{"id":73410,"date":"2025-05-27T13:02:19","date_gmt":"2025-05-27T11:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=73410"},"modified":"2025-05-27T13:02:19","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T11:02:19","slug":"hudson-eager-to-tackle-queens-selborne-and-st-andrews-hit-the-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=73410","title":{"rendered":"Hudson eager to tackle Queen&#8217;s, Selborne and St Andrew&#8217;s hit the road"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_73489\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73489\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-73489\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Helio-400x266.jpg\" alt=\"Hudson Park captain Helio Ruiters on the ball in his side's pre-season clash against Queen's College in March at the Border Schools Day. Huson won that clash 2-0. Photo: Steph from Brogle Photography\" width=\"400\" height=\"266\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73489\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hudson Park captain Helio Ruiters on the ball in his side&#8217;s pre-season clash against Queen&#8217;s College in March at the Border Schools Day. Hudson won that match 2-0. Photo: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/brogle.photos\/photos_by\">Steph from Brogle Photography<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Hudson Park High School<\/strong>\u2019s first-team hockey captain, <strong>Helio Ruiters<\/strong>, believes a desire to win, pristine execution and discipline, will be the keys to his side\u2019s quest for glory against <strong>Queen&#8217;s College<\/strong>, in East London, on Friday afternoon.<\/p>\n<p>The sides&#8217; meeting will take place at the<strong> Clarendon AstroTurf<\/strong>, and proceedings start at 16:50 sharp.<\/p>\n<p>Queen&#8217;s will arrive in the coastal city looking to bounce back after a <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/grey-high-too-strong-for-queens-selborne-shocks-st-andrews\/\">2-5 defeat against Grey High School<\/a><\/strong> last week. Hudson, meanwhile, wants to add another tick to their win column after a 4-0 victory over <strong>Merrifield College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/hockey\/\">SuperSport Schools Plus<\/a><\/strong> ahead of the game, Ruiters said his team is geared up and eager to tackle the task ahead of them.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s going to be an exciting fixture,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We played them in pre-season and won 2-0, so they have a score to settle.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We are confident because we haven&#8217;t lost any of our derby games this season, but we know we are going to have to fight to get the desired result against the boys of Komani. As a team, we believe it will be down to who wants it more.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hudson Park, under the tutelage of head coach <strong>Sipe Matafeni<\/strong>, has enjoyed a good season in the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n<p>They started their campaign superbly during the <strong>Border Schools Day <\/strong>and went on to pick up an impressive top-10 finish at the <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/belgotex-sport-easter-hockey-tournament-double-glory-for-fairmont\/\">Belgotex Sport Easter Hockey Tournament<\/a><\/strong>, in Cape Town, in April.<\/p>\n<p>In their derby games, they&#8217;ve picked up wins against<strong> Cambridge High School<\/strong> (4-1) and <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Framesby<\/strong> (2-1) and also shared a pulsating 4-4 draw with <strong>Victoria Park<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our key factor in winning all those games has to be our discipline.&#8221; the Hudson Park captain explained.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our coach, Mr Matafeni, has trained us for endless hours and put in a good shift to get us into the season. Therefore, all praise goes to him, as we are no longer underdogs but a force to be reckoned with in the Border Region.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Hudson&#8217;s hockey fortunes have been on the up in the last couple of seasons.\u00a0They&#8217;ve conquered <strong>Stirling High<\/strong> and Cambridge, in East London, and they&#8217;ll be taking a massive swing at Queen&#8217;s and Selborne.<\/p>\n<p>They drew 2-2 with Queen&#8217;s last year, and Friday&#8217;s match will present them with a chance to make a big statement. That&#8217;s something that excites Ruiters.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It all comes down to who wants it more and which team is willing to give their 100 percent and leave everything on the Astro.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Last year, we could not convert our chances, but I am confident that this year will be different. Friday is going to be a battle between two teams that want to make their schools proud.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Regardless of the result, I am glad that I will be part of this game. I am proud of my team, and I back every one of them,&#8221; he ended.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_73490\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-73490\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-73490\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Grey-College-player-400x267.jpg\" alt=\"Warena Legaiwa will be in action for Grey College when they host Selborne College in Blomfontein on Friday night. Photo: Steph from Brogle Photography\" width=\"400\" height=\"267\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-73490\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Warena Legaiwa will be in action for Grey College when they host Selborne College in Bloemfontein on Friday night. Photo: <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/brogle.photos\/photos_by\">Steph from Brogle Photography<\/a><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Other matches<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While Queen&#8217;s makes the trip to East London, <strong>Selborne College<\/strong> will also be on the road, in Bloemfontein, to face <strong>Grey College<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Coach <strong>KJ Friend<\/strong>&#8216;s side has enjoyed a good run of form lately, winning two matches on the trot, beating <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/drake-on-song-as-selborne-thumps-dale-makhanda-sides-triumph\/\">Dale College 5-1<\/a> <\/strong>and <strong>St Andrew&#8217;s College<\/strong> 1-0.<\/p>\n<p>They face a tough challenge from a Grey College side that was last in action two weeks ago and outplayed <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/grey-college-deflates-affies-in-friday-nite-lights-clash\/\">Afrikaanse Ho\u00ebr Seunskool (Affies) 4-1<\/a><\/strong> on home soil.<\/p>\n<p>Selborne is undoubtedly the underdog heading into the clash but, as they&#8217;ve shown all season long, they have some tricks up their sleeve.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Grey High School<\/strong> will also be in action on Friday night when they host <strong>St Andrew\u2019s College<\/strong>, in Gqeberha.<\/p>\n<p>Woodridge faces a high-flying <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Outeniqua<\/strong>, while <strong>Stirling High<\/strong> takes on <strong>Cambridge<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, there will be a massive interschools clash between Ho\u00ebrskool Framesby and <strong>Pearson High<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>FIXTURES<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Friday, 30 May<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>16:00 &#8211; Woodridge College vs Outeniqua<br \/>\n16:50 &#8211; Hudson Park vs Queen&#8217;s College<br \/>\n18:00 &#8211; Stirling High vs Cambridge High School<br \/>\n18:35 &#8211; Grey High School vs St Andrew&#8217;s College<br \/>\n19:00 &#8211; Grey College vs Selborne College<\/p>\n<p><strong>Saturday, 31 May<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>09:45 \u2013 Framesby vs Pearson High School<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hudson Park High School\u2019s first-team hockey captain, Helio Ruiters, believes a desire to win, pristine execution and discipline, will be the keys to his side\u2019s quest for glory against Queen&#8217;s College, in East London, on Friday afternoon. The sides&#8217; meeting will take place at the Clarendon AstroTurf, and proceedings start at 16:50 sharp. Queen&#8217;s will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":73489,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73410","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\/73410","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=73410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/73489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=73410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}