Westville plays the first of four preseason fixtures against host’s Voortrekker at the KFC Night Series tonight. Kick-off is at 19h30. They will follow this up with matches against Maritzburg College (Vories N/S on Friday 28 February), KZN Development and Clifton ( Wartburg Festival on 08 March).
The first regular season match is a huge one for the Griffons. They will meet Glenwood on home soil on 15 March 2014, in what is expected to be one of the best attended games of the KZN Top Schools season. With this in mind, the timing of the Westville preseason run of games almost seems perfectly co-ordinated to give the WBHS players the best chance of peaking at the right time.
Last year SchoolBoyRugby Blog named Grant Bell as our KZN Coach of the Year. Bell must surely rank amongst the top strategists at school level coaching in the country and this year the KZN under-18 Craven Week team will have the benefit of tapping into this resource, as he takes on the responsibility of assistance coach after a successful campaign as Grant Khomo Week head coach of the province.
For this first warm-up game Bell and his coaching staff will be looking at set pieces and systems. Part of their preparation is to give players specific roles (role identification) both at first phase and in attack continuity as attack systems require specific skills from certain players.
Although Westville have a couple of players missing due to summer sports commitments, they are fortune to have the majority of fit players available which is bound to help a lot with preparations.
Westville teams for tonight
| # | 1st XV Squad | 2nd XV Squad |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Princen | Els |
| 2 | Pieterse | Nicholson |
| 3 | Thomas | Horner |
| 4 | Qume | Van Zyl |
| 5 | Warner | Muller |
| 6 | Erasmus | Smit |
| 7 | Heystek | Murphy |
| 8 | Meilhon | Papenfus |
| 9 | Young | Kelly |
| 10 | Braithwaite | Kotze |
| 12 | W Smith | Khumalo |
| 13 | Anderson | Du Plessis |
| 11 | Pieters | Fisher |
| 14 | Ball | Mhlamvu |
| 15 | Buthelezi | Irvine |
| 16 | Bailey | Lee |
| 17 | Stoltz | Ntanzi |
| 18 | Thambiran | Mtabela |
| 19 | Murphy | Mlambo |
| 20 | Kotze | Van Rooyen |
| 21 | Pahla | Shange |
| 22 | B Smith | Wheeler |
| 23 | Els | |
| 24 | Kelly |
KFC Vories Night Series fixtures:
| DAY | DATE | TIME | SCHOOL | SCHOOL | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fri | 21/02/2014 | 16h30 | Voortrekker 2nds | Westville 2nds | ||
| Fri | 21/02/2014 | 17h30 | Weston | Linpark | ||
| Fri | 21/02/2014 | 18h30 | Maritzburg College | Greytown | ||
| Fri | 21/02/2014 | 19h30 | Voortrekker | Westville | ||
| Fri | 28/02/2014 | 16h30 | Howick | Linpark | ||
| Fri | 28/02/2014 | 17h30 | Voortrekker | Kearsney | ||
| Fri | 28/02/2014 | 18h30 | Greytown | Westville 2nds | ||
| Fri | 28/02/2014 | 19h30 | Maritzburg College | Westville | ||
| Fri | 07/03/2014 | 17h30 | Voortrekker 2nds | Weston | ||
| Fri | 07/03/2014 | 18h30 | Voortrekker | Greytown |
@jakes: 11 dae Jakes. Centurion wedstryd is op 8 Maart. Volgende Saterdag.
@ Valke- klink nie goed nie. Oor 3 weke speel hulle al teen Centurion in die 1ste game van die Tuks kompetisie..
@Westers: @Scrum Doctor: See the reaction of the boys when they realise that imports will take their places. And I know I am going to be slaughtered now. Look at Garsfontein’s boy’s participation after a few years of importing players.
@Scrum Doctor: I am hearing that the boys are not happy. I did also hear one or two comments on the stands on Friday night as well. Time will tell what happens.
@Westers: cant comment about the boys feelings but the scathing comments from the Westville parents were very interesting – this was certainly not a popular decision with Westville’s rather large support base.
@jakes: Hi Jakes. So ver ek verstaan het EG Jansen nog nie begin met rugby nie. Nog geen proewe of spanne nie.
@jakes: Nee wat Jakes glo my hulle gaan weer BHP se hulp nodig he om die top 5 te haal. Beste span in ‘n lang tyd ek dink die laaste 2 jaar het verskriklik lank vir hulle gevoel. Beslis altyd goeie spanne maar nie meer onoorwinlik nie.
Ek dink die hype is maar meer in desperaatheid as enigiets anders. Ek voorspel nog ‘n jaar nie 1ste nie.
Westville and EG Jansen will need a few good warm up games before taking on Grey College at the Kearsney festival later this year. According to rumors , Grey college will have one of their best teams in a long time this year. let’s wait and see..
I think importing new blood at this late stage has a detrimental effect on the boys. They have played alongside each other for a few years only to be told, sorry but a boy from out of town is going to take your position. Time will tell. Good luck this evening-wish I was there to watch.
@star: I heard Jackson is out because of cricket but that he might be available off the bench tonight.
It is interesting that the two Hudson Park U17’s are in the 1st squad, one starting and one off the bench. Word is that they are struggling to make an impact and that their fitness levels are well below that expected at this time of the year. Hearing that there is unhappiness that they have just walked into the squad ahead of boys who have performed at good levels through the previous 4 years at Westville. I hope the same problems that beset Glenwood when they brought in imports does not manifest at Westville. Signs are not encouraging though.
@ Buffel- G. Jackson plays first team cricket and the coastal 20/20 final is on the 28/02/14. I presume he is not in either team because of this clash. It will be between him and Young for the scrumhalf position. Very different players indeed.
( but I am getting ahead of myself a little 
)
Next years Westville front row will be Els,Nicholson and Stoltz. Now that will be something to behold. Possibly the KZN front row,
I can see that side changing a couple of times before the season kicks off proper. Interesting to see Thambiran in the reserve list. No Gareth Jackson in either 1ST or 2nd team list??
I was interested to see last year’s 1st XV scrummy Braithwaite at 10 but was informed that he was a flyhalf throughout all the junior age groups.
Also really good to see Teagan Erasmus starting altho not at no.8. He will be a player whose progress is worth tracking this year.
Buthelezi is going to make the KZN fullback position even more exciting. I’ve already seen 2 good fullbacks in DHS and Glenwood jerseys so far this year.
Also a couple of famous surnames in the 2nds – Kelly and Fisher.