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OFS stands for Opportunity Free State

23 January, 2014 beet 11

2013 was meant to be the Kings’ Super Rugby break though season but from a South African standpoint the tournament will probably be best remembered for the achievements of the Cheetahs from Free State.

The positives from that campaign seem to have reinvigorated Free State rugby. …

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Court dismisses St Charles cricket parent’s case

23 January, 2014 beet 10

The St Charles College (Pietermaritzburg) parent that sued his son’s school because they dropped his son as captain (asking the court to reinstate his son as captain) had his application dismissed with costs on Tuesday, 22 January 2014.…

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Steroids quite easy to buy

22 January, 2014 beet 30

Okay so today a social media picture of a known SBR rugby player did the rounds and caused quite a stir, prompting numerous discussions about the use of steroids in school and post-school sport.…

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Eastern Cape government to hand Dale College R250 000 for rugby bursaries

21 January, 2014 beet 13

Report from Old Dalian Denver Donian a reporter from the Bugle

DALE COLLEGE was privileged to be at the centre of a program set to improve the face of school rugby in the area when they hosted the Sport Focus Capacity Building Programme – a school rugby coaching workshop facilitated by the South African Rugby Union (SARU) and the Border Rugby Union (BRU).…

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DHS assignment for Donald Ngwenya

20 January, 2014 beet 15

Former Northwood 1st XV coach and current Durban youth rugby coach Donald Ngwenya has been appointed as the new DHS under-16 coach. This means he takes charge of DHS’s all-important 150th birthday 1st XV in 2016 group this season. No pressure! No ways! All the pressure in the world for sure.…

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Paul Roos looking promising for 2014

20 January, 2014 beet 32

A good way to describe Paul Roos supporters ahead of the 2014 season is quietly confident. No one is under any kind of illusion either. Annually Paul Roos has one of the most demanding school rugby schedules in the country which affords them little room for comfort. That said there is a reason why they are labelled as one of South African school rugby’s powerhouse teams. …

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Westville’s Eastern Cape recruitments cause unhappiness

20 January, 2014 beet 77

Westville who already have tremendous rugby depth in their open age group welcomed two new and very talented under-16 players from Hudson Park in East London into the fold late last year. Both boys were part of the highly successful Border 2013 Grant Khomo team that went through the under-16 tournament unbeaten, including defeating the always competitive Free State along the way.

These recruitments have not to go down well in the Eastern Cape. A positive movement to stop so called “poaching” has started to gain a lot of momentum in the Border region, where young players from less privileged backgrounds are increasingly becoming the targets …

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SA Schools post for George Campbell’s Noel Ingle

19 January, 2014 beet 0

Noel Ingle, the Chairman of the KwaZulu-Natal High School Rugby Association, has been named as an SA Schools Vice Chairman. Part of the duties include attending 10 meetings per annum where key issues regarding school rugby will be discussed and some important decisions made.…

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Sharks u19 contracted players for 2014

19 January, 2014 beet 3

Sharks u19The Sharks only hand out a limited number of contracts every year and are very proud of their success rate which is up around 80% when it comes to converting schoolboy rugby players into professionals  for the senior team. For 2014, fourteen talented players received contracts and there is a great deal of optimism around about the future prospects for all these youngsters. The Sharks placed emphasis on procuring forwards this year in terms of their succession planning.

Standing L->R: Petrus du Buson, Johan du Toit, Hyron Andrews, Ayron Schramm, Wandile Mazibuko, JL du Preez, Thomas du Toit, Ruan Kramer & Daniel du Preez.

Kneeling L->R: Philip Marais, Cameron Wright, Innocent Radebe, Marius Louw & Andrew du Plessis…

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60 not out for uncle Tony

17 January, 2014 beet 139

Happy 60th birthday for today Tony Stoops.

Bishops Old Boy and retired teacher Tony produces all kinds on detailed stats for Western Cape 1st XV schoolboy rugby on his website www.stoopstats.co.za. He also runs the largest 1st XV school rugby festival during the Easter holidays, so chances are he won’t have too much time to celebrate this milestone.…

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England targets a top Glenwood / KZN school rugby player

13 January, 2014 beet 99

Brandon Staples of Glenwood is one of KwaZulu-Natal’s best schoolboy rugby players. The big No.8 who is now under-17 has represented KZN at both under-13 and under-16 levels in the past. He is now very high up on England’s “must have” list. …

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Analysis of SA Schools Cricket, Hockey, Rugby & Water Polo Representatives for 2013

5 January, 2014 beet 125

Analysing the 78 SA Schools representatives for 2013, shows that Kearsney from Botha’s Hill in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) and their Methodist brother school St Stithians from Randburg in Gauteng top the list with 5 representatives apiece followed by the likes of Affies (Pretoria), Paarl Gymnasium and Rondebosch (Cape Town) with 4 each. As a provincial region, no one comes close to the Western Cape  (41%) and even by splitting the province into Western Province (WP), Boland and South Western Districts (SWD), WP still commands a 33% share of the overall pie.…

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South African Schoolboy Rugby Team & Player of the Year 2013

5 January, 2014 beet 4

The SA Rugby Player of the Year awards for 2013 will only take place on 12 February 2014 which is quite a long time off. There is no award for the School Team or Schoolboy Rugby Player of the Year but hopefully SARU will continue with an award for the Craven Week Player of the Tournament award.

For this website, to pay tribute to the achievers of 2013, the awards are as follows:

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Merry Christmas everyone

24 December, 2013 beet 17

To all of you reading this blog have a blessed Christmas.

So much of what has been achieved this year has been made possible by the contributions of the regular active bloggers, as well as many generous folks, school officials, union representatives and on occasion supposed “rivals” (who like myself have hopefully come to the conclusion that it is impossible to cover the full spectrum of schoolboy rugby and do it justice as small stand alone websites – the opportunities for growth are still massive).

Without mentioning any names I would like to express my gratitude by way of a BIG BIG THANK YOU to all of you for helping to make the Schoolboyrugby Blog what it is.

May the year 2014 be a prosperous one dominated by the action on the field and filled with good memories of rugby continuing to be played in arguably it’s best and most enjoyable form – the way schoolboys play it.  

Have a good one!…

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Deon Gericke replaces Sean Erasmus at Craven Week

24 December, 2013 beet 1

Current St Charles under-16A coach Deon Gericke has been appointed to replace Sean Erasmus as the KZN Craven Week assistant coach. In all probability Deon will work with the forwards while fellow newly appointed assistant coach Grant Bell (Westville) will handle the backs. …

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Rapport: “Rugby Boys stranded after promises (broken)”

17 December, 2013 beet 53

An article entitled “Rugbyseuns gestrand ná beloftes” by Julian Jansen in the Rapport newspaper highlights that Centurion High School in Pretoria is under financial pressure and has had to close down it’s boarding establishment. The school therefore cannot fulfil it’s bursary obligation to a young talented player Brandon Smith, who was part of the SA Elite under-16 group. …

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Kearsney head coach Barend Steyn steps down

13 December, 2013 beet 15

This one will come as a huge surprise to those outside the Kearsney circle of rugby interest. The highly respected and humble Barend Steyn, Kearsney’s head coach ever since 2001 and by far the longest serving KZN tier-1 head coach, has made the decision to step down and allow his assistant Francois Lubbe to take up the reins.