My 2018 Craven Week

The 2018 Craven Week final was bittersweet. Long before the event I had a good feeling that KZN had the quality players and the right head coach to do well and make it to the final for a second year running, something they have never achieved before. Given KZN’s history at CW, as a supporter I’m very proud of this feat and although I’ve tried to put the 8-47 final behind me as quickly as possible, I do want to take the time to salute the KZN team and management for their achievements. And I suspect it will be a while before KZN reaches another final, which will put into perspective how good these last two seasons have been.

Those that interact with me on a regular basis will also know that I’ve fretted about the Brug Straat field conditions during July for many months ahead of CW. One of our bloggers, Odie did his best to provide me with encouraging pictures of the improvement to the field as CW approached and when the event started Boishaai’s main pitch was in stunning condition. However the rain eventually set in and took its toll. By the time the final kicked off, it was a worst nightmare come true for me: the central part of the field looked like a mud bath. BoishaaiPa correctly pointed out to me that the field was not an excuse as the same situation applied to all the teams that played at CW that Saturday. He was right. However I maintain that the conditions were so foreign to KZN boys who to make matters worse, probably had one of the driest warmest East coast seasons ever as a lead up to CW. Contrast this with the lads from WP who might have come out of a drought but benefited not only from playing in the wet in the weeks towards the end of the second term but also from years of experience of handling those heavy field conditions. There was no ways the KZN Sharks could have got onto level terms with WP in that regard, especially a quality Province side like that one that played in the final. And I take nothing away from WP. They were brilliant during that final. They executed well. The players that needed to step did so. Their tight five was awesome and Evan Roos, the WP no.8 who some Cape locals had reservations about before CW, was off the charts good during this 2018 final and certainly stood out in Province’s two other matches as the definition of BBC – big ball carrier. KZN had shown against Free State that even if they were getting shaded in the big collisions up front, they had the ball-players and the intuition, which included superior kicking skills to manufacture point scoring opportunities and ultimately win that “semifinal” match. However in the final, even the KZN high profile players who had done so well throughout 2018 season, seemed to go MIA and struggled to come to terms with what WP launched at them in continuous waves of advantage-line breaking assaults. Front foot ball just wasn’t on offer for KZN and there were a few issues in other areas like the lineouts as well. Anyway in closing this paragraph, it’s only appropriate to congratulate Western Province on a job well done to achieve their convincing and well-deserved Craven Week victory.

You might consider labelling me the king of excuses but I’d sleep badly tonight if I could sneak in this bit about the extra day’s rest. I do feel that it has a part to play – big or small (or not) you can decide.

The WP B-team, playing at Craven Week for the first time were also value for money and the decision to allow WP, the Bulls and the Lions to enter B-team at CW was more than justified; it was the right call to make. One of the outstanding individual performances of CW for me was by a little known WP “B” flyhalf Mikyle Vraagom. Against the Lions B-team he was so-so good!

One last word on the weather at CW during the weekday matches: I must say that as the bad weather set in, I actually started to enjoy the rugby more. CW is for the kids. It is big for them and being selected to play at CW still ranks as huge for just about every talented and motivated 16, 17 or 18 year-old rugger player. Us older folks who follow schoolboy rugby closely; well we do have our concerns/doubts about CW as a quality event. We tend to believe that there is better rugby on offer during the interschools season. Not helping CW’s image is a stat like 70-points per game. The uncommitted leaky, jersey-grabbing, ball-watching turnstile defences just makes one shake the head in disapproval. So when the Cape winter weather seemed to slow down the rate of scoring, suddenly the line-breaks were harder to generate, the forwards were more in the game, there was more tight play and even the secondary defence systems seemed to kick in and do a better job of containing attacking players. When I think back, I reckon my two favourite games of CW 2018 were WP 13 Golden Lions 5 and Boland 19 Blue Bulls 17. The WP-GL game was a brutal body on the line game. The goal-line D was outstanding. As it was I think the Lions were the second best team at CW this year and Border were also really good. The Boland-Bulls was entertainment plus produced by two very determined teams – a draw might have been a fitting result here.

I know CW is about teamwork and those with the best cohesion usually perform well, but in there is also some wonderful individual performances. When CW got underway, I really thought the battle at hooker was going to be the mouth-watering positional contest above all others because of the class of the top contenders. Unfortunately one thing that worked against this reaching dizzy heights was that most teams came with specialist back-up hookers, so unfortunately star players had to sit a game out during their respective teams’ first two matches. I really wished that the rule for front row players could be amended to allow a 50:20 minute game-time split over the first two matches, so that each boy still gets his 70-minutes with the benefit of seeing players for a useful period of time in two different games. I say this because I feel that the top front-rankers are at a bit of a disadvantage compared to top players in other posies, who generally get to start both games during the week. On the note of hookers, a couple of star players not just by reputation but via the stand out form they have produced for their schools, just were not able to play at that same high level we’ve come to expect. The one hooker, Border’s u17 power player Jacques Goosen was fortunate enough to get two starts in the first two matches and he really produced the goods in his second match. With players like Morne Brandon and JJ Kotze available this year, Goosen might not have a look in at SA Schools this year but based on the standard he’s already at, he is on course to becoming the one of the hottest property players for 2019 for sure.

Anyways in my opinion after watching most matches, the red hot position this year was no.8 not hooker. There were so many great performances by players wearing that 8-jumper. I mentioned Roos above. If I were to vote for a CW player of the year (a real SARU award given out each year), I think Roos would get my vote. However there were a few guys who were not far behind. The Lions no.8 wearing no.20 Izan Esterhuizen is also still u17 but WOW did he give a good account of himself. Border’s Kwezi Dlamini was in splendid form during game one, exploding into space. Wesley Noeth of the Valke lead by example and was one of my favourites to watch. I loved Divan Venter of the Bulls effort against Boland. KZN’s Celimpilo Gumede has had a great season for his school and delivered for the provincial team against Free State. There were a number of others who broke tackles and raked up the metres gained for their teams. It was a strong position.

The shortage of 2-metre locks is a bit of a worry for SA in the years to come, so hopefully there are a few late developers and hopefully SA rugby has systems in place to give players like this time to work their way up through the ranks. Scrumhalf is perhaps another position where there needs to be more of a national focus on producing better skilled players as part of the development path towards senior rugby.

Finally I picked my mock SA Schools team. I believe there is no SA B-team this year but they will pick 30 players.

I tried to be realistic in terms for what the objectives are. Obviously there are racial targets, preferences to the Elite Player Development programme candidates, longer term form considerations and obviously CW form. One concern I have is the place-kicking. For a well-rounded squad, it’s vital to consider this. A player like Kade Wolhuter who has proven to be an ace this season could improve his worth significantly as a result. I know a balanced squad will cover the specialist positions, so there should be an extra prop, an extra hooker and an extra scrummy. But this made it really difficult so instead of sticking to 30, I went with 32.