{"id":68532,"date":"2025-03-29T20:54:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T18:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=68532"},"modified":"2025-03-29T20:54:06","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T18:54:06","slug":"three-teams-impress-on-day-one-of-the-nomads-hockey-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=68532","title":{"rendered":"Three teams impress on day one of the Nomads Hockey Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_68541\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-68541\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-68541\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/IMG_3130-400x261.jpg\" alt=\"Xavier Elsin led Hilton College to two wins on the opening day of the Nomads Hockey Festival. Photo: Ziyaad Solomons\" width=\"400\" height=\"261\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-68541\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Xavier Enslin led Hilton College to two wins on the opening day of the Nomads Hockey Festival. Photo:<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ziyaad_solo\/?hl=am-et\"> Ziyaad Solomons<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Hilton College <\/strong>and <strong>Grey College <\/strong>made big statements on day one of the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/five-players-to-watch-at-the-nomads-hockey-festival\/\">Nomads Hockey Festival<\/a><\/strong> at <strong>Jeppe High School for Boys<\/strong>, in Johannesburg, on Saturday, by both recording two wins on the scenic <strong>Boden AstroTurf<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>They were joined by the hosts <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/jeppe-kicks-off-nomads-hockey-festival-with-a-bang\/\">Jeppe, who were comfortable winners against Selborne College and Wynberg Boys&#8217; High<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Hilton, guided by coach <strong>Damian Kimfley<\/strong>, kicked off their campaign with a sketchy 1-0 victory over <strong>St John&#8217;s College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>It was a scrappy outing by the KwaZulu-Natal side, who were taken to the gutters by St John&#8217;s but escaped an upset courtesy of a <strong>Rob Burman<\/strong> penalty corner flick.<\/p>\n<p>They produced a more clinical performance in their second match of the day against <strong>St Benedict\u2019s College<\/strong>, handing coach <strong>Owen Mvimbi<\/strong>\u2019s side a 4-0 defeat.<\/p>\n<p>Burman was on the score sheet again, where he was joined by<strong> Ben Wilson<\/strong>, <strong>Tadi &#8216;Tino&#8221; Hove<\/strong>, and <strong>Lizwe Ntshangase<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Reacting to his team&#8217;s performances, captain <strong>Xavier Enslin <\/strong>said they needed to work on their discipline and to be more clinical after a poor showing against St John\u2019s.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;From our first game, we realised we lacked intentionality, and we had to get our heads in the right headspace,&#8221; he told <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/hockey\/\">SuperSport Schools Plus<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We had to fix our mentality, be hungrier inside the circle, have the desire to score goals, and increase our energy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hilton played with more intensity and attacked well against <em><strong>Bennies<\/strong><\/em>, while keeping matters tight at the back.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, they\u2019ll face <strong>Pretoria Boys High<\/strong> and <strong>King Edward VII (KES)<\/strong>. Enslin explained how they were approaching the second day of action: &#8220;I think the biggest thing for us is to rest and recover tonight,\u201d the skipper said.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019re not done; we go again tomorrow.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Any game can go anywhere. It just comes down to who performs on the day, and we know that, so we&#8217;re not na\u00efve.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_68537\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-68537\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-68537\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Grey-College-Nomads--400x255.jpg\" alt=\"Grey College impressed on the opening day of the Nomads Hockey Festival. Photo: Grey College\" width=\"400\" height=\"255\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-68537\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Grey College continued the strong form they exhibited at the Tony Godding Festival on the opening day of the Nomads Hockey Festival. Photo: <strong>Grey College<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Grey College, meanwhile, continued on their impressive run so far this season. They maintained their unbeaten record with a 4-0 win over Pretoria Boys High (PBHS) and a 4-1 victory against St John&#8217;s College.<\/p>\n<p>Penalty corner specialist <strong>Matthias Visser<\/strong> struck twice against PBHS, while <strong>Waldo Koning <\/strong>also found the target.<\/p>\n<p>Against St John\u2019s, Visser scored another ripper from a short corner before his brother,<strong> Luke<\/strong>, <strong>Gianni Tyropolis,<\/strong> and Koning, added their names to the scoresheet.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We couldn\u2019t have asked for a better start than getting two wins on day one of the Nomads,&#8221; Grey College captain <strong>Andrew Koupis<\/strong> told SuperSport Schools Plus.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We just want to keep going now. We have an early game against Jeppe in the morning on their home turf. It&#8217;s going to be tough, but the boys are ready.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Koupis and his troops entered Nomads brimming with confidence after a good showing at the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/grey-college-and-grey-high-indomitable-at-synsport-tony-godding-festival\/\">Synsport Tony Godding Festival<\/a><\/strong> a week ago.<\/p>\n<p>There, the Bloemfontein side picked up four wins, but the skipper said he urged his boys to put the past in the past and focus on the job at hand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I spoke to the boys coming from Tony Godding and just said we should remain grounded and keep our feet on the turf, and I think that showed today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The showdown against Jeppe on Sunday takes place early in the morning at 07:30.<\/p>\n<p>Maritzburg College also started the festival brightly with a win against St Benedict&#8217;s and a draw with KES.<\/p>\n<p>In their first match, coach Mark Sanders\u2019 team found the back of the net three times, courtesy of <strong>Rory Schirge<\/strong>, <strong>Uyanda Dlamini<\/strong>, and <strong>Heath Hackland. <\/strong>They also kept a clean sheet.<\/p>\n<p>They played to a 1-1 draw with KES in the day&#8217;s final match and take on Wynberg at 13:45 on Sunday, seeking their second win at the festival.<\/p>\n<p>In other matches, Wynberg beat Pretoria Boys High 3-1 while KES thumped Selborne College 5-1.<\/p>\n<p><strong>RESULTS<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Jeppe 4-2 Selborne College<br \/>\nGrey College 4-0 Pretoria Boys High<br \/>\nHilton College 1-0 St John&#8217;s College<br \/>\nMaritzburg College 3-0 St Benedict&#8217;s College<br \/>\nJeppe 4-0 Wynberg Boys&#8217; High<br \/>\nKing Edward VII 5-1 Selborne College<br \/>\nHilton College 4-0 St Benedict&#8217;s College<br \/>\nGrey College 4-1 St John&#8217;s College<br \/>\nWynberg Boys&#8217; High 3-1 Pretoria Boys High<br \/>\nMaritzburg College 1-1 King Edward VII<\/p>\n<p><strong>FIXTURES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Sunday, 30 March<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>07:30<\/strong> &#8211;\u00a0 Jeppe vs Grey College<br \/>\n<strong>08:45<\/strong> &#8211; St John&#8217;s College vs Wynberg Boys&#8217; High<br \/>\n<strong>10:00<\/strong> &#8211; Selborne College vs St Benedict&#8217;s<br \/>\n<strong>11:15<\/strong> &#8211; Hilton College vs Pretoria Boys High<br \/>\n<strong>12:30<\/strong> &#8211; King Edward VII vs Grey College<br \/>\n<strong>13:45<\/strong> &#8211; Maritzburg College vs Wynberg Boys&#8217; High<br \/>\n<strong>15:00<\/strong> &#8211; St John&#8217;s College vs Selborne College<br \/>\n<strong>16:15<\/strong> &#8211; St Benedict&#8217;s vs Pretoria Boys High<br \/>\n<strong>17:30<\/strong> &#8211; King Edward VII vs Hilton College<br \/>\n<strong>18:45<\/strong> &#8211; Jeppe vs Maritzburg College<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hilton College and Grey College made big statements on day one of the Nomads Hockey Festival at Jeppe High School for Boys, in Johannesburg, on Saturday, by both recording two wins on the scenic Boden AstroTurf. They were joined by the hosts Jeppe, who were comfortable winners against Selborne College and Wynberg Boys&#8217; High. Hilton, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":68541,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68532","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\/68532","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\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}