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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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Smaller rugby schools’ players dominate Golden Lions awards 2013

4 December, 2013 beet 3

This year’s annual Golden Lions awards ceremony turned out to be a fitting tribute to the big role smaller schools still play in developing talent for senior rugby.  Some of those rewarded for achievement in the different team categories (u19, u21 and senior) schooled at the likes of Alberton, Bredasdorp, Hartswater, Marais Viljoen, Pretoria North, Standerton and Transvalia.…

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Golden Lions u19 contracted players for 2014

14 November, 2013 beet 92

The Golden Lions have their 40 schoolboy signings for 2014 in the bag. 2013 Beeld Trofee winners EG Jansen from Boksburg have been a team blessed with talent in all departments so it comes with little surprise that they are best represented school in the Lions under-19 group  for 2014 with nine players. Amongst the names keep a close eye on Jansies No.8 Marco Holmes. At 1.85m and 95kg Holmes is a player similar in size and ability to Carel Greeff…

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u19 & u21 Currie Cup: Bulls eyeing 2 cups in 2013

21 October, 2013 beet 11

Although this is Currie Cup final week and just about all the media attention during the build-up to Saturday’s big match is expected to be focused on the finalists Western Province and the Sharks, there is a little something that the Bulls can still get out of the season. Their under-19 team has been favourites to claim the title since day one of the season and their reinforced under-21’s, boosted by the return of several senior Currie Cup players including a Springbok to the age-group ranks, is looking equally hot ahead of the junior finals, which will also take place on Saturday at Newlands.…

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Free State under-19 players for 2014

5 September, 2013 beet 41

Under the guidance of under-19 head coach Andre Tredoux, Free State have worked very hard on recruitment this year. Helped by the Cheetahs excellent 2013 Super Rugby season, all the effort put in seems to have paid off. The 2014 group is a strong one, filled with known talent as well as a few wildcards who could just go on to become the next big thing in SA rugby. All-in-all 3 SA Schools players are part of a talented squad that should do very well in the under-19 Currie Cup next season. Apologies, although provided the names of Gunther Janse van Rensburg and WP Eloff were overlooked but have now been added.

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Noordvaal Champions League 2013 final standings

26 August, 2013 beet 11

The Noordvaal season has come to an end. It was a thrilling year of rugby. What really made it special was that a number of teams came to the party. At the beginning of the year I personally was thinking here we go, Klofies and Monnas all the way as far as the cup combos go. When I found out that Klofies had withdrawn from the NuPower, I honestly thought that trophy had just become second rate. However the likes of HTS Middelburg, Nelspruit, EG Jansen and Garsfontein all stepped up to the plate and hit hit the ball out the park with top class performances. Adding to the excitement is that Klofies and Monnas had their moments as well but just somehow could not sustain their efforts. As a result, match-ups were interesting, outcomes were hard to predict  and Noordvaal hasn’t looked back. 2014 is going to find it hard to live up to the hype of this year.…

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Beeld Trofee 2013: Quarterfinals, Semifinals, Finals & Winners

24 August, 2013 beet 4

EG Jansen claimed the biggest cup prize in the Noordvaal by beating their Valke counterparts and 2012 champions Kempton Park 38-17 in the BeeldTrofee Macro Schools finals. Transvalia added to the Valke success by winning the Large Schools section. Ben Vorster of Polokwe and Koster High of North West Province won their respective under-18 sections. In the large and very diversified cup competition, it was Monnas of Krugersdorp who turned out to be Gauteng’s best team, winning the under-16 and under-15 Macro finals.…

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An all Valke Beeld Trofee final on the way

22 August, 2013 beet 9

Defending champions Kempton Park and EG Jansen will contest this year’s Macro Schools Beeld Trofee final on Saturday and bring down the curtain on one of the most memorable Noordvaal seasons.…

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Rumourmill: Affies back in Beeld in 2014

19 August, 2013 beet 73

Written by a reliable anonymous source.

Affies decided to participate in the Beeld trophy again – from 2014 onward. However, there is a snag. They will only participate in the Pretoria division.…

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Grey College vs Paul Roos – 25 years of rugby passion

11 August, 2013 beet 102

GCB PRGThis year Grey College  and Paul Roos Gymnasium will be celebrating 25 years of inter-schools. The two schools that share similar values and have common histories with regards to the establishments of the universities in their respective regions, will meet on the rugby field for the 30th time since 1967. In 1988 the fixture became annual event and has since grown to become one of the most highly anticipated and certainly one of the biggest rugby rivalries on the SA schoolboy rugby calendar. …

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EG’s Pieter Jansen placed on standby for SA Schools

6 August, 2013 beet 18

Valke Craven Week hooker Pieter Jansen, who also captains Dr EG Jansen, has been placed on standby for the SA Schools squad ahead of their under-18 international quadrangular series against England, France and Wales. Jansen’s standby is as a result of unfortunate HJS Paarl Boys High and Western Province hooker Daniel du Plessis, who has not regained full fitness after picking up an injury during the Craven Week final against the Golden Lions.…

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It’s virtually official – Affies will be no.1 in 2013

6 August, 2013 beet 86

Well I asked BHP to run the numbers regarding whether Paarl Gim could overtake Affies on the BHP SA Top 50 rankings (the formula driven ranking system). In a nutshell the answer is NO! No matter what Gim do in their up and coming games, they don’t have enough in terms of quality opposition to reel in Affies at the top.

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Beeld Trofee 2013: Quarterfinals

31 July, 2013 beet 24

beeld The business end of the 2013 BeeldTrofee for Macro schools  is upon us. Eight schools will battle it out for the remaining four places. The standard of the Noordvaal top tier rugby has been extremely high this year. There is a bottleneck at the top with no one wanting to give an inch. The result is that the BeeldTrofee for macro schools 2013 has no clear-cut favourite. Anyone of six schools namely HTS Middelburg, Waterkloof, Nelspruit, Monnas, Garsfontein and EG Jansen can win it. This is where BMT now takes over and nothing less that bring an A-game to the match-day will suffice.

Matches will take place on Saturday, 03 August 2013

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Affie’s RG Snyman called up to SA Schools

31 July, 2013 beet 5

Rudolph Gerhardus Snyman or just plain RG Snyman was we know the 2.05 metre tall giant from Affies has been called up to replace JD Schickerling in the SA Schools team to face England, France and Wales in an international under-18 series to be held during August. …

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Gauteng wins the Grogper Cup 2013

29 July, 2013 beet 164

The Gauteng English-medium schools have won the inaugural Grogper Cup. They bounced back to beat their KwaZulu-Natal opponents 7-6 in a closely contested competition.…

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Affies beats Glenwood 53-23

28 July, 2013 beet 346

Affies, the current number one ranked rugby school in South Africa scored eight tries as part of a 53-23 victory against Glenwood on Dixon’s field in Durban.…

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Grey vs Grey

27 July, 2013 beet 19

The two schools named after the former Governor of the Cape, Sir George Grey mean in Bloemfontein today. The match will be broadcast live on Super Sport 1 at 13h00. (Repeat on SS8 at 21h30)…

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Glenwood aim to reduce the gap between themselves & Affies

25 July, 2013 beet 93

Glenwood will be out to cause an upset when they take on Affies, the current number one ranked school in South Africa. Affies has won twelve games this season so far and Glenwood has ten wins to their name but significantly the Pretoria team  will arrive in Durban undefeated while Glenwood has lost seven games this season.  …

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Grogper Cup decider: will it be Gauteng or KZN?

23 July, 2013 beet 76

You just gotta love schoolboy rugby! There are so many things to enjoy about the game being played on the field and when you can add unpredictability of the outcome to the mix, it just makes it that much more entertaining. At the start of this season and any season for that matter, in my mind at least, this Grogper Cup, a made-up tournament between several KZN and Gauteng English-medium schools should have been a foregone conclusion.…

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Lions juniors make the Sharks eat humble pie

21 July, 2013 beet 27

The Golden Lions Rugby Union underlined their importance to the continued well-being of the South African rugby with two good road wins against the Sharks on Friday. In the under-19 game, a 67th minute try by EG Jansen Old Boy Kyle van Dalen sealed the deal as the Lions triumphed 21-13, denying the Sharks a bonus point in the process. In the under-21 game the visitors from Jozi had matters under control from the first half, building up a 17-0 lead at one stage and then holding out to win it 24-17 against a fairly competent Sharks team.

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KZN star backline player signed by the Cheetahs

17 July, 2013 beet 27

Free State may have lost out to Western Province in their endeavours to retain the services of outstanding Grey College and SA Schools fullback EW Viljoen but they compensated for the lost in the best way possible by signing Glenwood and KZN Schools fullback Corné Vermaak. …

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Free State rugby on the rise

15 July, 2013 beet 28

This season the Cheetahs senior team has rewritten the history books by qualifying for the Super Rugby play-offs for the first time since they became an independent franchise back in 2006. In addition to this they finished the regular season ahead of two major rivals namely the Sharks and the Stormers (WP in disguise). Now their junior Currie Cup teams are off to a good start. …

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Craven Week 2013: Golden Lions team & Academy Week team

6 June, 2013 beet 15

The Golden Lions under-18 teams have the usual Monnas flavour about them. 15 out of 44 come from the Krugersdorp school, with 9 of those picks being Craven Week players. Jeppe picked up a decent reward for their above average season to date with 8 players. Florida have had two relatively weak 1st XV’s in a row now but still managed to be well represented again this year with 8 players as well.…

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Craven Week 2013: Free State team almost finalised

6 June, 2013 beet 16

Free State are in the process of finalising their Craven Week team. They named a fairly predictable blend of 13 Grey College  and 9 HTS Louis Botha players for a trial match against the Griffons.  The squad is very much along the lines of the quota system in place for Craven Week which stipulates that each team must have a minimum of 9 Previously Disadvantaged Individuals (PDI) in their squad of 22 with no fewer than 5 required to be in the starting line-up and on the field at all times. …

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Golden Lions join Craven Week selection circus

2 June, 2013 beet 48

During their TV coverage of the Premier Interschools match between Monument and Glenwood today, the commentators made several references to 8 Monnas players being chosen for Craven Week, while a further 5 were included the Academy Week team. Furthermore the commentary team seem to know who the selected players were by name. It all seemed plausible right up until the end of the production when Defender (read player) of the Match, Monnas’ no.8 Wiehan Jacobs was asked a question related to his selection for Craven Week. Jacobs quickly replied along the lines that he was still hoping to be selected and that the Golden Lions Craven Week team had not been announce yet.…

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Glenwood’s Corné the Ver-marquee player

1 June, 2013 beet 10

Glenwood takes on the Monument Witbulle in a Premier Interschools game this afternoon. The match will be shown on a delayed broadcast at 21:30 on Supersport 1 tonight. One of the players well worth keeping an eye on is Glenwood fullback Corné Vermaak. Vermaak is in outstanding form at the moment. With each passing game he looks to have peaked but then seems to set the bar a little higher with his next outing. …

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Craven Week 2013: Bulls team named along with Academy & Noordvaal

24 May, 2013 beet 112

The Bulls have named there extremely powerful team for Craven Week. The competition for starting places was fierce. In the end Francois Steyn held off Vean Roodt, Hyron Andrews got the nod ahead of Abongile Nonkwantana and Justin Phillips edged out Ivan van Zyl to be in the starting XV.…