The state of Free State schools rugby
I leveled some perhaps unfair criticism over the state of Free State schools rugby. It’s certainly not meant to be an attack on the efforts made by schools to train players and produce good teams. It’s more concern over the growing divide between the top school Grey College and the rest in terms of competitiveness. The Free State (including the Griffons) definitely produces enough talented players to ensure that several of its schools would be highly competitive from a national point of view but preventing this is the concentration of talent at just one school only. It’s now gotten to the point that Grey College’s 2nd XV, the Cherries are the second best team in the entire province. This is where the concern lies.…
Craven Week 2013: Boland name 3 teams
The Boland High Schools rugby selectors have announced three teams (plus reserves) to play against their Western Province counterparts at the CPUT (old WOK) fields in Wellington on Wednesday 22 May 2013 (starting time 14:30)…
Results – 18 May 2013
| SCHOOL | SCHOOL | NOTES | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| George Campbell | 20 | 24 | Northwood | Midweek game | |
| Grey HS | 33 | 24 | Graeme | Midweek game | |
| Menlopark | 40 | 17 | St Albans | Midweek game | |
| M.College | 30 | 8 | KES | Premier Interschools game on TV | |
| Clifton | 17 | 10 | George Campbell | A shock result | |
| DHS | 14 | 46 | Glenwood | ||
| Northwood | 50 | 0 | Pinetown | ||
| Port Natal | 14 | 45 | Westville | ||
| Pionier | 18 | 7 | Sarel Cilliers | ||
| St Stithians | 0 | 62 | Kearsney | Saints are going through a tough spell. Concede 138 pts in last 2 games | |
| Dale | 22 | 25 | Selborne | ||
| Kingswood | 21 | 40 | Queens | ||
| Muir College | 26 | 55 | St Andrews | Muir lead 26-24 at a stage before SAC brought on 6 CW trials players | |
| EG Jansen | 45 | 29 | Kempton Park | EG cements their place as Valke no.1 team | |
| Centurion | 83 | 0 | Zwartkop | ||
| Ben Vorster | 7 | 35 | Menlopark | ||
| Garsfontein | 34 | 36 | Waterkloof | Klofies ended a 3 game losing streak & surpised a few with this win | |
| Nelspruit | 46 | 36 | HTS Middelburg | Nellies turned the tables on the team that beat them in the NuPower final last week | |
| Transvalia | 40 | 6 | DF Malan | ||
| Volksrus | 12 | 23 | Ermelo | ||
| Marais Viljoen | 15 | 34 | Florida | ||
| Parktown | 21 | 13 | St Johns | ||
| St Albans | 39 | 6 | St Andrews (FS) | ||
| St Benedicts | 31 | 39 | Pretoria BH | ||
| Bishops | 3 | 24 | Paarl Gim | ||
| Boland Landbou | 19 | 18 | Paul Roos | Huge upset. A week after Stellenberg defeated them BolandL bounce back | |
| Drostdy | 19 | 3 | Hugenote | ||
| Oakdale | 10 | 38 | HJS Paarl BH | Good win for HJS in Riversdale. This can be a tricky venue for even the best teams | |
| Rondebosch | 41 | 18 | SACS | Unpredictable SACS continues to take supporters continue on a rollercoaster ride | |
| Wynberg | 36 | 39 | Tygerberg | The upset of the day! The Tiere have been on the receiving end of a few hidings before today. This is an outstanding result for them. | |
| Voortrekker (FS) | 68 | 13 | Kroonstad | ||
| Sentraal | 5 | 57 | Grey College | ||
| Louis Botha | 26 | 31 | Grey Cherries | Continued question-marks about the well-being of Free State school rugby as a whole. Clearly the balance is not right when stand out rugby players would rather play 2nd team of one school than the 1st teams of several others in the region. A great result for Grey rugby this result but long term this kind of situation is not healthy for SBR. |
The Durban Derby: Horseflies vs Grasshoppers
DHS: “I’d rather be a Horsefly than go to Glenwood High!”
Glenwood: “Swat the Fly!”
This sums it up. One of the great schoolboy rugby derbies in South Africa.…
Grogper Cup: Gauteng 1 game away from victory
There are 2 Grogper Cup games on this weekend. With Gauteng leading 6-3, KZN cannot afford anymore slip ups. KZN has to win the remaining 4 games to clinch a title in which the chase has been made a lot more difficult by the improvement in form of St Alban’s as well as the struggles of St Charles and DHS who lost to St David’s and Parktown respectively along the way.…
Grant Khomo Week 2013: Bulls pick 4 teams to play Pumas
The Bulls have selected 4 under-16 teams to play against the Pumas on Tuesday 21 May as part of trials for Grant Khomo Week.…
Craven Week 2013: Bulls name 6 teams for final trials
The Bulls have named 6 trial teams to play the Pumas on Monday 20 May 2013.…
Grant Khomo 2013: KZN final trials
KZN’s final trials for the under-16 Grant Khomo week takes place on 21 May 2013 at the Woodburn Stadium in Pietermaritzburg.…
Craven Week 2013: KZN final trial teams
The provisional final trial teams are out. 3 trial matches will be played at Pietermaritzburg’s Woodburn Stadium on Tuesday 21 May 2013. From the trials, 3 teams of 22 players each will be chosen: a Craven Week team, an Academy Week team and the Country Districts (CD) team. …
Craven Week 2013: South Western District team
The South Western Districts under-18 team will go to Craven Week this year with a genuine chance of doing well and perhaps even featuring in the main game on the final day. SWD won the unofficial Craven Week final back in 2008 when outstanding no.8 CJ Stander of Oakdale was at the helm.…
The other ranking systems at 13 May 2013
As mentioned before, doing this without a formula is now extremely difficult. Ranking the Noordvaal teams on their own is tricky. Between Affies, HTS, Garsies, Jansies, Nellies its really still anyone’s guess who the best team in the Noordvaal is at the moment. …
BHP Top 50 – week ending 11 May 2013
This ranking system is based on a formula which has been in use since 2009.…
KZN u16 & u18 trials schedule for 2013
The KwaZulu-Natal under-18 and under-16 selection schedule for 2013. The aim being to provide an opportunity for all the high schools’ top rugby players to participate in trials.…
KZN Schools u16 & u18 Committee & Selectors 2013
The KwaZulu-Natal Rugby Union High School structure for 2013…
Paul Roos vs Paarl Gim
Paul Roos is a much improved team from the one that started the season. They however have a mountain to climb if they are to beat SA’s best schoolboy rugby team Paarl Gim today in the next installment of the Premier Interschools live coverage rugby.…
Results for 11 May 2013
| SCHOOL | SCHOOL | NOTES | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grey College | 31 | 37 | Affies | On TV. One of the biggest games of any given season | |
| HTS Middelburg | 19 | 14 | Nelspruit | NuPower Final | |
| Centurion | 14 | 23 | Kempton Park | NuPower – 3rd place playoff | |
| Garsfontein | 36 | 36 | EG Jansen | NuPower – 5th place playoff | |
| Monnas | 67 | 22 | Ermelo | NuPower – 7th place playoff | |
| Florida | 25 | 34 | Transvalia | NuPower – 9th place playoff | |
| Rustenburg | 22 | 33 | Vereeniging Gim | NuPower – 11th place playoff | |
| Eldoraigne | 20 | 17 | Klerksdorp | NuPower – 13th place playoff | |
| Marias Viljoen | 20 | 20 | Pietersburg | NuPower – 15th place playoff | |
| Jeppe | 36 | 6 | John Vorster | Midweek game | |
| KES | 12 | 15 | Jeppe | ||
| Noord-Kaap | 34 | 30 | Waterkloof | ||
| St Stithians | 0 | 76 | Pretoria BH | ||
| St Andrews (FS) | 25 | 38 | St Johns | ||
| Parktown | 26 | 28 | St Benedicts | ||
| M. College | 23 | 9 | Michaelhouse | ||
| Glenwood | 21 | 9 | Hilton | Only 1st-4th XV & A-team games still on | |
| Westville | – | – | Kearsney | CANCELLED – waterlogged field |
|
| DHS | – | – | Northwood | CANCELLED – waterlogged field |
|
| George Campbell | 18 | 3 | Voortrekker | ||
| Sarel Cilliers | 39 | 3 | Ferrum | ||
| St Charles | 16 | 37 | St Albans | Gauteng now 6-3 up against KZN in the Grogper Cup | |
| Otto du Plessis | 10 | 46 | Framesby | ||
| Grey HS | 20 | 13 | Queens | ||
| St Andrews | 59 | 10 | Cambridge | ||
| Dale | 36 | 0 | Port Rex | ||
| Newton | 5 | 61 | Nico Malan | ||
| Die Brandwag | 51 | 14 | Kingswood | ||
| Paul Roos | 15 | 24 | Paarl Gim | Game on TV | |
| Paarl BH | 55 | 27 | Wynberg | ||
| Bishops | 5 | 22 | SACS | ||
| Boland Landbou | 25 | 28 | Stellenberg | ||
| Durbanville | 20 | 18 | Tygerberg | ||
| Hugenote | 46 | 16 | Worcester Gym | ||
| Strand | 12 | 29 | Drostdy |
Grant Khomo Week 2013: KZN under-16 regional trial teams
The 8 teams to take part in trials at Woodburn Stadium in Pietermaritzburg next Tuesday.…
Craven Week 2013: KZN under-18 regional trial teams
The 10 teams to take part in trials at the Woodburn Stadium in Pietermaritzburg next Tuesday.…
Bulls u18 teams for trials against Lions
The Bulls have named two under-18 teams to take on their Lions counterparts next Tuesday at Loftus, as part of selection process and preparations for the Craven Week and Academy Weeks for 2013. Of the 30 starters selected 14 have Bulls under-18 representation experience brought forward from 2012. …
What the other ranking systems are saying
This is going to be a defining weekend for the ranking systems with Grey College playing Affies, HTS Middelburg up against Nelspruit and EG Jansen vs Garsfontein. That should have been 6 out of everyone’s Top 10 in action but somehow HTS Middelburg only holds down position 12 in SASchoolSports’ rankings. …
High quality player radar: Grey College vs Affies
Grey College against Affies is one of the must watch games if the opportunity presents itself and it has: Saturday, 19h15 on Supersport 1 if you’re not fortune enough to be there live.…
Over-analysing the KZN tier-1’s heading into Saturday
To put it mildly Michaelhouse are not enjoying the best of seasons. In recent weeks they have been on the receiving end against Glenwood, Hilton and Kearsney. Having watched both the Midlands derby against Hilton and the game at Kearsney a week later, it was quite interesting to note the differences in approach of both winning teams. With the big three private schools taking on the big three government schools, it’s an interesting weekend that lies ahead in KZN Tier-1.…
NuPower TUKS finals for 2013
NuPower TUKS for 2013 comes to an exciting end on Saturday at the LC de Villiers Stadium (University of Pretoria sports campus). The main game is the much anticipated match-up between two of the best school rugby 1st XV’s in South Africa this season. Finalists HTS Middelburg and Nelspruit, the two Mpumalanga powerhouses both have outstanding records to date and are worthy of their places in the main event. It looks like it will be a titanic battle to decide who gets crowned the NuPower TUKS champions for 2013.…
SBR Tjampions League
Based on an idea that Tjoppa had hence the name, here is an attempt to rank teams based on strength vs strength. All other results are removed from the equation and only games against other strong rugby schools in 2013 are recorded. Admittedly even this process of deciding which teams should form part of the equation and which ones should not, is also very subjective.
The points system is win = 4 , draw = 2, loss = 0 and 1 bonus point to the losing team if the score difference is less than 10, otherwise the bonus goes to the winning team.…
BHP Top 50 – week ending 04 May 2013
This formula-driven ranking system is compiled by BoishaaiPa. …
Results – week ending 04 May 2013
| SCHOOL | SCHOOL | NOTES | TIME | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EG Jansen | 36 | 12 | Noord-Kaap | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 07h50 |
| Glenwood | 36 | 13 | Boland Landbou | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 09h00 |
| Monnas | 36 | 14 | Drostdy | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 10h10 |
| Affies | 41 | 21 | Framesby | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 10h10 (B-field) |
| Grey College | 42 | 20 | Oakdale | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 11h20 |
| HJS Paarl BH | 55 | 15 | Paarl BH | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 11h20 (B-field) |
| Grey High | 51 | 10 | Diamantveld | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 12h30 |
| Paarl Gim | 43 | 18 | Harmony (WK Inv) | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 13h40 |
| Paul Roos | 30 | 17 | Maritzburg College | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 14h50 |
| Outeniqua | 39 | 19 | Waterkloof | Wildeklawer – 02/05/13 | 16h00 |
| Oakdale | 40 | 3 | Sharks Inv | Wildeklawer | 07h15 |
| Paarl Gim | 34 | 6 | Waterkloof | Wildeklawer | 08h25 |
| EG Jansen | 64 | 0 | Diamantveld | Wildeklawer | 09h35 |
| Outeniqua | 48 | 15 | Grey High | Wildeklawer | 09h35 (B-field) |
| Glenwood | 17 | 15 | Paarl BH | Wildeklawer | 10h45 |
| Drostdy | 29 | 7 | Wildeklawer Inv | Wildeklawer | 10h45 (B-field) |
| Boland Landbou | 20 | 16 | Noord-Kaap | Wildeklawer | 11h55 |
| Affies | 17 | 10 | Paul Roos | Wildeklawer | 13h05 |
| Grey College | 13 | 8 | Monument | Wildeklawer | 14h15 |
| M. College | 16 | 16 | Framesby | Wildeklawer | 15h25 |
| Die Brandwag | 18 | 19 | St Andrews | EP top 2 at the moment | |
| Selborne | 27 | 23 | Queens | Postponed until Monday | |
| Dale | 46 | 12 | Stirling | ||
| Hudson Park | – | – | Kingswood | Cancelled. Waterlogged field | |
| Nico Malan | 26 | 10 | Despatch | ||
| Jim Fouche | 21 | 22 | Marlow | ||
| Hilton | 34 | 0 | St Charles | ||
| Kearsney | 38 | 5 | Michaelhouse | ||
| Sarel Cilliers | 59 | 5 | Newcastle | 50min game | |
| KES | 16 | 22 | Westville | ||
| Parktown | 33 | 5 | DHS | ||
| Pretoria BH | 28 | 27 | Jeppe | Gauteng English schools top 2 currently | |
| Garsfontein | 61 | 21 | Centurion | Huge game | |
| Transvalia | 72 | 0 | Volkskool, Heidelberg | ||
| Strand | 14 | 21 | SACS | ||
| Tygerberg | 3 | 54 | Rondebosch | ||
| Wynberg | 75 | 3 | Primrose | ||
| Durbanville | 20 | 16 | Hugenote | ||
| Bellville | 23 | 45 | Bishops |
Wildeklawer 2013 Day 2
Match summaries of Wildeklawer Day 2…
Spare a thought for Michaelhouse today
After losing 36-5 to Glenwood and 42-12 to Hilton, it seemed like things could not get worse for Michaelhouse as far as first team rugby is concerned. Well it seemingly has. Between last weekend’s Midlands derby and a round of KZN regional trials and training, House has lost 7 1st XV players ahead of their away game at Kearsney today. …
Wildeklawer Player and Team of Day 2
With most of today’s Saturday games being televised, it would be good to see who you rate over the course of today’s action. Let us know who you’d pick for your:
- Player of the Day
- Back of the Day
- Forward of the Day
- Team of the Day
Woltrui’s choices:
Span van die dag: EG Jansen
Voorspeler van dag: Loskop stut van Monnas. Frans van Wyk
Agterspeler van dag: Loskakel van EG Jansen Ruan Potgieter
Speler van dag: Morne Swart, no 7, van EG Jansen
Beet’s choices:
Team of the day: Monnas. There were some closely contested big games but nothing quite came close to the thrill of the Monnas vs Grey College game, in which Monnas did just about everything to deserve to win it but somehow didn’t. They should have taken their penalty kicks near the end.
Player of the Day: JD Schikerling (Paarl Gim)
Forward of the Day: Morne Swart (EG Jansen). Monnas no.8 Wiehan Jacobs also very good.
Back of the Day: Jurie Linde (Affies)
Character of the Day: Corne Vermaak (Glenwood) who put a nightmare first half behind him and did well in the second half.
…
Wildeklawer Day 1 summary
Here are some of my personal thought on the games on Goldstones on Day 1
Video of Outeniqua and other tries here compliments of the High School Rugby World:
…
Other SA school rugby rankings – 29 April 2013
The other ranking systems are starting to look a lot like the SBR Thumbsuck now. The Thumbsuck is 1 month old now and comparing the current rankings to the first one, 3 teams have dropped out: Maritzburg College, Pretoria BH and Marlow which have effectively been replaced by Wynberg, HTS Middelburg and Oakdale. Wildeklawer is set to be a defining 2 match days for Waterkloof. If Klofies win both their games at WK, they will take over as the No.1 team in the country next week as far as the Thumbsuck is concerned.…
Wildeklawer 2013 – results & team sheets
| DATE | SCHOOL | SCHOOL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thu.02May | EG Jansen | 36 | 12 | Noord-Kaap |
| Thu.02May | Glenwood | 36 | 13 | Boland Landbou |
| Thu.02May | Monument | 36 | 14 | Drostdy |
| Thu.02May | Affies | 41 | 21 | Framesby |
| Thu.02May | Grey College | 42 | 20 | Oakdale |
| Thu.02May | HJS Paarl BH | 55 | 15 | Sharks Invitation |
| Thu.02May | Grey HS | 51 | 10 | Diamantveld |
| Thu.02May | Paarl Gim | 43 | 18 | Harmony SA |
| Thu.02May | Paul Roos | 30 | 17 | Maritzburg College |
| Thu.02May | Outeniqua | 39 | 19 | Waterkloof |
| Sat.04May | Oakdale | 40 | 03 | Sharks Invitation |
| Sat.04May | Paarl Gim | 34 | 06 | Waterkloof |
| Sat.04May | EG Jansen | 64 | 00 | Diamantveld |
| Sat.04May | Outeniqua | 48 | 15 | Grey HS |
| Sat.04May | Glenwood | 17 | 15 | HJS Paarl BH |
| Sat.04May | Drostdy | 29 | 07 | Harmony SA |
| Sat.04May | Boland Landbou | 20 | 16 | Noord-Kaap |
| Sat.04May | Affies | 17 | 10 | Paul Roos |
| Sat.04May | Grey College | 13 | 08 | Monument |
| Sat.04May | Maritzburg College | 16 | 16 | Framesby |
Which school has the toughest fixtures at Wildeklawer 2013
Using BHP’s ranking for this week and assigning a value based on a formula of 100 minus current rank to each school with the two invitation teams given the benefit of being ranked jointly in 85th position (100-85=15 points), the sum of each school’s two opponents was arrived at and used as the basis for determining who had the hardest schedule. Waterkloof came out tops. The school from Pretoria has to play Outeniqua and Paarl Gymnasium at this year’s Wildeklawer Skouspel. …
KZN needs crucial road victories to keep Grogper Cup dreams alive
After Gauteng raced into a 4-0 lead thanks to outstanding efforts by St Davids and St Albans, KZN’s Northwood spearheaded by their frontrow trio put a spirited fightback to come from 11-3 down at home to beat a gutsy St Benedicts team. Westville backed up this first win in the compo with a very meaningful home result of their own against a strong Pretoria Boys High outfit. At 4-2 and with many feeling that the tail end of this compo will favour the KZN schools, it makes this weekend’s two games tie-breakers of sorts. …
KZN vs Gauteng Festival at George Campbell
UPDATED: KZN wins 11-8 with 1 draw.
There is a real McCoy annual festival in which schools from KwaZulu-Natal take on their Gauteng counterparts. This year as part of their Golden Jubilee celebrations, George Campbell from North Beach in Durban will be hosting this 20-school strong festival which consists of two match days, Saturday 27 April and Monday 29 April 2013. After the Saturday games, organisers will determine which KZN and Gauteng schools to pair up for the Monday fixtures. Their aim is to match strength versus strength.…
BHP Top 50 – week ending 27 April 2013
This formula-driven ranking system is the only one on any school rugby website to have ranked Paarl Gim as the No.1 team in SA last week. This week EG Jansen and Centurion make the noticeable gains at the top, while Monnas falls 15 places to the unfamiliar possie of 31.…
WP Final u18 trial teams announced
The WP schools rugby selectors have announced the three final Under 18 trials teams, which will practice at De Kuilen on Monday 13 and 20 May 2013 and then, after any tweaking necessitated by injury, take on their Boland counterparts at Wellington on Wednesday 22 May.…