When the Eastern Province Craven Week team was announced earlier this month, it came as a huge surprise to see that not a single St Andrew’s College player had been selected. St Andrew’s has been a force to be reckoned with in their region and this year again, just like in many of the past few seasons they are aiming to finished first in EPCD. The clash with examinations is the reason for their boys being withdrawn from the EPCD trials.
It is most unfortunate that the St Andrew’s players could not partake in Craven Week this season… we definitely would have had some players who could have made it.
St Andrew’s College runs a three term academic year. We also do not take public holidays. Easter was later this year and this has affected the timing of our July examinations. Craven Week this year unfortunately falls in the second week of our July exam timetable. The week proceeding Craven Week will be used for preparing the (EPCD) team. This would have meant that if any of our boys had been selected they would have missed two weeks of the exams. Last season our July exams started on the Monday straight after Craven Week.
The St Andrew’s players were withdrawn before the first round of trials. This decision obviously was not an easy one, but the school had to have the boy’s best interest at heart.
I can assure you that everything put in place with regards to our rugby at St Andrew’s has been to increase our provincial representation. This is one of our outcomes of our strategic plan in our rugby program at College. Last year saw a record amount of College boys being selected to represent their province on this stage. In 2010: 5 players, 2011: 2 players, 2012: 2 players, 2013: 7 players and 1 Academy Week player. We have consistently been the strongest side in the region with our only loss to Marlow being last season. Marlow has regularly been the bulk of the Craven Week squad over this period.
EPCD Team
There is now an even bigger challenge … to get the (EPCD) team organised and ready for the (Craven) week in July. One of the biggest challenges is the logistics of getting everyone together for training sessions. The area of the country districts is vast and players will have to travel more than 3 hours to get to some training sessions. Some of these roads are not the safest with loads of animal life that seem to love the road at dawn and dusk.
Weekend Fixtures
This coming weekend will be quite an exciting one for the three major EPCD schools, who all face uphill challenges.
St Andrew’s travel to Grey High School. Grey’s drive to finish in the SA Top 10 this season is very much back on track after a good win 31-18 against highly rated Wynberg last weekend. St Andrew’s will be no pushovers. They gave a very good account of themselves last weekend against a strong Selborne outfit. losing just 21-28.
Marlow near Craddock has an interesting game. They take on a well-balanced Framesby from Port Elizabeth. Framesby’s latest success came against the luckless Boland Landbou who seem to always be on the losing end of close results including this 22-16 defeat. It hasn’t been Marlow’s best campaign. They tasted defeat by 29-38 against Hudson Park of East London.
Grahamstown hosts Kingswood takes on Dale College from King Williams Town. Dale are enjoying a relatively good season. Before their easy win against Port Rex, the Dale boys took down greatest rivals Queen’s College by a single point (13-12). Kingswood are still looking to beat one of the bigger schools this season. In their encounter with Queen’s at Graeme Rugby Day, they lost 10-15 to Queens, suggesting they will give Dale a good run for their money and may even cause an upset.
Team lists received so far
| ST ANDREWS | DALE | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Stephen Cragg | 1 | Zimi Ngqongqwana |
| 2 | Brian Ferguson | 2 | Sango Mtotywa |
| 3 | Adrian Parsons | 3 | Kuhle Mokhoabane |
| 4 | Hamish Hughes | 4 | Johann Loubser |
| 5 | Jono More | 5 | Lwazi Poswayo |
| 6 | Peter Kroon | 6 | Buntu Ponono |
| 7 | Ryan Neill | 7 | Siyanda Am |
| 8 | Matt Andrews | 8 | Bunono Sindi |
| 9 | Camran Macfarlane | 9 | Sibusiso Ngcokovane |
| 10 | Hugo De La Fargue | 10 | Courtney Winnaar |
| 11 | Courtney Archer | 11 | Luyolo Khuse |
| 12 | Robert Ball | 12 | Siyamthanda Mgubo |
| 13 | Thomas Lane | 13 | Yamkela Nyalambisa |
| 14 | Grant Dixie | 14 | Luzuko Mase |
| 15 | Brendan Owen | 15 | Justerino Davids |
Dale vs Kingswood
1st Team Dale won 40 – 23
2nd team Dale won 49 – 7
3rd Team Dale won 17 – 7
U16A lost 6 – 40
U15A Dale won 19 – 12
U14A Dale won 38 – 14
@Vleis: So would I mate. So would I.
@Wyvern: I know plenty OA’s and KC oldboys who are living proof that their academics are in a diiferent league, but not the one you are referring to.
But I hear what you say!
@Dave41: Facilities i believe so but like i said the difference would be in the education which is not in the same league as a SAC or KC.
@Wyvern: Being a regular visitor to Queens I can assure you that the facilities and schooling are of the highest levels.
@Playa@Vleis: Unfortunately pumping money in alone will not solve all the problems. At the end of the day (and in line with the article with regards to education) the quality of education will probably be a deciding factor.
Hypothetically if queens, dale etc had to improve their facilities, schooling programs etc etc, some parents would still choose a bursary to a private school such as KC or SAC for the educational benefits and networking opportunties. Having said that, i do hope that the KC’s and SAC’s of this world do their damned best to maintain the ethos of their schools and not fall for the ‘win at all costs’ attitude.
@Wyvern: With pleasure.
@Playa: Isn’t it ironic that the system implemented to help PDI’s is hurting the schools/regions that do such fantastic work with PDI’s. It’s a terrible shame. I’d love to see ‘un-poached’ Queens and Dale teams fighting it out with Grey, Paarl, Affies, etc.
@Vleis: There are measures been taken by old boys to pump money, and it is being pumped. But what works against them is that Border Rugby Union has vokol to offer. Then there is the insane policy that boys contracted to other provinces cannot represent the Border sides.So if the Bulls make an offer (which is more likely to be more than any old boy can make), the boy has no choice but to move, as he will not get o represent Border, but will get a shot at playing for the Bulls at CW.
In a nutshell, the Bulls want them there because they need to fulfil quota requirements, and the kid feels obliged to move. Very few, if any, Old Boys Unions can match the wallets of the big Rugby Unions.
Only good old loyalty can save us.
@DC ARMY: @Playa: Unfortunately, a trend has developed where the boys leave en-masse. Is there no way that Old Boys/SARU/etc could pump money into Queens and Dale to turn them into SBR superpowers. Just retaining the talent would get them most of the way there. Then add larger pupil numbers, etc and you will have two teams that will often be ranked in the top 10.
@Wyvern: I hope the snoozles soften up the pyjama boys for us next week.
@Mike: It would be great if Grey could soften up the snoozles for Kday in 2 weeks time! Should be a great game nonetheless.
@Vleis: You took the words right out of my mouth and frankly its a scenario that we have become used to here in King, imagining things or what if our boys wre still around how could our teams could or would have been.
But in saying that i do hope that u16A game plays out like any other fixture and no cheap shots or special attemtion being reserved for certain players, altough it would be niceif the boys can somehow put one over this dream team of KC.
Same with Jho in the First team game, but i’m sure the Dale boys are matured enough to play rugby and the Kingswood first fifteen and not i player, as this is a tricky tie as Playa mentioned what happened 4 years ago.
Good LucK to all teams on the day.
@Vleis: After all the deductions, only 3 remain from the Dale under 14A team of two years ago. Dalians don’t cry though (Indoda ayikhali). The boys who play in that under 16 team have hearts of steel.
Lots and lots of feeling in this game against the snoozles. If there is one game that Grey particularly don’t like to lose it’s the one against St Andrews.
Imagine how strong the Dale u16A team would’ve been this year if none of the boys had been poached. Just off the top of my head, I believe that three or four of the current Bulls GK squad were originally from Dale, plus some of the star players of DHS’s top u14 side of two years ago came from Dale (I assume that they’re still there or have been ‘on-poached’ by other Natal schools), plus some of the star players of the Kingswood u16A dream team came from Dale.
@Playa: Ya well you us KC boys lack pace
A principle with outstanding PRINCIPLES,…..this is definately not the case at the Superschools. There the price of winning and to be at the top comes at all cost , even the academic cost of the players. Shocking but true
@Wyvern: Hahaha you mean the Old Dalians Under 16A vs Dale under 16A…ja, KC will take that for sure. Dale’s under 16s have improved though from what I saw from them last year as under 15s. KC has a dream team though, so I wont even factor in our chances.
I hope the Jho saga is water under the bridge.The history of the fixture is far bigger than that.
@ Beet Can you please publish the Border CW team and Grant K homo teams when they are to hand many thanks.
@Playa: I think the first team match could potentially be really close if KC rock up and play, otherwise Dale will walk it. I am however a bit worried about the way in which the match might pan out given the Jho saga etc
I expect Dale should take the majority of the fixtures except for the u16A match where we should win comfortably
Very sensible move there by SAC. I know some schools would have rather shifted exams to let the boys play. I hope this is a lesson to all as to the reason why we send our boys to school in the first place.
Now – KC vs Dale. I am always weary of the Snobs. If ever Dale had a banana peel…it’s the snobs. They took us down 4 years ago after we had beaten a handy Selborne outfit at reunion. Party poopers these Snobs
Power to the Peasants!!!
AMADODA!
Unfortunate for the SAC boys, but academics take precedence. Looking forward to watching the Grey / SAC games on the weekend. Both schools traditionally play positive, attacking rugby so should be an entertaining day with lots of running rugby. Both 1st XV’s have some good wins under their belts so should be a good contest.