Maritzburg College, winners of the Durban leg of the @lantic schools 7’s tournament are preparing for the Champions Tournament in November. The annual season ending school 7’s tournament is reserved for the schools that won their respective regional events. With the matric maths final papers set for Friday 02 November and Monday 05 November, it will not be possible for College to select Grade 12 players for the tournament. Fortunately College made use of a young team to win the title at Glenwood and as a result only Ayanda Jili and Dylan Smith will not make the trip. Currently a squad of 17 players are being put through their paces and from here a final squad of 12 will eventually be chosen after the holidays. They are:
| 1. S. Johnston |
| 2. D. Goodson |
| 3. H. Tharratt |
| 4. M. Yeoman |
| 5. K. Elder |
| 6. L. Booysen |
| 7. L. Ngcobo |
| 8. L. Ente |
| 9. J. Alexander |
| 10. A. Hector |
| 11. M. Aylward |
| 12. T. Rattray |
| 13. D. Whiteman |
| 14. F. Lane |
| 15. S. Culverwell |
| 16. D. Arntzen |
| 17. B. Watson |
The last of the 2012 @lantic regional tournaments takes place at Garsfontein in Pretoria this weekend. The results of the regional tournaments to date are as follows:
| DATE | VENUE | WINNER | RUNNER-UP | PLAYER OF THE TOURNAMENT | ||
| 04/02/2012 | Pionier, Vryheid | Sarel Cilliers | 26 | Pionier | 12 | Lourens Cronje |
| 11/02/2012 | Merensky, Tzaneen | Ben Vorster | 26 | Middelburg | 12 | Grant Pinto |
| 18/02/2012 | Jim Fouche, Bloemfontein | Hentie Cilliers | 29 | Voortrekker (Beth) | 28 | Vincent Maruping (Louis Botha) |
| 25/02/2012 | Griquas Stadium, Kimberley | Diamantveld | 27 | Sentraal | 0 | Granville Adams (Diamantveld) |
| 03/03/2012 | NMMU, George | Oakdale | 14 | Tygerberg | 12 | Edwin Sass (Tygerberg) |
| 28/07/2012 | Volkskool, Potchefstroom | Nelspruit | 35 | Hoogenhout | 12 | JC Fourie (Nelspruit) |
| 04/08/2012 | Cambridge Academy, Witbank | Montana | 33 | Wonderboom | 19 | Andre Potgieter (Wonderboom) |
| 18/08/2012 | Glenwood, Durban | Maritzburg Coll | 17 | Glenwood | 15 | Morne Joubert (Glenwood) |
| 25/08/2012 | Excelsior, Cape Town | Jag Excelsior | 19 | Paul Roos | 0 | Martin Sauls |
| 01/09/2012 | Stirling, East London | Grey High | 33 | Queens College | 24 | Josh Stander (Queens) |
| 08/09/2012 | Brandwag, Uitenhage | Grey High | 38 | Nico Malan | 33 | Sergeal Petersen (Grey High) |
| 15/09/2012 | Volkskool, Heidelberg | Kempton Park | 41 | Merensky | 14 | Jamie Champbell (Kempton Park) |
| 22/09/2012 | Garsfontein, Pretoria | |||||
| 02/11/2012 | Champions Tournament |
@ ALL- the technicality that Fair Play was refering to was that GW went though to the main draw on a nominal points differential(3 points I think) as MHS drew with GW and both were unbeaten in the pool stages.Yes it is in the rules but still in effect a technicality.What F/B I think was trying to say was that MHS were good enough to be in the main final and in the Plate final actually proved their class by comprehensively beating a team that went on to beat PR in the W/C final. The team goes up to the tournament early next week and we wish all the boys(even the MHS boys) all the best.
@GreenBlooded: Same tournament Greenblooded. Not sure how a team can end up in the Plate competition due to a technicality? Are we talking points difference/tries scored? That is not a technicality, that is a system.
Playfair, whatever excuses one uses it is hard to justify.
Not too sure what the story is about this ‘technicallity’ either – if you are refering to the Durban round played at Glenwood that is. I spent the entire day there reffing and can’t say I heard anything. If you are refering to another tournament then sorry for picking up stompies.
Nope, sorry, it was Kearsney 28-10 in the semi.
Playfair, Technicality? You either make it to the final by winning or you go to the plate for losing. Did they win?
I stand to be corrected but College beat Glenwood in the final of the KZN schools tournament and then beat MHS in the other 7’s tournament. Am I wrong? Sure I read that.
@PlayFlair: I know it wasn’t your point and I understand your point, I was just curious to find out what the technicality was.
@beet: donno, but its ot really the point
@PlayFlair: What was the technicality?
@All Black: Your question is fair but when considering that MHS did not play in the final due to a technicality they will argue that they were more than competitive. They did beat Jag Excelsior 43-0 in the plate final. A week later Jag Excelsior beat Paul Roos 19-0 in the Final in the WC. Must say something?
There seem to be quite a few U16s in the team and so maybe next year College will dominate the KZN side. Also good to see Arntzen in the team. He is the son of a former College captain and so values and traditions are coming through the system.
@All Black: Maybe the schools rugby powers need to consider using independent selectors. The Colts went this way earlier this month for the IPT teams and it seems that it was a positive improvement on previous years where club coaches did the selections.
Whether or not it is possible to ever get truly independent selectors is of course another debate entirely.
And not one College player in the KZN 7’s team. Well done selectors. Mostly MHS boys. Wonder why?