Craven Week 2014 is a thing of the past with Eastern Province being crowned as unofficial winners. There is still one award directly related to the performances of the individual players to be handed out when the SARU Awards ceremony takes place (usually after the conclusion of the professional season) – the Craven Week Player of the Year. Past winners were:
2010: Johan Goosen (Grey College)
2011: Jan Serfontein (Grey College)
2012: Sergeal Petersen (Grey High School)
2013: Grant Hermanus (Paarl Gymnasium)
Who do you think deserves the 2014 award?
[…] Here’s what some of our bloggers’ added back in July 2014 when asked- link: Who will be Craven Week Player of the Year for 2014? […]
@Tjoppa: That is why the quota system is amazing. It has it’s positives and negatives. Positive is, with it we have a chance to see these players.
Must be Bosch as he played the final, followed by Vers, Joubert & Coetzee.
@Tjoppa: ha ha née noggie maar ek wag om te double up as die final tussen Garsies en kloof is.
Is it not amazing that this year’s front runners as well as the past 2 year’s winners are coloured and still they are seen as quota players. I think it is time to concentrate on our black community this is where real stars is going to be unearthed.
Well as for Curwin Bosch, i do believe that he has silenced a few critics with his displays, including me. Well i guess he showed why he was so hyped up at the beginning of the season.
In no particular order:
Curwin Bosch
Stassen
Danquah
@tornado: Het jy al jou skuld betaal?
From the two days I spent in Middleburg I would say the following.
Forwards that stood out were Zanberg SWD Fortuin Bulls Pokamela EP (My choice as man of the tournament) and backs Vers EP Ward EP Jonas KZN Bosch EP and Danquah Border.
Always difficult to tell because some games you tend to weight higher than others so having a wing like Danquah from Border in is hard but seen him play I will say he had the biggest X factor of any player at CW.
@Pedantic: Very strange, i agree with you 100%. We must have noticed the same capabilities in these players. I would add Tinus de Beer (BB) in the mix maybe. Would have loved to see how Stassen (Valke) would have fared against the bigger Unions. Its a different story when you play against someone at the same (or higher) level who will compete against you.
I’d go with Bosch
CURWIN BOSCH from EP was in IMO the best player of the week. He dictated every game of EP and setup most of the tries . He also has BMT when it counts eg ( game against Blue Bulls ) , ..the final kick. This young man has an incredible feel for the game , that X-FACTOR that so often eludes good players.
For me it’s Tinus de Beer. He missed 1 kick in 3 games scored 3 tries and as a fly half he was in control of the games. He can kick left and right and I didn’t see that in the EP player
Bosch was undoubtedly my player of the week. Others that really impressed me were Vers (always consistent), Jackson (brilliant), Joubert (blows hot and cold – depends on how the rest of his team play), Barend Smit (solid performances), Stassen (best forward of the week), Thomas (worked harder than any of the other props).
The 2015 CW player of the week is certainly Bosch of EP. He was the most influential player of the week and secured an EP final with a last minute conversion from the sidelines against the Bulls, no question, man of the week
@GreenBlooded: The two wings, Guma and Mukendi are also U17 this year.
Add to these the rather successful Academy week U17 players, Qoma (Lock), Palvie (Loosie), Pretorius (FH), Donny Du Randt (UB), Morgan (UB), Xaba (UF) and we could have a decent 2015 CW.
Does anybody know if the SA Schools squad has been announced yet? Originally it was supposed to beannounced on Saturday and then yesterday but I haven’t see anything yet?
@Pedantic: Of the KZN Squad, besides Dixon, how many will be eligible next year?
Standouts (and in some cases revelations) for me were :
Front Row: Bruce-Smith(Leopards), Thomas(KZN)
Locks: Zandberg(SWD), Fortuin(Bulls)
Back Row: Pokamela(EP), Coetzee(KZN)
Halfbacks: Janse van Vuuren(Valke), Bosch(EP), Jonas(KZN)
Midfield: Jackson(SWD), Ward(EP)
Back 3: Fillies(SWD), Joubert(KZN), Vers(EP)
Player of the week for me would be a tough choice between Pokamela and Coetzee, Junior’s work rate is ridiculous but Coetzee’s leadership and X-factor gets him my vote (Yes, I’m biased
)
For the past 4 years it has been a backline player, and I guess the temptation is always there to pick the guys who round things off.
For me, I was mightily impressed with Stassen – the boy( man?) collected, fetched, carried, tackled, offloaded, made the yards, hell, he even cussed a bit in the heat of passion – but one thing for sure – he left nothing out there, played his heart out and is an YSTER!! – My man of the CW.
@beet: For me that Vers boy stood out mostly.
Didn’t watch all the games to be honest – only the 2 KZN games that were televised. From those 2 games alone – Coetzee and Joubert were in a class of their own. The biggest ‘step-up-to-the-plate’ was without question Tristan Dixon who had a great tournament. Other notable performances for me were by Cody Thomas and Curtis Jonas. I’ll keep the most disappointing performances under my hat.
For me 3 EP players immediately spring to mind:
Bosch, Vers, Pokomela and there were a number of other stand out achievers in that team.
SWD: Zandberg, Jackson and Heunis impressed me.
Other of the memorable performances in games were delivered by Stassen (Valke), Bezuidenhout (FS), Saal (WP) and Coetzer (Leop) but probably not enough to win the award.