Michaelhouse turn down opportunity to make Wildeklawer history

Michaelhouse turned down an invitation to play at Wilkeklawer 2015 in Kimberley. Had they accepted, they would have been the first private school to ever take part in the festival which is widely regarded as the top school rugby festival in South Africa. 

It’s not the be-all and end -all but participating at Wildeklawer would have been another wonderful acknowledgement for Michaelhouse rugby. 2014 saw the Midlands school enjoying publicity as a result of the achievements of number of its Old Boys at provincial pro level.

House’s reason for declining the Wildeklawer invitation is quite simple. They decided to honour their commitment to Kearsney instead. The home fixture against Kearsney clashes with Day 1 of Wildeklawer and had been arranged and accepted by MHS long before Wildeklawer organizers came knocking.

The finalisation of the first teams for Wildeklawer 2015 hit a few speed humps in 2014. A number of schools opted to focus on other rugby festivals instead, leaving organizers with voids to fill.

Since its inception in 2009, the intention behind Wildeklawer’s rugby 1^st XV tournament, has been to attract the top school rugby teams from around the country. It’s a lot easier said than done though. The unpredictable nature of school rugby means that most schools go through peaks and troughs as far as results are concerned and when coupled with the need to lock schools into a commitment to return every season, it basically means that each year organizers have to make do with schools that turn out to not be Top 20 material. However for as long as organizers can attract the likes of Affies, Grey College, Monument, Paarl Boys High, Paarl Gymnasium, Paul Roos and Waterkloof to the tournament, the festival’s premier status reputation is secured.