Three significant matches take place in Durban on Saturday. Two of these presented prime opportunities for rival schools to work together to get their hands on valuable match tapes of their next opponents.
First up though is Port Natal and George Campbell, who won’t need the assistance of any taped material after having ample time to see each others’ strengths and weaknesses during six rounds of Port Natal Night Series last month. Campbell and Porties will twin for their fixture against Glenwood later this season, so Saturday’s all-important match in Umbilo decides which of the two earns the right to play against the Glenwood 1st XV. Saturday’s losers will be up against the Glenwood 2nd XV.
Last weekend Westville played Northwood while College took on DHS. Coming up this Saturday, its Northwood versus DHS as a Sharks curtain-raiser at Kings Park and Westville at home to College. Tape swapping has become common in school rugby circles but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out the extra mutual benefits two simple swap deals involving Northwood – College and DHS –Westville would have achieved for helping to prepare this week. Most of us will never know who did what deal and how helpful it turned out to be.
The tape swapping and intel sharing business knows no friend or foe. Last weekend Hilton unlocked the Kearsney defence on two occasions early on in their match, amassing 14 points in the process. The tactics used by Hilton suggested they knew something about Kearsney’s defence strategy and where the weak points lay. The most likely source of that information would have been Glenwood, who played Kearsney a week earlier. Kearsney and Glenwood generally have close rugby ties while Glenwood and Hilton do not have a rugby inter-schools relationship at the moment, but that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes when school needs to earn or repay favours.
TEAMS
| WESTVILLE | MARITZBURG COLLEGE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jordan Els | 1 | Matt Smith |
| 2 | Hendrik Prinsloo | 2 | Sam Swanepoel |
| 3 | Shaun Stoltz | 3 | Andrew Rietjes |
| ►4 | Fudge Qoma | 4 | Bjorn Olivier |
| 5 | JP Pelzer | ►5 | Durang Atembe |
| 6 | Donovan Grant | 6 | Kelton Thunder |
| 7 | Devon Muller | 7 | Phillip Immelman |
| 8 | Keegan Nicholson | 8 | Craig Glover |
| ►9 | Pitt | 9 | Kyle Bowman |
| 9►10 | Neil Van Rooyen | 10 | Corey Rattray |
| ►11 | Bryce Kitching | 11 | Xolisa Guma |
| 12 | Brogan Boulle | 12 | Charl Frackers |
| 11►13 | James Wheeler | 14►13 | Kudzai Munangi |
| 14 | Tony Mahlangu | ►14 | Hloni Thamahane |
| 15 | Shane Ball (C) | 15 | Ruben van Blerk |
| OUT | OUT | ||
| 4 | Zane Heyneke | 13 | Matt Kriel |
| 13 | Mpilo Shange |
| DHS | NORTHWOOD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hero Mpanza | 1 | Gugu Nelani |
| 2 | Aza Tshutsha | 2 | Nthutko Mthembu |
| 3 | Tiaan De Jager | 3 | Ngoni Moyo |
| 4 | Liam Whitfield | 4 | Craig Trollip |
| 5 | Ryan Dafel | 5 | Daniel Humphreys |
| 6 | Luyanda Ndabandaba | 6 | Vic Hurman |
| 7 | Sibusiso Makhalipi | 7 | Keagan Sparks |
| 8 | Mthokozisi Ntuli | 8 | Zandre Griffin |
| 9 | Matthew Everitt | 9 | Jason Fuhri |
| 10 | Matt Noot | 10 | Jasey van Kampen |
| 11 | Joel Kidgell | 11 | Jason Daniels |
| 12 | Gert Coetzee | 12 | Lars van Meijen |
| 13 | Mvumelei Mathenjwa | 13 | Pikho Sobhale |
| 14 | Phuzukuvela Sithole | ►14 | Viwe Makhula |
| 15 | Dillon Bryan | ►15 | Martin Korbeck |
| OUT | OUT | ||
| Inj | Gareth Simpson | 14►inj | Luyanda Mngadi |
| 15►inj | Jadon Stevens |
@h2o:
It really sucks. I feel for the poor oke and for the coaches. Imagine having to deal with that logistical nightmare just before the game. The bottom line is that the coach needs to present the paperwork to the referee before the game. Coach needs to keep his signed off paperwork in a file with his Boksmart credentials etc AT THE MATCH. If he had that, Prinsloo would have been allowed to play – as would the 2nd team player. College had an U17 boy in their front row and the referee allowed him to play indicating that this boy’s paperwork was in order.
Still – it sucks that a piece of paper can wreck a rugby match – I’m sure the College lads would have loved the chance to go against Prinsloo who is an awesome player.
@GreenBlooded: this is where the issue comes in. The paperwork was submitted (a&b forms, parents concent, irb level 2 coach signature) at the Port Natal night series and ok’d by a Kzn official. He played all PN games aswell as Hilton and Northwood and now all of a sudden it is an issue ( makes one think who raised the issue). Does not make sense …… could see the dissapointment on his face during and after the game. I am sure the Westville coaching staff will learn from this episode.
@star:
Nothing to stop an U17 and U19 playing front row in the same game – as long as the U17 had his paperwork done…
@Gungets Tuft: I think we should meet at the bowling club with Jules on your Reunion day. We can even throw a bone to ou Greenblooded.
@Rugger fan: Please mail me that picture to gungetstuft(at)gmail(dot)com, or get it to Linda in the MCOBA office, it will go down a treat.
That moment of the College boy carrying the BIG Westville guy off will stand out for a long time. True sportsmanship – A lot of the crowd gave him a well deserved standing ovation afterwards. I’m happy to say I have a photo of the act. In the words of the great Richie Benaud – “Marvelous, Absolutely Marvelous!”
On the cramp – that was most unusual – lots of Westville guys cramping in the 2nds – and towards the end of the 1st match – I counted 10 players from both sides down – very funny to watch #7 from College and a Ville player trying to help each other up from a tackle – and both falling over and trying again – looked like a scene from the drunk elephants in the Jamie Uys movie!
@h2o: I saw some of those interpretations too – I thought the ref must have seen a kicking team touching the ball before the 10m line that I couldn’t?
@star: There definitely did seem to be a different feel about it. Remember that last year was your Reunion day and a far more intimidating feel about it. Never underestimate the effect of a massive home crowd.
I wonder how much of that feeling yesterday was due to the College head war cry leader. If you haven’t watched the young man perform, Make a note to do so. Worth the ticket price just for that.
@GreenBlooded: My understanding is that Westville had an U17 hooker and College an U19 prop. The bench you refer to would have been the 3rd team reserves who had just had a tough encounter. I presume the decision made was in that context.
I must say that College came with an attitude and mission. Last year they were well beaten down the line. This year they turned the tables. Credit must be given where it is due.
@star:
I’m interested in how it came about that the game started with uncontested scrums. In a directive from Andre Watson last year we were told that no game in SA is allowed to start with uncontested scrums – i.e. both teams to have full front rows and bench requirements to be met in terms of substitute front rows. Do you have details as to how this came about?
Incidently, and for general knowledge, if a team has only 3 trained front row players, it cannot make any replacements/substitutes in the game. 4 front row players – only 3 replacements/substitutes. 5 front row players – 5 replacements/substitutes. This is a matter or rugby law – not any local ruling.
@star: I’m not sure it was only sportsmanship, I think he was also “flexing” for the gallery. It was a bit of a mismatch weight wise but that boy is, I believe, the current bench press record holder at College. Anyway, nice moment, we need more of those.
@GreenBlooded: I’m not sure it was a slingshot, it was a break around the side of the scrum, the tackle form the side and in the tackle the boy tried to pass the ball to his right, the perfect storm of off balance, no hands to cushion his fall, tackler not in a perfect position to make the tackle. A kid was hurt and the whole crowd on that side of the field saw that but the ref didn’t blow it immediately. The only person who will be able to tell if there was evil intent is the tackler, but it wasn’t an illegal tackle, that’s really my point. Beet was even closer to that action, perhaps he saw something I didnt. After a match of that physical intensity there are always going to be incidents that spring to mind, analysis is awakes going to be influenced by the color of your supporters shirt.
@Pedantic: I don’t know if Westville tape the 2nd team. As a dad that has had to rush to PMB when my son was in ICU being treated for a suspected brain bleed, believe me, my first and last thought is for the boy and his folks, it’s the scariest of times, so naturally we all hope he is fine.
@Gungets Tuft: It just did not look good in real time. I did feel for the Westville 2nd team which lost its competitive scrum and captain from the start. Those 2 tries were definitely against the run of play as Westville were hot on attack and took bad options. Trust me I know the one boy well
You are 100% right about the moment when the College boy carried the Westville boy( who is not a light weight) off the field. I hope someone recorded this great example of sportsmanship.
@Gungets Tuft: I’m really interested to see this incident .. any chance of a “tape” ?
In all seriousness, I hope the boy in question is ok!
@star:
Can’t comment as I didn’t see the incident. I don’t enjoy the ‘slingshot’ type tackles. On the one hand they are dangerous and on the other hand they are simply indicative of poor technique.
@star: It wasn’t a tip, and his body (hip) hit the ground first. His head then whiplashed into the ground. Watch the tape. The side of his face hit the ground and he was knocked out instantly. The only thing I thought the ref could have done was blow the injury much quicker.
@Westers: Might be worth looking at the tape of that first kick off, my recollection was that it bounced backwards from a high short kick, but no matter, it was hardly a material incident. I’m not sure the ref had a bad game, it was an intense physical battle, plenty happening at the breakdown, and we all know that the breakdown now is a matter split seconds and interpretation, all we can ask for is consistency.
Regarding the 2 second team intercepts, neither was a Hail Mary type of intercept, both were the result of intense pressure, so not everyone is going to agree with the gift status. On the face of it, I though it was a fair result.
The match provided the moment of the day I think, with the injured Westville player being carried off by the College centre. There’s a common touch to this after all.
@Westers: If you have no shape then the boys will play as individuals get isolated and get picked off and turned over. There will also be no support and so the rucks will be swamped and same result. Our body position in contact was too high and there was too much lateral movement which is easy to defend. I lost count of the number of times a Westville player was held up in contact. The College management obviously did their homework in this regard. All this can be corrected and so we must be positive for KERF. I think the backline that started was completely different to the one that finished. Boys now need to be backed in their respective positions.
With regard to the 2nd team game there was a delay to the start due to another paperwork problem similar to that of the first team. This resulted in uncontested scrums from the start which I believe took a further competitive edge away from Westville. Just one of those days which Westville will hopefully be all the wiser from.
@ Greenblooded- There was an incident in the 2nd team game when a Westville player was slung to the ground head first .( the boy ended up in hospital). While there definitely seemed to be intent to do harm, there was no sanction either by penalty or yellow card. Tip tackles are covered by the law but there seems to a grey area in respect to the above situation.
@Westers: What a shambles with Prinsloo, so unfortunate for one 17 year who can hold his own with any other schoolboy player.
On the cramping I cannot believe that this Westville side are not fit. Hilton players were also cramping against Kearsney last weekend, but did not seem to have the same problem against Westville the weekend before that. Is it a nutrition problem, or are the boys not getting enough down time, rest, sleep?
@Westers:
Did he signal that he had blown for the ball not going 10m? Perhaps he had blown for the players being in front of the kicker (for which incidently there is no option – only a scrum at the centre)? I’m not sure – I left after the U16A match. Or maybe he just got it wrong in the heat of the moment. He is human afterall.
@GreenBlooded: h2o highlighted my reasons for asking. The ref in the 1st team game blew as the ball bounced short of the 10m line but it kicked several meters past before anyone played it. A poor blow and his day didn’t improve from there on.
Not an excuse for a very poor Westville performance. Perhaps the Prinsloo saga had an effect.
They seemed to have no game plan and played with no structure. This was surprising given that the 2nds played a well structured game and College got a “lucky” draw courtesy of two intercepts.
I have also not seen as many players down with cramp from one team. There were also quite a few in the 2nds who suffered from cramp. I cannot believe it is fitness and it wasn’t a hot day. They need to investigate.
Westville are in for a difficult KERF.
@h2o:
The school ref clearly got it wrong. Remember the school-teacher referees often have no formal training as referees and are thrust into the role as part of their rugby duties. They often get it wrong which is why Society refs are used for the A teams. Having said that – there are some excellent school-teacher referees around with no formal training – Westville’s Dean Carelse being a prime example.
Without having seen the other 2 incidents, it is hard to comment. Perhaps the referee thought the ball would not reach 10m. But the law is quite simple on this. If it reaches the 10m line – play-on. If a non-kicking team member touches the ball first – play-on. Otherwise – scrum/rekick option.
@beet:
On the Prinsloo saga – what a shambles!!! A classic case of what happens when trying to implement 1st world standards into a 3rd world paradigm. Make rules, insist that the rules are rigidly enforced – but provide no efficient system to comply with the rules. In light of the high profile tournaments coming up – there are some lessons for everyone to learn from this:
Schools and Coaches: If you require paperwork for your players – make sure you have it available on match-day. Simply submitting it to the Shark Tank is not the same as having it signed off. If it means getting in a car, driving down to the tank, finding the appropriate officials and rousing them from their perpetual slumber and not leaving their offices until you have the paperwork signed off – then that’s what they need to do!!
Referees: There are many reasons for which we are not permitted to start matches or allow certain players to play. We need to be pro-active on this. I arrive for my matches at least an hour before and get the paperwork sorted then. I can only assume that yesterday’s referee assumed that a top school team would have their paperwork in order. In hindsight I’ll bet he wishes he had checked up much earlier. He is top bloke and I’m sure he did not want what transpired. Perhaps big school matches should be checked the day before?
It must have been very disrupting for Westville and heart-breaking for Prinsloo himself. The system let the game, the team and the player down in this instance.
The latest ‘enforcement’ we have been instructed to tighten up on is coaches using their ID numbers on team sheets in place of BOKSMART numbers. This is no longer allowed and another reason for which must refuse to start games (how ridicuous!!!!). I suggest that all coaches go to http://www.playercap.co.za, enter their ID number and get their BOKSMART status verified. Print this sheet out and keep it in your kit bag. I am currently on my 3rd revision of BOKSMART. My first card took about 9 months to come through, my second I am still waiting for and my third took about 3 months. I’m not sure how a coach who has done his course within a week and not yet captured on the system will cope with this. Once again – rigid rules but a tardy system to achieve compliance.
@GreenBlooded: As far as I am aware KZN schools that have signed the HMA are not allowed to use the squad system at all for KZN inter-schools matches. So no fresh subs allowed. I think this ruling even extends to non-HMA schools as per the KZNRU HSC directive that all players must play a full game.
In this regard Maritzburg College appears to be offenders. Their 1st XV has on a few occasions make use of players that did play for the 2nd XV, today appearing to be the same case with Matt Kriel coming on albeit for just a few minutes to play and when the result was a formality
Last year when I asked then College coach Ryan Strudwick about this non-HMA compliant tactic. Here is what he had to say:
“As far as the squad system goes on the weekend; yes we had 2 guys on the bench. They were both coming back from injury and weren’t allowed to play more than 20 minutes and 15 minutes respectively. ( as was the u16 boy ). I have never seen the agreement between the schools so not sure what the actual “rules” are.
I am not sure what other schools are doing but we are doing it with the players rehabilitation in mind; not to get an advantage. We get given instructions by the physio and touch wood it is helping with our player management.
We can easily try hide this from other schools by making them play 5 min for the second team ; pulling them off and then putting them on the bench.
Not sure if you noticed how Koekemoer was put on for 5min and then pulled off. This is because he was only allowed to play 15min and he had already played 10 for the 2nd team. If we wanted to use it to our advantage we would have left him on but we were looking after the player.
School sport is becoming or is semi pro; it’s about time the schools treated all aspects of the game the same. You can’t leave some aspects the same as they were 20 years ago. If you come back from a 3 week injury; you cannot be expected to suddenly play 70 min of Rugby.
I hope that helps. I would love to know how other schools are dealing with their returning players. ”
I think I should turn this into a blog because the former high school coach makes some good points but also admitted to 2 things:
1. Not knowing the HMA or trying to find out exactly what the HMA entails.
2. Not knowing what other schools do or trying to find out what others do wrt players returning from injury.
I do know that schools like Michaelhouse, Paul Roos and a few others rehab their A-team players in lower teams where the intensity is less and the result not as important for marketing purposes.
With regards to Hendrik Prinsloo’s unfortunate circumstance today which involved Boksmart formalities, to me personally the situation seemed to produce more of a safety issue in allowing hooker Damian Lee who had played a tough 2nd XV match, to then be asked to play an entire 1st XV match in the front row as well. Perhaps the lesson learned today was that this checking of certification by the ref has to be done a lot earlier in the day if safety is the main concern. For those not aware, although Westville had submitted their forms for Hendrik an u17 to play in the front row in u19 games many months ago, an official at the KZNRU (Sharks) has been dragging his heels and still has not sign off.
A valid question raised this evening was why had referees of previous Westville games not checked the Boksmart compliance.
Also why did the refs start with this particular mach day. Westville has a very strong frontrow and Hendrik is also one of their best gainline breakers, so a big disadvantage not to have him start.
College also had an u17 frontrow player, Andrew Reintjes, so it will be interesting to find out how he was cleared on time but the Prinsloo who is even part of the KZN HP squad that participates in elite training sessions, wasn’t.
Hendrik came on as a clean shorts sub during the second half after Noel Ingle had cleared him to play but in Westville’s case they had every intention of starting him, were disadvantaged by having a tired player in Lee on and at no stage entertained the idea using Hendrik as a super sub.
@GreenBlooded: saw 3 interpretations of that today at Westville. #1 kick off not 10m- freekick on centre spot.. school ref. #2 kick off not 10 ball still moving forward no one touches ref blows and gives option of scrum or kick off before ball reaches 10m… union ref. #3 as per your rules set out in 13.7 … same union ref
13.5 KICK-OFF OF 10 METRES
If the ball reaches the opponents’ 10-metre line or reaches the 10-metre line and is blown back, play continues.
13.6 KICK-OFF OF UNDER 10 METRES BUT PLAYED BY AN OPPONENT
If the ball does not reach the opponent’s 10-metre line but is first played by an opponent, play continues.
13.7 KICK-OFF OF UNDER 10 METRES AND NOT PLAYED BY AN
OPPONENT
If the ball does not reach the opponent’s 10-metre line the opposing team has two choices:
To have the ball kicked off again, or
To have a scrum at the centre of the half-way line and they throw in the ball.
=====================
Can’t believe there are 3 different laws to cover such a simply facet of play. The law, as they say in the classics, is an ass!!
@Westers:
Play on.
@GreenBlooded: Can you clarify the ruling on the ball travelling 10m from kick off. If the ball bounces inside the 10m line and then goes over it without anyone touching it, is it scrum on the centre or play on?
Just heard: College beat Ville 13-duck in their own back yard. This is a massive result. The biggest pack in KZN against probably the smallest. Great character showed by College.
Beet – please can you clarify what the ruling is regarding subs with clean shorts (i.e. who have not played a game for a lower team)?
DHS 15
Northwood 5
@Grasshopper: Yeah that one is doing the rounds.
Big question is what has TK got lined up next if he is leaving?
Heard via the grapevine TK might be leaving Glenwood, the plot thickens!
DHS and Northwood teams added.
@Greenwood: Don’t forget that GW beat Westville in the Porties final with Bossr being off form on the night.
GW lost to a very spirited Kearsney side and then to the team that I think will be top of the pile this season, MHS. No disgrace in that.
With Bossr on form, on Dixon’s, it’s a no-brainer.
Pedantic – I’m one of those positive persons – the glass is half full ,not half empty – even my mates agree with me – The Green Machine has to really up their game – every rugby school hits a purple patch every now and then
but hey ! I will be at every game supporting the Machine home & away
@Greenwood: Have to disagree there .. on Dixon’s the Green Machine will be unstoppable – watch this space.
At KERF Westville should be strong, Day 1 being their toughest challenge, but in all honesty they have the easiest fixtures of all KZN sides.
@GreenBlooded: I don’t think he will be exposed there as he has most the skills for wing – never seen him under the high ball though. He has a great boot for exits which is maybe why they put him there.
Is Kriel injured ?
@Pedantic:
Kitching on the wing seems crazy. Has he ever played there before? That should be a heads-up to the College coaching team.
IMO Westville will be top of the pile at the end of the season – a well balanced team who I think will go unbeaten locally – I have been very impressed with their play and no doubt I think they will be the best local team at the Kearsney fest as well – can’t see Gwd beating the ‘ville even on Dixons ….
Conspiracy theory
Hilton played really well to score those two tries – their #12 was instrumental in creating them through powerful straight running, I doubt it had anything to do with “tape swapping” … still laughing
If that’s the case, all KZN coaches will need to be in tactical mode as their coaching “mates” could just be sleeping with the enemy.
It’s a real pity Westville have screwed with their halfbacks as they could have walked this game against College. College won’t need tapes to know they need to put pressure on that halfback pairing, trust me Thunder will be ALL over them.
Having said that, I still feel Westville will be too strong this weekend if they use the potential of that pack.