A good crowd turned up for the opening round of the Damelin Night Series. Port Natal has to be commended for creating a pleasant setting for visitors. Add to this the parking price which caused a little discontentment last year was reduced to a very reasonable R10 this time round. The food on offer was also value for money. The weather even played its part. Although there was a short spell of heavy rain later on in the evening, conditions were generally very pleasant for players and spectators alike. Thankfully the humid temperature was kept at bay which meant no greasy ball and therefore better quality rugby.
In the opening game George Campbell 2nd XV recorded a comfortable 24-0 win against Pinetown 2nd XV.
Glenwood Inv 29 Port Natal 2nd XV 6
Port Natal 2nds put in a very spirited performance and fought hard. For Glenwood it’s all about shutting out complacency. Wins in this series are practically guaranteed before kickoff. Last year a group of equally talented players held their own in the 1st team competition, something that this 2013 team are more than capable of repeating, yet they find themselves playing against 2nd teams now. The Glenwood season also stretches all the way until mid-August. That’s a lot of contact sessions between now and then, and therefore a need to consider player welfare. The feeling is and it seemed to come through in their play during the match is that they set a reasonable pace but were not looking for the high gears at this early stage. Despite this the expected one-sided affair still materialised. The GI’s could quite easily have kept it tight and dominated the game up front with some really big boys in there. They however chose to play an exciting brand of rugby complete with offloads in the contact. Unfortunately the hands just were not there yet. They coughed up a lot of stuff, leaving a number of points on the field in so doing, but at least the potential was visible for all to witness. On the whole, lineouts could have been a lot better. Despite the tall timber, it lacked accuracy at times. Noticeably one of the under-16 flanks from last year is now a hooker, so there is going to be a bit of an adjustment required and this tournament will be the perfect time to work on technique. The interesting feature of the game was seeing the new scrum laws in action for the first time. Although Glenwood completely dominated this set-piece, the 1.5m rule seemed to come to Porties aid on one occasion. Other than that it was remarkable that there where not more collapsed scrums, given the Gl’s ascendency. With the new laws in place it’s perhaps time for school refs to reassess their stance on straight put-in to scrums in order to improve the contest.
Northwood 48 Durban Development 0
Two things were immediately noticeable about Northwood. Firstly the conditioning of most players looked top notch. Secondly the increase in the speed of their game compared the preceding 2nd XV game was easily detectable. It was clear that a lot of preparation work had already been done for the season. The players already look very sharp. The risk to now avoid is peaking too early. The game itself turned out to be a far too easy for Northwood. The Durban Development team showed plenty of heart but not enough to overcome the huge physical disadvantage they had. They were just too light and were driven back by Northwood at every opportunity. This brought to fore another impressive feature of the revitalised Northwood side: their disciple. Under the circumstances it would have been very easy to throw caution to the wind and toss the ball around Sevens style but the Knights kept focus and seemed determined to play according to a structure from start to finish. There was however a weakness in the placekicking department. Since Northwood opted for a squad rotation approach, the number of first game starters that will eventually make the actual 1st team is still unclear. If not already in 1st team contention, Northwood’s loose-forward Gareth Murran did a lot to further his cause.
George Campbell 31 Port Shepstone 7
The 2012 selection of Patric Sikhosana for the KZN Craven Week team generated some beforehand optimism around what Port Shepstone had to offer. They however have a small team and the going will be tough for them in this series, something they discovered against Campbell. George Campbell is celebrating its 50th year of existence in 2013. Being without a boarding establishment, it is remarkable how they have managed to exist amongst the KZN tier-1 teams. This year they seem to lack the size or potency of last season’s overachieving team and may find the going in KZN’s top division a little harder. For now, the technical school can feel happy with their first match performance. There were a couple of go-to forwards who clearly enjoy carrying the ball up yet most pleasing of all was their backline execution. Here there was speed, passes stuck and they ran into spaces. It was very fluent and the teamwork was good. Backline play appears to be ahead of where it was at the same time last season. Getting these backs quality front-foot ball will be the challenge to overcome when the regular season starts. Experienced campaigners in wing Lindo Ndimande and flashy centre Mondli Nkosi (KZN Schools and Sevens in 2012) are two good players to keep an eye on.
Port Natal 32 Pinetown 0
Porties probably had the toughest 1st XV assignment of the evening. Pinetown were no match for the hosts in the scrums but did a lot to break up the White Nights’ continuity in open play. The final score shows that Port Natal was well in control but they tended to play unconstructive rugby a lot of the time. When they did piece things together they were outstanding. Most memorable were two set backline moves, carried out to perfect timing and resulting in untracked runners cutting through manufactured openings in the Pinetown defensive wall before crossing the tryline. Porties have some useful backline players and it will be disappointing if one or two of them do not progress at KZN schools trials later this year. The bottom-line for Port Natal is that of the three teams in contention for places in the final, they are the ones with the most room for improvement in their play right now. There is no panic though. Coming up on Tuesday is another easier game to iron out more of the kinks. After that they might have to hit their straps for the George Campbell match next Friday night.
@rugbyfan: It does help for sure and certainly at u20, u21 and senior level it is almost essential to have 2m locks but at school level not having tall locks does not spell trouble. Grey College went unbeaten in 2010 and 2011 using locks that were just a little over 1.90m tall. Along the way they beat teams like Affies, Monnas and even Waterkloof who had tall boys in the lineout.
@rugbyfan: This surprisingly is not Northwood’s first attempt at rugby revival on a large scale. They have tasted success on a couple of occasions in the past 20 years but never been able to sustain the challenge. I think many of us are hoping that this time their plan leads to long-term success.
It does help to have 2m locks although this does not always make a difference.
Northwood seem like they a school on the rise what is there history
@GreenBlooded: I think it was R60 but again not sure if that was per car or per person. Think it was per car.
@All Black: Can’t remember what Kearsney was last year (Maybe R50??) – but worth every cent if you make a day of it. It was definitely less than a movie ticket.
@All Black: IMHO that is value for money. Far better than an empty stadium for Currie Cup. I doubt I would drive down from PMB to Durbs to watch CC but its a no brainer to go the other way for WK.
@beet: Eish Wildeklawer in Kimberley was R40 per person, every day and no difference for kids.
@Grasshopper: Also I watched the Doops and co take on Affies’ star combo of Janse v Rensburg and RG Snyman last year (Avg height of 2.02m). The Doops physical presence in the lineout counts for a lot. I believe in KZN you can get away with 1.90-1.94m locks, if you play an outside the province team with only one tall lock you are still fine, it’s when you come up against the likes of Affies or KES with a combination of 2m+ that the going starts to get tough. But even then to me, it’s been our hookers in KZN who have struggled for accuracy that have compounded the problem. Part of Kearsney’s success against Affies was down to our hooker Pelliccia being on the money with his throws. Even Grey College seldom has giant locks but they beat the best of the best and I think it’s mainly down to their hooker-jumper lineout understanding and the confidence brought on by their hookers being up to the task of putting the balls in the right narrow spaces.
@Grasshopper: No Daniel is 1.94m and moving to l/fwd because I’m speculating that that’s the advice he got from the SA HP guys that he is not tall enough for lock after u19s. He also played flank for SA Sch. His brother is 1.92m and so is Ayron Schramm about that height. So nowhere near the 2m mark.
But there are boys in various KZN schools that are this 2m height. Glenwood and College both have boys that height and I saw a tall player in the Hilton team last year when one of their starters was out. So we do have some giants around but you have to remember that just being tall is not an automatic pass to being good as well. Second row players need extra heart and a bit of strength helps as well.
@Beet, is that because you already have 2 close to 2m tall forwards in the Doop brothers
@Grasshopper: This 2m tall locks in KZN will not happen without importing school players into the province on a regular basis which again steers towards the debate of where schools need to draw the line between being academic institutions and semi-pro rugby academies.
@upcountry: Entrance was R10 per person – did not matter whether you parked inside or out.
@GreenBlooded: We have started a sarel rugby supporters club with the aim of amongst others of generating funds to help the rugby boys to play more in the durban area against 2nd tier schools. Fundraising starting with the annual rugby day is our first step hopefully in the right direction. Also in the pipeline is a corporate golf day.
@beet: At Porties on Friday night I paid R10 but I was alone so not sure if the R10 was for the car or per person.
College are lucky to have a spread out campus – lot’s of parking under the trees at the College Rd entrance although getting out after the game can be a nightmare. Easily avoided though by having a few under the main stand afterwards while the crowds disperse and getting the wife to drive!!
@Horsie, it seems Sean Erasmus likes Kay at flank so there is a lock position open. Kay (edited) maybe he has improved his speed in the off season. I am expecting Kay to captain too. I wonder when Glenwood and other KZN schools will start to regularly produce 2m plus locks……it’s a big achilles heel for us….
@Oldie: Hi Oldie. Welcome. Nice feedback. Always good to have people who go to games and share their opinions especially the positive ones.
I agree. A programme with names would be a nice touch.
@upcountry: I’m trying to get the answer. Last year it was R20 but again I can’t say if that was per person or per car.
@GreenBlooded: I think the schools have to pay attention to the price ceiling because a point is reached beyond which people decide that it’s more feasible to park outside the ground, in which case something would have been better than nothing at all. I say the same about ticket prices at Kings Park. Having sat through the home leg of the 2012 Currie Cup in virtually an empty ground, I can’t help but think that the Sharks needed to revisit prices to put bums on seats. Prices are not everything but they can be an avoidable deterrent.
I wonder what College will do at their festivals. I would not hesitate to pay a premium to avoid parking on Princess Margaret ever again
Video of Glenwwods 3rd try Friday nite at Porties http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JaYXJbCKRHE
this is from another posting on this site
To Oldie – welcome this is a great site – enjoy
@upcountry: You will always get the moaners and groaners when you charge an entrance fee. To me I don’t mind paying ten bucks to watch 2 or 3 games of quality schoolboy rugger – it’s a bargain and it goes into the school’s coffers which is a good thing when we consider where a lot of our money get’s wasted. The same people that moan about it have no problem buying a pack of cigarettes for R30. Go figure……
a bit off the topic but bear with me please. Was the parking R10 per car with a entrance fee at a later stage? sarel’s 43rd annual rugby day is on 8/9 march 2013 and we are thinking along the line of R10 per person in the car ????
@Grasshopper: Tiechamn , played last year , was good, played 2nd and 3rds , dont know who they have thsi year in the 1st team, but rumour has it 7 new guys at the school
New to this blog – very informative. Was at the games on Fri and have to agree with most of the above story. I thought the Glenwood locks would do more than they did. I thought Northwood looked good (Murran was very good, as was the tall lock and both props got around well) – pity no names on the program. The Port Shepstone flyhalf (little guy) was livewire, but looked better suited to 9 (and I think he wil struggled against better opposition). Port Natal looked very laboured at times.
Glenwood (2nds) and Northwood (1sts) would be my picks of the day.
@Grasshopper:
But Kay and Mazibuko are quality. Are you suggesting to cwitch quality for size???
Mazibuko is about 1.90 and du Randt the same and that height is just fine. Won’t be the tallest locks around but might be the fastest and most skilful
@Greenwood, Glenwood seem to have some tall locks in this invitational side, hopefully that would indicate a better line-out than in previous years. Mazibuko and Kay are not that tall so maybe one of these locks should go up…
Another video clip here Porties 2nds Vs Glenwood http://youtu.be/ylbpBwij9vI
Horsie – agree with your comments on Northwood
I video most of the a games – but not whole game I use a small hand held digital camera – the quality is fair and I only record short clips – I will be posting the interesting ones on you tube
Recording these game does detract from my enjoyment of the live games though — only have a 2.7″ screen to monitor to follow the action – when I can I get the lightie to record the games and this costs me a hamburger or 2
Have posted a 2nd clip on GWD’s Friday game at http://youtu.be/opMYmXGpCVs 2nd GWD try with more to follow –
@beet: nice ,
@Green Hopper: I’ll try for the Campbell vs Northwood game if the weather is good.
@beet: would be good to see if you could video games , the ones you go to , and place them on you tube, or ask those out there from all over the country to place them on so we can view games and highlights , would be good
@GreenBlooded:i would like to know about the bind before and the elbow at shoulder level, it seems this is a good thing?, it stops the boys from tending to pull down when they start to exert pressure , the automatic reaction in the arm is to pull down and this is when the scrum goes down,
I think the bind before the engage also assists in that there tended to be the ‘collapse, at the point of engage depending on how the boys where positioned at the point of contact , , this combined with having to bind and bind long caused endless problems, as there was insufficient time to get the bind long and right at the time and moment of contact , I think you will find that not else much will be lost
@GreenBlooded: Thanks Greenblooded. I’ve learnt something new. Best I change it so I don’t confuse readers and obviously also to save face
@Beet: The 1.5m law in the scrum is not new – it has been like that for years. What I normally do is to call “Stop” when the 1.5m is reached then I want the contest to stop and the ball to emerge. I explain this to the team before the match. It prevents unneccessaty penalties.
Eish Northwood seem to have a beast rising up!
They have easily been the most determined school and have had the longest pre-season thus far compared to other tier 1 schools.
I can tell they are going to have a good season but they are now going to have to work on depth so that a 1st team victory vs for example Glenwood won’t be the only Win for them on that day.
Nothing tarnishes a 1st. XV win like that…