Author: hnienaber

DIE Vrystaatse o.18-rugbyspan se twee senters, Ali Mgijima en Stephen Rautenbach sal vandag voor sekerlik een van hulle grootste toetse nog op die rugbyveld te staan kom. Mgijima en Rautenbach se taak vandag op die Noordvaal-Bondedag in Rustenburg sal wees om die gevaarlike Franco Naudé en Jurie Linde van die Blou Bulle in toom te hou.
Die twee spanne pak mekaar in die hoofwedstryd van die jaarlikse Bondedag op die hoofveld van die Impala-klub. Linde het reeds verlede jaar die Suid-Afrikaanse Skole-span gehaal. Hy was ook ?n sleutelspeler vir Affies toe hulle vroeër vanjaar vir Grey-kollege verslaan het.
Naudé is ?n stewige senter met hope vaart. Hy het vanjaar waarskynlik al menigte van sy teenstanders slapelose nagte laat hê.
Die stryd in die skrums behoort ook insiggewend vir albei spanne te wees. Die Vrystaat se Ruan Kramer, Andrew du Plessis en Ox Nche sal graag hulle span op die voorvoet in die afdeling van die spel wil plaas. Kramer en Du Plessis was Grey se stutte teen Affies en die span van die Rosestad het die bo-toon in die skrums gevoer. Die Ligbloues se keurders het duidelik daarvan kennis geneem en Waterkloof se twee kragmanne Johan en Xander van Wyk sal die span se skrum anker.
Die Vrystaat sal die bal binne die veld wil hou om die hoeveelheid lynstane tot die minimum te beperk. Die Ligbloues se twee slotte RG Snyman en Hyron Andrews is albei hemelbesems wat moeilik uitoorlê gaan word.
Die Vrystaat se heelagter EW Viljoen en kaptein Marius Louw sal besielende vertonings moet opdis indien die span die pyp wil rook.
Die Griffons het ?n ewe moeilike taak wat vir hulle op die Bondedag waag. Die span van die Noord-Vrystaat kom teen KwaZulu-Natal te staan.
Dié wedstryd behoort aan die Perses ?n goeie idée te gee hoeveel werk hulle nog voor vanjaar se 50ste Cravenweek vir hoërskole in Polokwane oor het.
Griekwaland-Wes sal in die eerste wedstryd van dié dag teen die Valke sy wedstryd-voorbereiding vir die Cravenweek op ?n hoë noot wil afsluit. Dié span het verlede week teen die Griffons in Bloemfontein
34-43 die knie gebuig.
Dié Bondedag se bepalings is:
09:00: Valke t. Griekwas; 10:15: Leeus t. Pumas; 11:30: KwaZulu-Natal t. Griffons; 12:45: Luiperds t. Limpopo Blou Bulle; 14:00: Vrystaat t.
Blou Bulle.

The Junior Springboks will play against New Zealand on Sunday in Vannes to determine third place at the IRB Junior World Championship, after both teams suffered defeats in their semi-finals on Wednesday evening in Vannes.
Wales beat 2012 winners SA Under-20 by 18-17 thanks to a last gasp converted try, while England beat New Zealand 33-21 – the first time England has done so at age grade level.
The Cup final match between Wales and England will conclude a full schedule of play-off fixtures on Sunday and it will be the first time that two teams from the northern hemisphere will contest the JWC final match.
Meanwhile flanker Roelof Smit who left the field early with a knee injury, will be given time to rest during the next few days before a decision will be made regarding his match readiness for Sunday. Prop Andrew Beerwinkel has a strained thumb.
Team doctor Phatho Zondi said: “Several players sustained niggles and bruises but we will manage them accordingly with the view to give them as much time as possible to recover for the last game on Sunday.”
Centre Justin Geduld, who came on as replacement in the second half, showed no discomfort from the knee ligament sprain which forced him out of the pool match against France.
Media can follow the following link to download post-match reaction from Dawie Theron, the SA Under-20 coach:
http://www.irb.com/mm/Audio/Tournament/Home/02/06/76/06/2067606_HI-AUD_Neutral.mp3
The team will have a rest today and a recovery session is scheduled for late this afternoon. The players will resume training tomorrow and the team to play against New Zealand will be names on Saturday at approximately lunchtime.
The final JWC fixtures for Sunday are:
Playoff for 11th place
17:15 Fiji vs. USA in Nantes
Playoff for 9th place
15:00 Samoa vs. Scotland in Nantes
Playoff for 7th place
15:00 Australia vs. Ireland in La Roche-sur-Yon
Playoff for 5th place
17:15 Argentina vs. France, La Roche-sur-Yon
Playoff for 3rd place
15:15 South Africa vs. New Zealand in Vannes
Cup Final
18:45 Wales vs. England in Vannes
More tournament news and highlights of match day four are available in the tournament media centre at: www.irb.com/jwc

The Junior Springboks suffered the heartbreak of conceding a last-minute try and conversion to be edged out of the Junior World Championships, 18-17, (halftime 6-7) by Wales in Vannes, France, on Tuesday.
The Junior Boks had twice come from behind to hold the lead in the final quarter and looked on course for a place in Sunday’s final and a chance to retain the world crown they won in Cape Town 12 months ago.

Lock forward Irne Herbst collected a short throw at the front of the lineout to crash over for the first try and give South Africa a 7-6 lead on the half hour. Then, replacement flank Kwagga Smith, reclaimed the lead for South Africa with the second try on the hour to make it 14-11.

Handré Pollard had converted both tries and added a penalty to give South Africa a 17-11 with five minutes remaining. However, Wales right wing Ashley Evans dived on flyhalf Sam Davies’ chip into the in goal area and Davies then converted from wide out on the right to give Wales a last-gasp victory.

Dawie Theron, the Junior Springboks coach, said Wales executed their game plan better on the day and kept the young South Africans in their own half for most part of the match with accurate kicks.

“We knew they would test us with a kicking game and I must say they did extremely well to frustrate us by finding favourable field positions. They forced us to run from deep and then defended well, which frustrated us and, which in turn, led to some errors.

“I want to praise the efforts of the boys throughout the tournament and especially in this match. They came back twice from behind and in the end it really hurt to lose like that, with a conversion with almost the last kick of the match. I think their flyhalf kept his cool quite well to succeed with that kick,” said Theron.

Team captain, Ruan Steenkamp, echoed the words of his coach and praised the efforts of his team mates. “We gave it our best effort but on the day it was not enough. They did their homework on us and never allowed us to create a platform for our backline. The boys are extremely disappointed because we are all very proud to represent our country.

“We have one more match left to play and we will lift ourselves and play with pride. The defeat will hurt for a while, but we have our next match on Sunday and we will play as best as we can,” said Steenkamp.

Lock Irné Herbst, who scored South Africa’s first try, said the Welsh prevented his team mates from gaining the upper hand with some fierce tackling.

“We came back strongly in the scrums and competed well in the lineouts, but they persisted with their tactic to making us turn back with long kicks into our half. We tried our best and on the day it was unfortunately not good enough,” said Herbst.

The Junior Springboks will contest the playoff for third place on Sunday against the loser of the New Zealand versus England semi-final.

Scorers:

South Africa – Tries: Irne Herbst, Kwagga Smith. Conversions: Handré Pollard (2). Penalty: Pollard.
Wales – Tries: Ellis Jenkins, Ashley Evans. Conversion: Sam Davies. Penalties: Sam Davies (2)

There were two shock results in KZN this weekend, one on Friday when Glenwood lost against George Campbell and on Saturday when Maritzburg College was thrashed by Westville on Goldstones, where it had been expected to be a tight game.

Maritzburg College 10 Westville 50
Westville arrived on Goldstones ready for the contest but College did not pitch with their A game. They lacked cohesion, tackling was poor and passes were poorly constructed. Westville scrumming was better, an area where College had been expected to do well. This resulted in Westville winning an abundance of ball and using it to good effect.

The records show that this is the largest point difference in a loss against a KZN school on Goldstones. In 2007 College lost by a difference of 37 points against Glenwood and their biggest loss was 3-86 against Grey College in 2006. What makes it even more remarkable is that it is Westville’s 4th only win against College in 28 matches. Their last win was in 2009.

Did the ‘flu virus that struck down half the side, causing the match against Kearsney to be postponed just a week before, have an influence? Two players were still affected and those that were back could not have been fully fit for this game. This was not an excuse made by College and Westville also had some players out with injury. The result will stand in the records of both schools.

Westville came well prepared with a definite plan on how to beat College in the game. They executed their attacking moves at pace and had College on the back foot from early on. Using various strategies, attacking wide, using probing kicks and then attacking in channels close to the tight phases certainly worked. College has produced some wonderful defense in matches this season but it fell away on Saturday.

At the end of the first quarter the score was 15-0 and Westville had dominated with College offering little in reply. Two tries in the first 10 minutes, the first by lock Jordan Martin and then by centre Lindo Buthelezi, converted by Louis Snyman, who also kicked a penalty. Before halftime Snyman kicked two more penalties and converted centre Brad Ellse’s earlier try, to leave Westville 28-0 in front.

College came out after the break and looked a different side as they played their best rugby in the match for a period of about 15 minutes. In that time eighth man Darren Goodsen scored one of his trade-mark tries using his strength to get over after a good College maul and the pacy wing Banele Ngwenya got over in the corner. Neither was converted but it appeared as if College was going to make inroads into the Westville lead.

This did not last however and the last quarter was again all Westville, as they scored another three tries. Two of these went to Buthelezi for his hattrick and the final try to wing Jason Wilkes. Snyman converted the first two and a penalty for Westville to bring up their half century in a well-deserved win.

George Campbell 13 Glenwood 12
This will go down as the major surprise result of the season, reminiscent of the win by Northwood, also by a point, in 2011. In both cases it was away and followed a few days after the KZN capping ceremony where Glenwood had the majority of players in both the Craven and Academy Week teams.

The green jerseys did not fire perhaps because of complacency and the untried conditions under lights on the narrow Campbell field. Did the Glenwood players also have half an eye on the game on Monday and then on Craven week? There was some dew which did make handling difficult but it was the physicality of the GC players that unsettled Glenwood.

Glenwood scored two tries through flank Rupert Kay and wing Spark Ngcobo with the first converted by Morné Joubert. Campbell scored a try by flank Thando Mbatha with a conversion and two penalties by M Nkosi.

Kearsney 34 Hilton 9; Michaelhouse 45 DHS 13; Clifton 17 St Charles 22; Port Natal 16 Glenwood ii 27; Kloof 15 Hillcrest 6; Kuswag 44 Kingsway 0