The Grant Khomo Week for under-16 provincial players starts at the University of Johannesburg on Monday 02 July 2012. The scheduling is very tight with each of the twenty teams playing three games over just four days.
Who is Grant Khomo? Well he was the captain of the first ever African national team selected back in 1950.
KwaZulu-Natal’s first game is a reasonably tough assignment against the Pumas. Kickoff is at 10:00am.
Day 1 Fixtures:
KwaZulu-Natal vs Pumas
Blue Bulls vs Griffons
Free State Cheetahs vs Valke
Eastern Province vs SWD Eagles
Golden Lions vs Western Province
Border CD vs Griquas CD
NW Leopards vs Namibia
Border vs Boland
Golden Lions XV vs Zimbabwe
Griquas vs Limpopo Blue Bulls
KZN Team:
1. P. Mngadi (Glenwood) 2. M. Mazwi (Maritzburg College) 3. M. Dlamini (Maritzburg College) 4. K. Du Randt (Glenwood) 5. J. Martin (Westville) 6. K. Webster (DHS) 7. H. Tharratt (Maritzburg College) 8. D. Goodson (Maritzburg College) 9. K. Khanyile (Glenwood) 10. C. Jonas (Glenwood) 11. L. Buthelezi (Westville) 12. T. Blewett (Hilton) 13. M. Joubert (Glenwood) 14. S. Pahla (Westville) / K. Thobejane (Glenwood)* 15. C. Bredell (Glenwood) 16. T. Zincume (Westville) 17. T. Steyn (Maritzburg College) 18. Y. Thambiran (Westville) 19. T. Erasmus (Westville) 20. J. Koekemoer (Maritzburg College) 21. R. Fouche (Glenwood) 22. S. Pahla (Westville) / K. Thobejane (Glenwood) *Subject to a fitness test
KZN will play Eastern Province tomorrow at 13:00. Unfortunately the team will only be announced at 9am due to injuries.
@ Sir Pius I think the boys’ performance today silenced a lot of their critics. Hope they get stronger from their performance today.
The forwards played well which makes it difficult to single out one player. They played as a unit in the second half. Thobejane was very good under the high ball. As for the green blazer I think I’ll only be able to make a decision after the last game. The fixtures for tomorrow will only be released this evening.
@ Sir Pius : Thanks for the update and looking forward to tomorrows update. Do you know what province the boys are playing tomorrow. I hope the boys on the bench playing tomorrow play well, with half the bench being Westville boys’. Do you think you saw any boys who are Green Squad material. Who was your man of the match ?
@ Sir Pius : Thanks for the update. Do you know what province the boys are playing. I’m excited to the boys on the play with half the bench being Westville boys.
@ Griffon there will be changes. The 7 players that were on the bench will start tomorrow. Am only getting the starting line up this evening.
Well done KZN!! Great come back!!
@ NW Knight : I don’t see why you’re negative about this team. These boys have worked hard to be there, and they showed what fighting spirit is. These boys can win their remaining games, if they keep up the hard work. I’m sure there might be some changes for their next game. We’ll see later on today what they play tomorrow.
Well done to the boys!! Unfortunately, this is likely to be the only game they’ll win.
@Sir Pius:@Pedantic: Awesome fight back. I was really worried when I heard the halftime score. Thanks Pius.
@Sir Pius: Strong comeback! Well done KZN!
Thanks for the update Pius.
Final score KZN 22 – Pumas 19. I’ll do the report and send it to Beet. Too close for comfort though.
Halftime score Pumas 14 – KZN 3.
@Sir Pius: Thanks very much for your help and looking forward to the updates.
@ NW: Jordan has been struggling with an injury. I’ll chat to Grant Bell after the game to confirm this. This is a good side and I expect them to do well.
As for me I am off to the University of Johannesburg and I’ll update you guys on the game. Have a good day.
Only guys I know here are Mazwi and Goody….good luck chaps.
Go boys…thin on Kearsney blokes, cr@p…none actually. Good luck u16’s…give ’em horns! Any of these games televised?
@Griffon: Yes. Louis is quite a solidly built guy. I’d like to see him become more physical with ball in hand in 2013. Work on his hand-off and strength in the tackle, so that he can become a genuine threat to defenders. At times this season he looked too eager to kick the ball away and chase it rather than carrying it up.
@ Beet : I agree with you there, that’s been a much debated about topic, many feel that he deserves to be there, with his good footwork, good kicking and decisions. The problem is that the current fullback L. Snyman although his kickings improved many feel that his running game and defense are areas that need to be worked on. I feel that only 3 or 4 of the current u16 A group will make the 1st squad. I feel most of them will end up in 2nd nd 3rd team. I feel that S. Phahla who’s normal position is centre will be a reserve with A. Ndlovu coming back from injury. So nexts years Westville first is going to be interesting to see.
This team should easily beat the Pumas tomorrow. I would have played Koekemoer as starting flyhalf, though.
I wonder if there’s a place for Buthelezi in the Westville 1st team next year coz as a kicker he strikes the ball very sweetly. Along with Marcel Coetzee of College, they appear to be 2 of the more naturally gifted kickers around in KZN in terms of timing.
This team is reasonably strong, you’ll find that S.Phahla who is wing cover can also cover both centres and fly-half if need be. So if injury occurs to one of the centres he can cover it. The other wing L. Buthelezi can also cover centre and fullback. So injurys, if they occur can be covered due to the players versatility.