that Glenwood would lose one vote while St Charles and George Campbell would lose their permanent selectors/voters but would these guys would be on the panel once every few years. I might be wrong but with 8 current members, Campbell even have a 2nd vote in the form of the Chairman which only comes into play if there is a stalemate regarding a selection.
@Grasshopper: When are you going to accept that a boy speaking the Taal have a 90% better chance than any other ethnic group to excel in rugby? So some good advice to all you Souties have your children marry into the Taal clan, if you want to improve your bloodline chances to excel in Rugby. Ask Glenwood they already know. Regtig wat verstaan julle nie.
I see the selectors have stuffed up again. 12 from one school who had the most representation on the selection panel. Alarm bells are ringing and a storm is coming……
@kosie: Ah yes, the cows up there are injected with steroids, that explains man mountains like Paul Willemse….
@Grasshopper: The water in Pretoria is very special. It combines with red meat to cause the growth hormones to work overtime. This in return creates large people. Easy! This is medical fact based on a study by the Bllue Bulls veteren society.
I have been to a few KZN final trials now and I’m sure 2014 was the worst by far for lineout throw-ins. Most throws were straight but they overshot the jumpers by quite a distance, not finger tip stuff
I guess the question now is what did the selectors do to satisfy themselves that they picked the right hookers / lineout jumpers for the set-piece
Using Mazwi as the example – it can be seen from the list above that he only got 25min and during that time his opponent Mthembu did just about all the throw-ins, suggesting that hooker throw-ins were assessed prior to trials. Either that or the selectors had already made up their minds that Mazwi was not a player being considered for CW.
@beet: In my year (96) we had three guys over 2m and none played rugby, it was a travesty! All 3 played volleyball, come on! The one bloke was 2,12! There must be boys around like this who could be convinced to play. It seems Pretoria has a 2m lock factory!
@GreenBlooded: I hear you! Trials do give those a glimmer of hope from outside of those matches in the mainstream SBR; but I think for looks and hookers, their selections should be 98% made based on their season leading up to the selections. It would be tough to perform without ever thrown to a bloke and visa versa (try time your lineout with a hooker you’ve never worked with. The purists would say they should find their jumper any day; but that’s not the case so much anymore.
@meadows: There are tall kids around KZN but few have the appetite for contact sport at 1st XV level.
Evans (Clifton) and Sinsink Clee (MHS) both back next year and both ±2m
@Grasshopper: We saw a few 2 metre tall locks at trials, I think one from Michaelhouse and another from Clifton. Both are U17 so possibly an option for next year as they were definitely not up to it this year.
With the lack of size it would seem the selectors are looking at mobility and skill.
@Grasshopper: I’m pretty sure that Cameron Lindsay who captained the 2009 side was at least 2m. Mike Rhodes who played in 2005 is also tall enough – maybe a shade under 2m but solid even as a schoolboy.
in general though i agree with you – we don’t produce the big locks year in year out that some of the other provinces seem to. I remember a Lions lock pair of Paul Willemse and Ruan Venter of Monnas a few years ago at Craven Week that would have been big by international standards – 2m and 120kg plus!
We have already discussed the importance of the lineout platform as an attacking option. It is also vital in defensive positions. To leave Heystek out I believe would be an error in judgement. I hope I am proved wrong. With regard to Smit he had a bit of a baptism of fire against GW first up but since then has gained a lot of confidence and is also most probably the most consistent goal kicker in KZN. Next year will be his time together with Qoma.Els,Lee,Muller and Stoltz. Westville’s pack for 2015 looking very strong.
Thanks for all the updates Beet – please post the team and Academy Team as soon as you know
@GreenBlooded: Spot on, especially the no4 and no8 calls….
The lineout players need to be picked during the season – not at trials. Same goes for the thrower. Lineout work is a carefully choreographed sequence between hooker, jumper and lifters. Very difficult to get right on the day. You can have a great lineout man overlooked because he hasn’t worked things out with his lifters or the hooker throws too fast / too slow for him.
All we need to do in the future is convince a basketball player to become a Vic Matfield type player, one key job winning line-outs! Then be able to hold up in the scrum, tackle a bit and clear rucks occasionally. I can’t understand why we don’t have any tall locks in KZN….just weird! Al Hargreaves was our last genuinely tall lock….
Roberts fits the bill. Very good ball player.
@Grasshopper: They could have picked Porter. He is close to 2m and a decent player but he as a suspect shoulder. I think KZN needs to make sure they have a 3rd option jumper and a hooker who can throw to the back.
@Grasshopper: Xaba looked out of his depth yesterday as a blindside flank in my view. He has a shot next year.
Visser is a key player for Kearsney and also unlucky with an injury setback at the wrong time. He’s getting back to his best. It showed yesterday. His problem is that the compo for his place is tight. IMHO the best loosehead in KZN this season – Greg Jackson of MHS (who also missed trials last week) will miss out on CW selection as well, with van Niekerk (height for lineout NB) and Chidoma (height as well and great ball runner) getting the nod. Fortunately Jackson did get a second chance yesterday in the probables but I suspect KvN was being rested.
@GreenBlooded: It seemed like Tharratt picked up an injury in his game earlier on. He was looking uncomfortable. But you are right about Kevin Smit. He did very well IMHO. He genuinely gets himself into positions to contest for the ball at rucks. I think he may be one of the players to watch closely next year for the CW 6 jersey.
Again, not one 2m tall 110kg lock in the mix at all. Hopefully the Glenwood Under15A lock grows to that size for 2 years time…
@Pedantic: I was really impressed by Ndlovu. I watched him for Vories vs St Charles and he struggled to make an impression against Anderson of SCC who was brill on the day.
At Woodburn in different company he has done everything right. He is athletic, quick, has good passing skills and like you say gives 100+% all the time.
I feel that Mac Muller’s future is as a hooker after school. He’s a physical presence on the park BUT so much for all the Elite or HP training sessions where one would have though they would have IDed and emphasised the need for him to practice as a hooker – his lineout throwing technique which I thought was better than that of Percy’s during the pre-season, now looks like it needs the most work. Picking him at hooker would have been ideal for flexibility in the pack but it will be high risk setpiece stuff to chance his throw in against either SWD or WP if we beat SWD. The groundwork for this should have been laid long ago. Like I said before, in a sense Mac may become the victim of recruitment if he does not go to CW because he would probably have been GW’s backup hooker and got in a lot more practice had they not acquired Kobbie.
@beet: OK, so those 3 positions are up for grabs. I forgot about Tjide Visser from Kearsney too, where was he? I really liked the Glenwood 2nd team lock (No4), I actually think he should be in the 1st side, won nearly every one of his line-outs and very busy in the loose, maybe too small though…..I think it’s Xaba…
@beet: I see Tharrat did not play – I trust he must be in the mix somewhere though? One of the best loosies around at the moment IMO.
@Grasshopper: It does not look promising for Mazwi and Heystek. Yesterday they let Mthembu throw in to about 7-8 lineouts in the E vs F trial. I think he missed the target everytime and it was generally a bad day for the lineout throwers throughout trials. Most throws were too long/high. In the same trial Mazwi hardly got a chance to throw the ball in. Mazwi is good carrier/clearer but it was his lineout throws that needed to be on trial. I did get the point. The selectors essentially eliminated a CW player from the race by allowing him to do what he is really good at for 50min???
The back of the lineout is where Heystek should have been valuable to KZN. If your 2 and 4 in the lineout are being outplayed by 2m+ locks, having a go-to at the back seems essential, yet this was seemingly not taken into account when picking possibles vs probables. If the lineouts work out well at CW, hats off to the selectors. If they don’t, well then …
With regards to hooker, Bradley Roberts was the standout at trials yesterday. He played liked he meant business. He’s not very big but he is a smart and skilled play. At lock Sibablo Qoma of Westville was the surprise. He gave it his all and for a rank outsider he left a good impression. For Jayson Gouws unfortunately the bad timing of his injury was a big setback to his chances. He did not look at his best. He is another who should have been tried out in the backrow as a lineout option.
@Grasshopper: The way MHS B Roberts played yesterday it’s going to be very tough to leave him out.
Interesting that they tried Mac at hooker too – a good move I think.
We see many of these good players week in and week out but then a young player like Voortrekker’s Ndlovu pops up at trials and gives 110% for every minute of game time he is given – fully committed and hungry to earn his spot – well done young man, I sincerely hope you get given your chance to shine.
Sorry with Kevin Du Randt as the captain. I like my captain in the pack, close to the ball!
This would be my 22;
1) Van Niekerk (Glenwood)
2) Mazwi (College)
3) Thomas (Westville)
4) Du Randt (Glenwood)
5) Dixon (Kearsney)
6) Heysteck (Westville)
7) Goodsen (College)
8) Coetzee (Glenwood)
9) Hall (Kearsney)
10) Tedder (Kearsney – VC)
11) Guma (College)
12) W Smith (Westville)
13) Blewett (Hilton)
14) Mukendi (Glenwood)
15) Morne Joubert (Glenwood)
16) M Kriel (College)
17) Mngadi (Glenwood)
18) Gouws (Hilton)
19) Chidoma (Northwood)
20) Khanyile (Glenwood)
21) Curtis Jonas (Glenwood)
22) MacMillian Muller (Glenwood)
I think this would cover all bases and would do well at CW.
Some great success stories here: Dixon from Kearsney doing really well in his Gr 11 year. Another surprise (well not for me) is Kevin Smit from Ville who is a 2nd XV player making the Possibles. A very under-rated player IMO. Also great to see 2 of my other favourites in the mix – Cody Thomas and Daryn Goodson.
Beet, Please post the sides once you have them.
@Grasshopper: All good. The side will be representative of the best on show. There will be a few contentious issues and as I have said, any boys in the front row could hold their own at Craven Week. Visser, Chidoma , van Niekerk the stong loose heads- Roberts, Mgadi,Mazwi at Hooker and Tredoux, Thomas,Mchunu at tight.
A very difficult job for the selectors.
That is one seriously long list of players and very talented too, all of them. Good luck to the selectors getting the combo’s & PDA right. Tough tough job! With no Sean Erasmus there hopefully there isn’t a huge fall out if quite a few Glenwood players are picked.
The boys are tired. There are some sore bodies out there but am sure that the powers that be will get the combos right. In the final game there were boys that filled in for the injured certs and am sure that they will be included in the Academy team.
At front row there could be a number of permutations that would do KZN proud and I don’t envy the selectors .
Good luck to all the selected boys and am sure in the coming weeks a few match ups are going to be eagerly anticpated as the boys left out want to prove themselves once again.