From the Westville Boys High School website:
Westville Boys’ High made their annual pilgrimage north to take on Pretoria Boys’ on Saturday the 10th of May. The host team were playing their first game on their home field and were keen to put on a good display in front of a massive crowd of local spectators.
The opening ten minutes was a close affair as both sides battled for dominance up front. Westville were first on the scoreboard after winger Shane Ball made an excellent linebreak and fellow winger, James Wheeler showed a great turn of pace to finish in the right corner. Kyan Braithwaite then added the conversion from touchline. The visitors began to dominate the game territorially and converted this pressure into points when Eigthman, Teigen Erasmus scored under the poles and Braithwaite added the conversion and two penalties to give Westville a comfortable 20 point lead at the halftime break.
The home team came out swinging in the second half and looked to close the deficit on the scoreboard. They were aided by the visitors poor discipline which saw one player yellow carded. Pretoria Boys’ used their numerical advantage to score a try through their Captain, Jake Blew. They were unsuccessful with the conversion but the home team now had their tails up. Westville were able to weather the storm and gradually regained the ascendancy through their excellent defence. Westville scored a further two tries; the first was sparked by a linebreak from centre Wayne Smith and finished by fullback Bradley Smith, the second came from a well executed lineout drive which saw Teigen Erasmus score a brace. Braithwaite added a conversion and a penalty goal to take the final score to 35 – 5, a comprehensive victory for the coastal team.
Westville had an excellent day of rugby up in the high veldt winning 18 games including all the under 14 and under 15 games and all the A team matches , losing only 5 and drawing one match on the day.
Teams:
| PRETORIA BH | WESTVILLE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jake Blew (c.) | 1 | Jordan Els |
| 2 | Viaan Jv Rensberg | 2 | Renier Pieterse |
| 3 | Mahao Mukhari | 3 | Cody Thomas |
| 4 | Ryan Carlson | 4 | Sibablo Qoma |
| 5 | Dan Malengela | 5 | Brandon Warner |
| 6 | Mitchell Baumann | 6 | Nathan Meilhon |
| 7 | Frikkie De Bruin | 7 | Adrian Heystek |
| 8 | Reenen Buys Du Plessis | 8 | Teigan Erasmus |
| 9 | Tristan Eve | 9 | Kyan Braithwaite |
| 10 | Dean Waghorn | 10 | Lindo Buthelezi |
| 11 | Sipho Phiri | 11 | Wayne Smith |
| 12 | Dillion Pirie | 12 | Juan Anderson |
| 13 | Dylan Neser | 13 | Shane Ball |
| 14 | Armand Mare | 14 | James Wheeler |
| 15 | Wayne Parker | 15 | Bradley Smith |
| 16 | Damon Lee | ||
| 17 | Shaun Stoltz | ||
| 18 | Yuric Thamibiran* | ||
| 19 | Ryan Clark | ||
| 20 | Garryth Jackson | ||
| 21 | Ruan Kotze | ||
| * | Devon Muller |
@Grasshopper: You guys are ridiculous, any chance to bash Westville and try to discredit their success by putting it all down to money. How much money has Glenwood received from Ivan Clarke??
Westville has been the most successful school academically over the last 25 years in KZN and we can pull the stats to back that up. Along with that they now dominate major sports such as swimming, producing Olympic champions, hockey, tennis in 80’s and 90’s, waterpolo, cricket, rugby etc.
Westville are by far and away the top around school in KZN, with the most well-mannered boys compared to what I’ve come across in Umbilo and Morningside.
No surprise here seeing the Glenwood guys jumping in and bashing Westville, it’s a pity that there is such sour grapes, this is the thing we are trying to avoid by increasing cooperation between the two schools. Pity Glenwood always have to stoop to such lows, let’s rather acknowledge success and try and improve ties between the schools. I know you guys want to be seen as the best in KZN, so it must be frustrating….
Jeepers that is massive !
@Rhino: That is the number my mate who works there told me, massive intakes these days. Up to 300 in grade 8..
@Grasshopper
Are you sure of those figures of Westville? As far as i know its around 1250 boys…?
@Tang: Yep, even if Glenwood drop the Affies fixture and change to PBHS. In reality most of our teams get pommeled by Affies, so we should only play them at festivals at A team and 1st team level. However, with College twice and Westville, PBHS probably have too much traveling already….one can dream though!
@Grasshopper – The funny thing is at First team level it would be quite easy. Glenwood play in all green whereas PBHS play in the Candy Stripes.
I think a Glenwood VS PBHS fixture would be fantastic. All teams would get a game and the competition would be good.
@Tang: I would love a derby between Glenwood & PBHS too, imagine the confusion created for the ref with similar striped jersey’s at 2nd team downwards…hahaha!
@Tang: Yeah, PBHS (1,500) must be the biggest English medium boys school in the country followed by Westville (1,400) and Glenwood (1,350)…..just sheer numbers should mean the talent is there, just needs to be nurtured. What other English school options are there in Pretoria, not many bar some small independent private schools…..come on PBHS get John Smit, Bryan Liebenberg and Chilliboy involved somehow to raise the bar…
@Gungets Tuft @Star
Fully agree. I enjoy the fixtures between Maritzburg and Westville. Good boys, good parents good teachers and generally well hosted by the home school.
@Grasshopper it is scary to think that in this day and age Boys High don’t give sports bursaries (there are a few boys on Jacques Kallis cricket scholarships).
If you take into account that Boys High have three boarding hostels and around 1200 day boys, you would expect Boys High to consistently produce good results.
However, I have observed that one or two players in a team (especially at school boy level) can make a huge difference. There is no doubt Boys High are loaded with talent but I wonder how many potential Boys High Boys are lost to schools who offer them bursaries. I also think that using dedicated coaches (especially for the A/B teams) is almost non negotiable now days. I think dedicated and more modern coaching will yield far better results from the boys.
Unfortunately I think it is going to get worse before there is recognition of a problem.
@Rhino: Bring it!!! I’ll see your month’s salary and raise you by my months invoicing.
@Pedantic: Hmmm, we losing the whole first team, so not sure about that. Our Under16’s from 2013 were good but not great, this is showing in a weaker open group in a few years. Maybe the Under16’s from this year can help strengthen the grade 11 group……time will tell as you say…
@Grasshopper: IMHO Glenwood will be even further ahead in 2015, time will tell.
@star: Agreed, mid season would be better and fairer to both teams…still think Glenwood have the edge this year, too much x factor. Next year will be a different story..
@ Rhino- unfortunately that is the problem with first up matches as the result will be skewed in favour of the team that is more settled and able to find its feet early.
The GW team that played against Westville is exactly the same team playing today. The Westville team that ran out against PBHS showed 10 changes( including positional). Looking back I am actually surprized that Westville hung as long as they did against a very good GW team.
I think supporters would rather have a GW /Westville fixture later in the season where both teams would be hitting their straps and extraneous variables eliminated.
@Rhino: Gosh, I think you would be poor for a month…a return would be played at Glenwood….
GLENWOOD vs
DATE OPPONENT SCORE RESULT
March 15 2014 Westville 32 – 15 WON
and so it will stay for 2014.
feeling Lucky?????
@alll
U guys sound like kids man…!!!
Wahahaha we lost to GW this year and well done to GW..So wish it was a double fixture as i will bet my month salary it be a different result!! Anyhow it is what it is !!!
@star: I do find it very hard to believe that PBHS don’t give any sports scholarships. Even in my day most schools gave out at least 5 sports and 5 academic scholarships/bursaries. Glenwood now give out probably 45 a year, not all 100% and Westville about 60 to 70 also not all 100%, that would show where there difference lies. Obviously, also more professional coaching and a dedicated coach per side or two sides. In my day the lower sides just had a teacher to put the team sheet up and we had to sort ourselves out…maybe PBHS need to take a few steps forward in this area…
@ Tang- I agree 100% with GT re the school, pupils and parents who are fantastic in every respect. But there are signs that even I over a 2 year period can pick up on. Last year at Westville the U16A game was a tight affair and the U15A was about a 15 point margin. A year later and that same team is losing at home 47 nil. Westville’s U14 teams are not as strong as previous years and yet they recorded several clean sheets and 50 + margins. The divergence is too great to ignore and as GT says without breaking tradition and ethos, some introspection / subtle intervention might be required to again reap the rewards of the great foundation that some schools can only dream of.
@Tang: Hahha, no, I wasn’t being defensive at all, that wasn’t the point of my post.
I know that PBHS use outside coaching, we had a College boy split in half 2 weeks ago as he visited his old school as the coach of a PBHS team. He supported his own team first, then College on Goldstones.
As a College dad to a PBHS dad, your boys are always a pleasure to host. Turn your back and you would think you have a College boy. We have hosted the one boy every year for 4 years now, the other was new this year, but always welcome in my home.
Don’t worry about the occasional ordinary year, all schools have them. College know that all too well, but class always shines through and you get your mojo back. Sometimes an intervention is necessary as you say, you may have hit the nail on the head with modernising the methods, you just need to do it while keeping the tradition and ethos. It’s not as easy as it sounds, and you will be surprised by the resistance you will get. Good luck, I look forward to our Northern cousins bouncing back in style.
@Beet I am happy if you post as a blog (needs to be anonymous as I have two boys at PBHS).
I agree fully in terms of sports bursaries. The game on Saturday was a classic example. The Westville 1 and 4, whom I believe were acquired from Hudson Park, had a huge impact on the match. The Westville number 4 must have stolen at least five line-outs.
It would be interesting to get a sense of how many boys are on bursaries in the Westville first side.
I think the loss to Westville was a rude awakening for many Boys High parents, old boys, etc. Westville seemed to be conditioned better, sharper on the ball and extremely well coached.
@Gungets Tuft – I see your point. I was certainly not implying that Maritzburg College or Westville don’t concentrate on academics. Since PBHS don’t offer sports bursaries and they only use masters to coach (there may be the odd bit of outside coaching), they are falling behind some of their traditional rivals.
If one looks at schools such as Wynberg Boys, Martitzburg College, Westville, and a few others, I think it is possible to be good at both sport and academics.
The real point of my article is that you can’t have a dated approach to sport whereas your competitors have fully embraced more modern ways. I think Boys High could make simple, modern adjustments that would have a major impact on results.
The way the Boys High sides are losing at A/B levels is a worrying trend. The PBHS first side have won 20% of their games this year and I fear that the A/B teams have similar or worse records. If this trend is not arrested, Boys High will go from bad to worse.
@Gungets Tuft: Yep, Westville have produced the goods both academically and on the field. But remember the area is higher LSM and money does talk. I think Glenwood are doing equally as well considering the type of family and boy that goes there, majority middle class. College would probably fall in between the two, certainly these 3 are the best Gov schools in the province, no doubt with Northwood snapping at their heels. PBHS has a soft spot for me as was hosted by them on athletics tour in 1995, great school and great kids there….got on really well with the boys there…down to earth genuine blokes..
@Tang: Tang I love what you have written above about the lineouts. I actually would not mind editing out the bits about PBHS and posting it as a blog.
WRT PBHS I wonder if we are not all underestimating the effects of rugby scholarships/bursaries. I understand that PBHS does not even offer 1c worth of these, whereas every other school in their region and on their regular annual fixture list has quite a few sponsored boys in their teams.
Taking nothing away from Westville they play a very exciting brand of rugby but I also heard that PBHS had a few out injured for that game.
@Tang: I fully understand and support the notion that academics is the primary activity of a school, no quibbles there. But it is equally incorrect that academics and sport are mutually exclusive – it is possible to do well at both. I know College have not had the most successful last 5 years, but they have certainly not disgraced themselves and if you look at their academics they are right up there as well. 2012 was very good, 2013 no slouch with 100% pass rate and 93% of the matrics getting varsity passes.
Westville did very well academically and you can’t pick on their sport either (Leafy Suburbs and extra lessons notwithstanding … ‘eh Grassy?).
So, perhaps the intent to keep sport secondary to academics is not quite the approach, just aim to excel in both, it’s quite do-able … yes?
And just to clarify, I am a serious fan of PBHS. If I lived in Pretoria there is no question that is where my boy would be, I think it is a brilliant school in every respect.
It seems the whole fixture was a very one-sided affair. In the first team game, PBHS never really looked like they were going to score. Westville won this match easily and were dominant in every aspect.
Once again the PBHS line out was terrible. If PBHS won 10% of their own line out ball, I would be surprised. No team can create an attacking platform when you can’t secure first phase possession. It would be easy to blame individuals for the poor line out but I suspect that the problem is far greater than one or two individuals. In school boy rugby, the line-out is probably the most useful mechanism for creating an attacking platform. PBHS will have to get the line-out sorted out or they will struggle to beat any opposition. Once you lose your own line-out, the side appears disorganised and lacking in structure. Westville were lethal when they won Boys High’s line-out ball and they exploited Boys High’s lack of structure.
Schools will go through cycles, but I must say that I agree with some of the above statements that PBHS rugby is not on par at the moment.
PBHS have a few more home fixtures coming up but I fear that confidence is at an all time low and this may have a big impact on results.
Unless PBHS take cognisance of how professional some of their opponents are becoming, I suspect the gap will only get wider in the coming years. I know the PBHS approach is to keep sport secondary to academics but I get the sense that this will lead to more results such as the Westville home defeat.
If one looks at the A/B team results, it is quite clear that Boys High are lagging behind. PBHS certainly don’t lack talent (at times this first side has produced fantastic rugby) but basic preparation appears to be behind some of the traditional rivals. The results against Maritzburg will back up the theory that PBHS are falling behind at A/B team level.
One thing I know about any PBHS boy is they are proud and will give 100% for their school. I have no doubt the boys will bounce back from the Westville defeat. I just hope they can bounce back before a very difficult home fixture against Jeppe.
@Westers: Obviously Westville must have played well but a score line such as that, remembering it is at PBHS, is just not good enough.
@RBugger: Or perhaps Westville played very well on the day?
Awesome well done Westville!