The third term is upon us. For Glenwood and Maritzburg College it’s business as usual. The third term veterans are joined by two unfamiliar faces in Kearsney and the Westville’s Stayers XV this time around. It may appear that these third term SBR newbies are just dipping their toes in water but they have lined up some serious opposition.
KZN third term fixtures:
| DATE | HOME TEAM | AWAY TEAM |
|---|---|---|
| 18-Jul | Westville Stayers XV | Bolton Grammar (UK) |
| 20-Jul | Westville Stayers XV | Bradford Grammar (UK) |
| 21-Jul | Maritzburg College | Affies |
| 21-Jul | Glenwood | Kirkham Grammar (UK) |
| 23-Jul | Maritzburg College | Dulwich College (UK) |
| 28-Jul | Affies | Glenwood |
| 28-Jul | Pretoria Boys High | Maritzburg College |
| 04-Aug | Maritzburg College | Glenwood |
| 04-Aug | Grey College | Kearsney |
| 09-Aug | Glenwood | Grey College |
I can remember hitting a few 6’s in a cricket match on that field. Big competition amongst the College boys to try and break a window in the BE.
@beet: what they play ruby games on that pitch , NO WAY
@HORSEFLY NO.1: yes they ar e, but in better condition then the field, recently painted , white as snow
@HORSEFLY NO.1: Even if they build a astroturf there, they can’t remove those posts. They are a landmark. Should be declared a heritage site. I wonder how many teams have played there over the decades and felt robbed by a decision not to award points coz a kick sailed too high over the upright to make a well-informed decision.
@Horsie & Beet, I was talking about the William Hartley Primary school field DHS used to use for some games, it was the size of a postage stamp…..but Vause Rd field is tiny too……and the posts were hilarious…
@beet
HAHAHAHA!
Yah and they are still there mate! It was the funniest thing ever that!
@Grasshopper: @HORSEFLY NO.1: As long as I live I think I’ll always remember that little field on Vause Road for short rugby posts. The portion of the uprights above the crossbar are way to short. I think the part below the crossbar may even be longer than the parts above it.
@all, a weakish Bishops side beat Dulwich 35-25, so I don’t think they are going to worry College too much. I stand to be corrected but Bishops have lost heavily to most Cape opposition, especially the Paarl schools. It’s not a great year for them but a great school like Bishops will be back, that is for sure…
@Horsie and co, the DHS ground at the top has always been a cabbage patch, even in my day (early to mid 90’s). City schools like DHS and Glenwood just don’t have the space so use facilities nearby. Glenwood are lucky to have the Varsity fields and a few others nearby. I even remember playing DHS on a little school field near Johnnys Roti/Overport. I played cricket on that DHS back field too, seriously tiny and uneven. These schools are going to need to buy nearby property and convert it into either BE accomodation or level the houses for more field space…
@gungets tuft and greenhopper
Yah that place is used as a parking area mostly and isn’t fit for. Sport games IMO.
It does need changing but I think Vermaak is so far doing a good job at School.
The school does have some ideas regarding the BE, it will be renovated whilst there will be new one built for Grade 8s and High Performance sportsmen. The ground at the top might be turned into an astro turf.
@Greenhopper et al, Australia does have schools rugby, mostly in New South Wales. Private schools there choose to play Rugby Union over Rugby League which is much bigger in Aus than Union. These schools belong to 3 associations, GPS, CAS and ISA. Schools include;
St Ignatius College Riverview (Mitch Inman & Lachie McCaffrey)
St Josephs College Hunters Hill (Luke Burgess and Curtley Beale Old Boys)
The Kings School
Sydney Grammar
Newington College
Sydney Boys High
Sydney Church of England Grammar School
The Scots College
The Armidale School
St Aloysius College
Barker College
Cranbrook School
Knox Grammar
Trinity Grammar
Waverley College
Blue Mountains Grammar School
Central Coast Grammar School
Chevalier College
Oakhill College
Oxley College
SCECGS Redlands
St Andrew’s Cathedral School
St Augustine’s College
St Patrick’s College
St Paul’s Grammar School
St Pius X College
St Spyridon College
St Stanislaus’ College
There are also private schools in other states that play union eg Westfields Sports College, Marist College, The Southport School, St Mary’s & St Edmunds College. It would be great to see any of these Aussie sides touring South Africa. In New Zealand there are plenty of strong schools too, Kelston Boys, Gisbourne, Hamilton, De La Saille College, Christchurch Boys, St Peters College & Rotorua Boys…….etc. I would love to see any of these teams in SA.
@Greenwood: would be interesting to figure out how school boy rugby works there , or is it all just club ? and how do they manage to get the structure right with filtering players through
I would have thought with the influx of South African there , and the way schools run here, that there would have been an influence towards the type of structures we have here even if it was a small adjustment
@Gungets Tuft: need to see what the new CEO is going to do , in side the BE was also needing a tender touch to bring it up to scratch
@HORSEFLY NO.1: hey i was there , its the one behind the BE
So Aussie Schools dont play Rugby –
some useless information here – there is a Glenwood High School in Sydney they dont appear to play much sport
@Fly #1 – I think it is the field in front of the BE. When College last played cricket there is was very sad. Broken soccer goal posts on the field, roller stalled inside the boundary, had 3 actual mud puddles on the strip. I think people use it to park their cars during school hours and drive all over it on weekends. The kids had to play cricket around 3 cars. It was a bit sad. I had hoped the new Head would have done something, the last time I was there the main school area was transformed, clean, neat, painted. Give the lady time, I reckon it’s on the up.
@beet: They do have a big squad out here so may have been a mixed side.
@Grasshopper: It might have been Dulwich’s 2nd XV as well depending on the size of their touring squad.
@greenhopper
What the top field? Were you passing by or were you there?
@all, Paarl Boys 2nd XV just beat Dulwich 1st XV 29-6. I don’t think College can be too concerned, although a 2 day break is not the best……especially after a bruising encounter with Affies…
@All Black: Sorry, two days after Affies.
You know we all talk about School boy Rugby and the Traditions, I stopped at the Old Umbilo / Congella Sports Club about 30 minutes ago, what an absolute shame, the Club , the club house the honors Boards are all but ripped up and used for Fire wood, the facilities all but gone with just the structure left , theft and rubbish all that can be seen
the field no a sort of bush track soccer field in all but Berea read sand , this Club had huge history , some greats played here.
@Horselfy , I have just come from DHS the back entrance by Blackmore, the field there is shocking , seriously the Old Boys need to step up here
are SA and teh UK the only two countries that have schoolboy rugby still and have the tradition that goes with it
Going to be difficult for College to play a strong Dulwich side to days after Affies.
@Boxkick, how boring it that! No school allegiance or anything……dilutes the passion of schoolboy rugby….
schoolboy rygby in AUS i believe is non existant…its all clubs i believe
i think it should be promoted more and even more sides come out from the UK , NL and Aus , the 3 rd term needs this
Dulwich are ranked third in the Country League; http://www.schoolsrugby.co.uk/league_Country.asp?CID=3
7th in the Performance League; http://www.schoolsrugby.co.uk/league_Performance.asp?Id=Boys-U18A&Season=
4th in the All Comers League; http://www.schoolsrugby.co.uk/league_AllCOmers.asp?Id=Boys-U18A&Season=
2nd in the London League; http://www.schoolsrugby.co.uk/league_EnglandDivs.asp?Region=LSE
It seems St Joseph’s College of Ipswich are top in all the leagues followed by RGS Newcastle. Dulwich is about 3rd. Kirkham who Glenwood play are in the top 100 in the country (ranked 85th) and about 16th in the North League. Therefore, College will have the tougher of the UK opposition for sure. Bradford Grammar are currently ranked about 217th so on paper should be an easy win for Westville. Good to see decent UK opposition touring makes for interesting games…
By the way, the school was founded in 1619 (Dulwich). Makes us feel a little young.
Nice to see so many English teams out here at present. I asked a friend in England who coaches at Millfield, I think, what knowledge he has on the teams out here. His information was that Dulwich are the strongest by some way. He was going on results in their league which has semi finals and final. Dulwich reached the final but he did not tell me if they won or not. He explained that some areas of England are very league oriented and others, such as Dulwich, focus on Union. He did say that the English teams may be under done as they may be using their teams for next season so it all comes down to whether the English scools are bringing their future or present teams?
Just read about Glenwoods Game against Kirkwood on Sat – quite chuffed about this – was going to watch some of developemnt games – so here’
s huge added interst
Beet – I have quite a few videos of local SBR games mostly Glenwood over past year – I can try and upload to yout ube or maybe you can suggest how I can do this – I can post snippets of more interesting games one of which is the Amercan School team aginst GWD – missed the huge fight at this game last year though
@GreenBlooded: I’ve added a link to Cyndi’s pics on the sidebar so everyone can get to it no matter what page they’re on
@Grasshopper: As soon as I get confirmation of details I’ll amend the schedule above. But if Kirkham beat SACS they must be good. SACS are strong this year.
@All, its seems Glenwood are playing Kirkham Grammar School from the UK this Saturday, probably combined with their fixtures vs KZN development. http://kgsrugby.wordpress.com/itinerary/
Kirkham beat SACS today 29-28, so the game will be interesting. I hope Glenwood play their full strength side in preparation for Affies the week after
Glenwood’s Cyndi Gilbey has an impressive photography site on Facebook.
https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Cyndi-At-Rugby-Etc-Photography/117174961697710
@beet – Also an idea to create a “retweet” service for SBR results similair to the traffic retweet services.
Also need some photographers on board.
@Greenwood: Its at the same venue as the old Glenwood Old Boys Club except its now obviously the Varsity College campus and somehow seems much bigger than when GOB club was there. But really nice facilities. I think they could get an awesome vibe going there if ever they were allowed into the Varsity Cup.
Club rugby – what happened to “Old boys” Rugby club
Old Boys was combo of Glenwood OB & Horsie Old boys
I heard they have been replaced by Varsity College Old Boys ?? what happened here ?
The GREEN jerseys rule !!
Hi guys thanks for the input. I have made notes of what you want and will try to implement it.
I’m happy with the start. We have the KZN core from R365 with the exception thus far of Westers, Steve, Maroon-blooded and 1 or 2 College+Glenwood bloggers. I’ve also asked Archie for his assistance with a ranking system. There is still lots of room for improvement and growth tho.
I’ve realised that if we keep this KZN specific covering u14-open teams without losing touch with what’s happening outside the province borders, we should see a lot of success by the time the 2013 season rolls around.
Saturdays game is being televised by Megapro, I think. Chat to them.
@grassy it doesn’t have to be super high quality. Just has to be coverage – if you look at what Bishops has done with their videos – Timo Swiel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYT56lzoMAs) and Dill Leyds (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5sSWy1ZfYA), its just normal recording done by someone standing in the right place with a tripod.
@All, agreed social media is the way forward and to get all the schools to tweet it too. Also, Beet is going to need some money to run this site so either via subscription fees or by advertising. This is my area of expertise so happy to help. Also, I have just bought an HD camcorder and happy to video games in 2013 and add to the site, can’t promise Supersport quality but at least it’s something.
PS – Dammit, you can’t have dots in a Twitter account name. Will have to find something else.
I know that there is already an @schoolboyrugby account on Twitter run by 15.co.za – so there would need to be sufficient differentiation from this to avoid confusion.
@TheGoose: you can start also with the Colts u18 Club coming up , and i know they have this in the other provinces
@Greenhopper: post on face book , on one of the rugby websites , they might try and remove it , but i would put it out there
@box we all need to refer to this site on other social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.
I think that one of the ways to really get this site going would be for @beet to arrange for some of the big Natal Derby games to be video’d, and to put game highlights up on YouTube. If possible, get the schools involved and get their tech/multimedia/sports departments involved. We really need some of KC, MHS, Hilton, Westville, MC, GW and DHS to get involved. Start with 2 if need be.
These videos can then reference and refer to this site for ongoing comments and opinions. Also – @beet needs to create an @schoolboyrugby.co.za Twitter account that Tweets all the updates and blog posts. This will definitely make a difference to site participation.
@boxkick: get twitter involved , and as much as i hate to say it , spread the word amongst the players , this is where people hear of it ,
@all – how can we let more people know about this site…would like to put a massive drive on getting more bloggers onto this site
@greenhopper – couldn’t agree more about the quality of the content and comments on this site. Looking at the aggression and off-sides comments on some of the other sites that cover schoolboy rugby, this is certainly a site that has huge potential
beet , your blog is fast evolving into a fantastic blog site , i am really enjoying it , good reports , good banter , nice to see the varied reports even Club rugby here , but the core being school boy rugby , well done I must say
28th of July looks to be a great Saturday up in Pretoria, College vs PBHS and across the road Glenwood vs Affies.
Hey Beet – the jerseys on the right look great – good idea this , makes each blogger feel part of this setup
Looks like the 3rd term is going to be busier than usual what with u18 internationals & Uk schools getting involved & also Westville and Kearsney too
the third term usually a bit of a vacuum but no so this year
Dulwich are probably the strongest of the pom sides based on their results from last year, but who knows this year. Last year they played 20, won 16, lost 3 and drew 1. They lost to Whitgift 3-12, Tonbridge 8-36 and Epsom 7-10. Bradford Grammar is usually pretty good, but Bolton is the one I am not sure of….all 3 are unknown quantities really as UK teams are at the start of their season, actually these are preseason tours for them
@Greenwood: I think Grasshopper said that Bolton are good but he’s not sure about Bradford coz they come from a rugby league region.
@Greenwood: Yep. College play them at full strength this weekend. College were hoping for some of their injured players to be back but it appears that the break has not changed too much.
I see Kzn’s No. 5 playing 2 pommie schools within 2 days – from what I’ve seen of poms schools in the past they are not that good , maybe this lot will be stronger
All Black – your’e so right – Considering the fact that the CW Bulls had 8 Affies players in the final – Glenwood playing a full strength Affies would have been a daunting task
From now until August 4th is a long time for the Kearsney team to play no rugby and then face Grey. Hope Barend keeps them busy.
Does anyone know the dates that the SA Schools team will play against England et al?
Hmmm. Glenwood have hit the luck. Half the Affies team will be involved in SA trials on the 28th. College will play PBHS without either of the Kriels on the same day.