Westville has organised two home games against touring English Independent schools at the start of the third term.
Of interest is that WBHS will continue with their unique approach of fielding a so-called Stayers team for both games. As the name Stayers suggests, it’s a team consisting of players that will be staying on at the school for the 2013 academic year. In other words no matrics have been selected and the run-on team of mainly u17 and u16 players will more or less be their first team come 2013.
The Stayers XV led by man of the match Andre De La Rey recently recorded a very convincing 45-19, 7 tries to 3 victory against Stirling from East London.
The scheduled 3rd term games are:
18 July 2012: Bolton Grammar u18A (There will also be an u16A game)
20 July 2012: Bradford Grammar u18A
@SMEAGOL: The kids play in the A-teams at their respective schools because they are the best at their schools. There is no selection criteria at schools and coaches get to see a good deal of the boys and therefore know who their best players are. So from my part there is no doubting that these school A-team players are good. Also its not to say they don’t deserve to be in the KZN team. I’m merely saying that when trying to find answers to questions about who got selected and who didn’t for a KZN representative team always bear the 2 points I raised earlier in mind.
I WAS HOPING THAT THE 11:11 SYSTEM HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THEIR SELECTION AS THEY ARE BALACED IN THAT REGARD. ESPECIALLY THESE DAYS WHEN THERE ARE MORE THAN ENOUGH OF WHATEVER YOU WANT TO SELECT.
@SMEAGOL: Without taking anything away from any of the GK players that have been selected this year or any other year, none of whom picked themselves to be in the team, we can’t divorce ourselves from reality and the reality on the ground is that:
1. there is a strict quota requirement in place of 11:11 which means selectors can’t just look at talent or combos etc alone.
2. the selection process not just in KZN but nationally is falling off the pace in terms of forward progression. In recent years we’ve seen huge movement in the direction of a professional approach to rugby at schools and the selection process appears to still be stuck in the past. Selection arguments and debates will never go away but I think if the budget for the selection process had to be increased, we’d see more satisfying outcomes.
I’m also don’t like taking digs at the selectors that are coaches at various schools. They have their work cut out for them. Its the Sharks contribution to the process where the real concern lies.
PLEASE COMMENT ON THE U16 GW BACKLINE. ALMOST ALL WERE INCLUDED AS STARTING LINE-UP IN THE GR K WEEK TEAM. I DID NOT RATE THEM AS EXCEPTIONAL, BUT ONLY SAW THEM IN ACTION AGAINST DHS AND COLLEGE.
Heard that College wanted to play Westville at next years reunion day but not going to happen? Pity.
If Westville and Kearsney are now looking at games in the 3rd term then why not just play 3rd term rugby? I am sure College would like a return game against Kearsney. Glenwood would surely fit in a return against Westville? Come on guys, lets do it.
@Greenhopper and Star, totally agree. The wheels came off after the Westville game and never came back. We needed a captain in the forwards leading from the front, not lost on the wing and 22 years old! The Marne debacle, combined with the age debacle, chopping and changing and accusations of buying etc is what derailed the season. It’s a real pity but hopefully all involved learn from this and move forward postively. We have 3 very tough games ahead and can redeem the season a bit if we can perform against Affies, Grey Bloem and College. What could be better than beating College on Goldstones and Grey Bloem at home. It’s unlikely but great motivation for the boys playing their last games in the green jersey! Go Green!
@ star , good observations , too true
Greenwood-Yes you had quality returning and experience but you had lost your leadership spine(Chippy,Horn ect) and the team dynamics were upset by the inconsistent selections and strategies.In fact your lack of leadership cost you against Dale and College (and even against Westville where there was debate at the end about going for the poles)MHS kept their spine (Moberly,Moon ect)and were always consistent in their selections and strategy.I think my reasoning was more than sound.When I talk about positive team dynamics I think consistency is inferred.
@star Your reasoning is unsound, GW had quality players retuning this season, leadership etc., what MHS did have was consistency, whereas GW went and messed around with Imports and the season started with Bad pressure and hence underperforming players, it culminated in key positions not performing as they were supposed to have , and should teach Coaches that [Players just because they make a representative side in one region doesn’t always equate to an automatically better team, Team dynamics are really important ,
We have said it before , good individuals don’t always make good teams, and I think this combined with the bad press and then the loss to Westville, whom we all knew where average, started the season very unsteadily and continued
Again I will have streams of abuse over this , but I have said from the start of the season , these would be our Achilles heel
Pedantic- I put my money on House and got good odds(HA HA). The key was the quality players coming back,the experience,team dynamics and the leadership.(the whole package)That is why they were able to pull all those close matches through. Moberly is hopefully going to take that form through to CW.
@Grasshopper: Good advice there Hopper – who woulda put their money on MHS being KZN #1 6 months ago ?
@Beet, we all know now that ‘on paper’ means nothing. Look at the Glenwood season,very average from a team on paper that should have sweft all before them. Westville and Kearsney supporters, just some advice don’t put too much pressure and expectation on the boys and keep them grounded. Glenwood will surprise a few next year with battled hardened grade 11’s from the unbeaten 2nd’s, 3rd’s etc.
@Griffon: I gotta say on paper the Westville 1st XV 2013 are looking strong.
@ Smeagol : The current Grade 11 group had a terrible u15 year, but seemed to rapidly bounce back in u16. They beat both Glenwood and College. Glenwood being the same team they lost 43-0 the previous year, beating them on Dixons. They also beat College on Goldstones. Like this years u16 they’ve got a lot of talented players, in the form of McHardy,Ellse,Paverd,De La Rey, Ndlovu and Weir hu were both injured this season, just to name a few. You then get this years current u16 team and age, who as a team have lost 1 this year and as an age lost 1. So Westville’s going to be more competitive next year.
For measurement purposes, how did the now Westville Gr 11’s performed at u15 and u16 level?
Pius. Have you been Knighted since you last posted? Is it because of your good managerial skills withn the team?Do not forget that the fast improving U15s will be right by their side in 2014. I think it will be a surprise if they don’t surprise.
Well done to the Kearsney 16A’s for a good fightback when we played them. The ref was another factor, he made calls that didn’t make sense at all. I think we might have been lucky to get away with a win but we won and that’s all that matters.
I think the 16A’s know fully well that they won’t just walk into the 1st XV next year but some of the boys have put their hands up to show that they want to play 1st side next year. The boys know that they have to work hard and are prepared to do that.
It’s been a great pleasure working with Westville 16A and this is a special group. I think that these boys will surprise a lot of people in 2014.
Hi Beet. Any chance of publishing the new scrum laws? I have sen them and they make for interesting reading. Scrum only starts when ball is in etc. Would love to see some of the comments from all the ‘would be props’ and refs.
AB- He does seem to have been around for a while. However he was at the CW trials and given that they were “audited” it means that he is U18 this year.
Star: Please tell me that is not Lerato Khuswayo? Surely he is now too old?
Beet I think you will find that the “stayers” team that beat Stirling convincingly only included grade 11s. It will therefore be interesting to see if and how the U16s will be included in the last 2 games.Good to see Khuswayo get his first start though for the “first team”.
@smeaglol
Yah I agree there was almost no difference between some of these teams this year at U16:
Wetville vs glenwood- 12-5
Westville vs college- 13-13( I think)
Dhs vs glenwood- 12-15
Dhs vs college. 5-12
Dhs vs m house – 3-0(remember.this dhs team winning by about 30 points at u14)
Dhs vs kearsney 6-13
Westville vs keaarsney 15- 13
Some close results.
@beet
Pity they couldn’t. Do the same this year losing 6-13. Didn’t play to their capabilities at all then.
@HORSEFLY NO.1: Yes the DHS u14A team played very well that day vs Kearsney. Really dominated the rucks.
@kcob
Clearly remember them losing to DHS at u14.
They were never really pushovers though. Have played some. Good rugga this year.
Also with that many kzn players they should be doing better, once again. Raises. The question of whether kearsney have good coaches
@smeagol
The KC u16’s this year have done well since u14. They each year since u14 only lost to College, Glenwood, and Westville. It happens each year, when the really big boys start slowing down and the smaller guys start catching up.
It happened in my year too, when we used to get smacked by ave 40 points each game from the major sides until matrix where we always within about 2 or 3 points.
In fact they this year were somewhat poor in the college game and the MHS game too. I believe they will be a rather strong sie in two years. They have some pedigree in that about 7 players were KZN u13 so they should have some skills. Stephen Tedder is now captain which is a good move, a good player and a great leader. His cousin Tristan should also strengthen them at fly half when they reunite in 2014.
U16 RUGBY. I AM STILL WONDERING WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KEARSNEY U16’S, THEY DID WELL AGAINST WESTVILLE AND MICHAELHOUSE. ALTHOUGH THEY LOST BOTH GAMES. THEY USED TO BE PUSHOVERS. USE TO GO DOWN BY A BIG MARGIN.
LOOK AT THE POINT DIFFERENCE WITH GAMES BETWEEN MICHAELHOUSE, COLLEGE, DHS, WESTVILLE AND GLENWOOD. NEXT YEAR WILL BE INTERESSTING.
Westville, great at self promotion. http://www.wbhs.co.za/page.asp?page=News&newsID=527
Well done to their Under16A’s, but be careful being successful at the age group level does not automatically translate to 1st team success, ask the Glenwood 2012 side who were also pretty much unbeaten at the age group level and that was against stronger sides from other provinces…
Just play 3rd term rugby and get on with it. I am sure College will be open to a return fixture in the 3rd term.
Interesting! Bradford Grammar are usually pretty decent. Not sure what to expect from Bolton Grammar, as it’s in a league/football stronghold area. Still does not help the 25 other teams with extra fixtures though