{"id":36134,"date":"2024-02-28T18:54:12","date_gmt":"2024-02-28T16:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=36134"},"modified":"2024-02-28T18:54:12","modified_gmt":"2024-02-28T16:54:12","slug":"exciting-times-as-kingswood-plan-to-build-on-excellent-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=36134","title":{"rendered":"Exciting times as Kingswood plan to build on excellent 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kingswood College (in red) clashed with Queen\u2019s College in last year\u2019s Graeme College Rugby Festival, winning 21-12. This year they will face Marlow Agricultural in the annual schools rugby tournament to be held in Makhanda from March 14-16. PHOTO: Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Kingswood College rugby team is determined to build on an excellent 2023 season by showing further improvement when their programme for this year clicks into gear next month.<\/p>\n

The Makhanda school was among the top performers in Eastern Cape last year and will be looking to lay down an early marker when they take on Marlow Agricultural in the Graeme College Rugby Festival in Makhanda from March 14-16.<\/p>\n

Kingswood head coach James Winstanley says they are excited about the forthcoming season, with a strong thread of continuity from last year provided by eight players from the class of 2023 and a further two players who featured in the first team.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a fantastic season last year but it was just the start of what we are wanting to achieve and the core group has worked incredibly hard to put us in a position to be better this year,\u201d Winstanley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had a grueling six-week training block and so now we have built in a week\u2019s break to ensure that we freshen up and have the physical and mental energy needed to get us through the start of the season, up until the end of the Easter tour.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following the Graeme festival, when they will play Marlow at 13:00 on Friday, March 15, Kingswood will travel to Johannesburg for the St John\u2019s Easter Festival.<\/p>\n

Kingswood, who set their leadership group in place last year, will be aiming to make an impact in that showdown.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been a little unorthodox in that we have named our captain and leadership group in November the past two years,\u201d Winstanley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur captain, Tapiwa Zhanda, and his senior players have been instrumental in setting the standard so far.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Graeme festival is the first real marker that requires you to hit some form and it comes with an opportunity to gain momentum.<\/p>\n

However, he acknowledged the serious challenge they faced against the Cradock outfit.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarlow is possibly the toughest team to play at Graeme festival,\u201d the Kingswood mentor said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hit the ground running and their physicality early in a game causes problems for opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t grow into this game. You have to be in the fight from the very beginning to stand a chance of a good result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Given their meticulous preparation, Kingswood is ready for all challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are excited to finally play and be tested against top opponents in the Eastern Cape,\u201d Winstanley added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a well-conditioned team and so we will be prepared for the closing quarter of a game, and I anticipate our backline will get people excited.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a tough fixture list and we might not win as many games as last year, but we will be a better team than we were.\u201d<\/p>\n

The first team fixtures for the Graeme festival are:<\/strong><\/p>\n

15 March 2024 | Somerset Field<\/strong><\/p>\n

09:00 –<\/strong> Port Alfred vs Graeme College II
\n10:30 –<\/strong> Port Rex vs Mary Waters
\n11:45 –<\/strong> Union High vs HTS Dani\u00ebl Pienaar
\n13:00 –<\/strong> Kingswood College vs Marlow Landbou
\n14:15 –<\/strong> Dale College vs Nico Malan
\n15:30 –<\/strong> Grey High School vs Hudson Park<\/p>\n

16 March 2024 | Somerset Field<\/strong><\/p>\n

10:30 –<\/strong> Cambridge vs Muir College
\n11:45 –<\/strong> Stirling vs Framesby
\n13:00 –<\/strong> Queen\u2019s College vs Pearson
\n14:15 –<\/strong> St Andrew\u2019s College vs Die Brandwag (Uitenhage)
\n15:30 –<\/strong> Graeme College vs Selborne College<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Kingswood College rugby team is determined to build on an excellent 2023 season by showing further improvement when their programme for this year clicks into gear next month. The Makhanda school was among the top performers in Eastern Cape last year and will be looking to lay down an early marker when they take […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":36136,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36134\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}