HOЁR LANDBOUSKOOL MARLOW – the entire school of 250 boys
Marlow, has completed an outstanding season. The 2022 team from the little farming school in Cradock will go down in their history as one of the best ever, after having achieved an 81% winning record. They are just the second 1st XV since 2006 to have gone above 80%, with that 2006 team having achieved 86%. In 2002 Marlow had an unbeaten team that ranked 9th nationally. 2022 came within seconds of being even better for Marlow. Included in their record are defeats to Monument and Brandwag Uitenhage, as a result of character driven tries scored during injury time in the second half, while fellow Eastern Cape Country Districs rivals St Andrew’s also pulled out all the stops to score late and claim a draw against Marlow.
For the season just finished, there was a special mention of gratitude for the leader displayed by captain and prop Jaco “Murg” Vermaak who like so many of his rugby peers around South Africa, had his 2021 season was cut short due to Covid.
Apart from having a marvelous squad of motivated and talented boys to work with, the school and its support base owes a great deal of gratitude to their coaches, who still subscribe to an almost extinct old school culture of being involved for the passion of rugby and not the money. In fact not one of the coaching staff is paid in his capacity as coach.
Coaching Staff:
Derik Olivier (Head Coach), full-time occupation: Sports Organiser.
Dale de Wet (Assistant Coach/Sports Scientist).
Oom Robert Sykes (Assistant Coach), aged 72, father of Steven Sykes.
Stoney Steenkamp (Assistant Coach), full-time occupation: businessman.
Francois Naudé (Kicking Coach) full-time occupation: Teacher.
Alet Naudé (Biokineticist) full-time occupation: Teacher.
Jaco Steyn (Motivator) full-time occupation: Teacher.
A trend in 2022 has been the number of injuries school teams across the country have had to manage during the season and in this regard, Marlow have been no different, except for the fact is that their overall depth is impeded such a small school numbers wise. Literally every boy in the open age group plays rugby when their opponents have enough teams. In total 95% of Marlow boys play rugby.
The good news for Marlow, is they fielded a young team and are expecting to produce another respectable team for 2023.
| # | DATE | OPPONENT | VENUE / EVENT | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MARLOW | ||||||
| 1 | Sat.05Mar | Fichardtpark | 27 | 5 | Won | Fichardtpark Sportdag |
| 2 | Sat.12Mar | Stirling | 18 | 17 | Won | Grens Rugby Festival |
| 3 | Sat.19Mar | Dale | 31 | 12 | Won | Graeme College Rugby Day |
| 4 | Sat.09Apr | Brandwag (Uitenhage) | 22 | 24 | Lost | Away |
| 5 | Thu.14Apr | Kearsney | 14 | 10 | Won | Kearsney Easter Rugby Fest |
| 6 | Sat.16Apr | Monument | 7 | 12 | Lost | Kearsney Easter Rugby Fest |
| 7 | Mon.18Apr | Pretoria BH | 10 | 21 | Lost | Kearsney Easter Rugby Fest |
| 8 | Sat.23Apr | Grens | 38 | 0 | Won | Away |
| 9 | Sat.30Apr | Trio | 24 | 11 | Won | Landbou Skole Toernooi |
| 10 | Mon.02May | Merensky | 28 | 16 | Won | Landbou Skole Toernooi |
| 11 | Sat.07May | Landboudal | 46 | 0 | Won | Home |
| 12 | Sat.14May | Nico Malan | 32 | 26 | Won | Home |
| 13 | Sat.21May | Framesby | 22 | 3 | Won | Home |
| 14 | Sat.04Jun | Hudson Park | 51 | 14 | Won | Home |
| 15 | Sat.23Jul | St Andrew’s | 20 | 20 | Drew | Away |
| 16 | Sat.30Jul | Pearson | 24 | 10 | Won | Away |
| 17 | Sat.06Aug | Daniel Pienaar | 73 | 6 | Won | Home |
@Murrayfield: Toutrek sal Oakdale maklik wen en Marlow sal die skaapskeer wen.
Die rugby sal ek vir Marlow gee volgende jaar.
@Rainier: Die Bulle van Oakdale en die Wolramme sal ‘n lekker interskole hê.
Hoop toutrek en skaapskeer is deel van interskole!
Volgende jaar behoort Marlow ‘n bul span op die veld te kan plaas, die jaar se span was oorwegend /17 en die seuns, tesame met een of twee beseerdes wat terugkeer en van die 2de span seuns gaan gedug wees.
Ek dink veral die 9-10-12-13 gaan opwindend wees met baie aanvallende potensiaal en seuns wat hou daarvan om aggresief te verdedig.
Die pak sal ook, soos gewoonlik, hulle kant bring.
Ek hoor ook dat die skool amper weer 100% vol is en die ekstra nommers maak ‘n groot verskil in ‘n klein skooltjie. Ek hoop die Oakdale game word weer in 2023 gespeel.
Hierdie manne boks al vir jare baie ver bo hulle gewigsklas…..speel die “wolramme” hokkie?