{"id":76370,"date":"2025-06-27T02:22:36","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T00:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=76370"},"modified":"2025-06-27T02:22:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T00:22:36","slug":"top-schoolgirls-gear-up-for-fnb-youth-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=76370","title":{"rendered":"Top schoolgirls gear up for FNB Youth Weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s best junior female players will be in action at the FNB U16 and U18 Girls Weeks staged at Queens High School in Johannesburg from Monday, two important tournaments on the local rugby landscape.<\/p>\n<p>The two\u00a0tournaments form part of SA Rugby\u2019s 2025 FNB Youth Weeks programme and will run from 30 June until 4 July.<\/p>\n<p>Mr Mark Alexander, SA Rugby\u2019s president, described the two girls\u2019 weeks as \u201cnothing short of nation-shifting\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are instruments of progress, opening rugby\u2019s gates wider than ever before,\u201d said Mr Alexander.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGirls now have structured, high-profile avenues to express and elevate their talent \u2013 platforms that were unimaginable not long ago. This isn\u2019t just about athletic development; it\u2019s about transforming perceptions and normalising girls\u2019 rugby as a proud, powerful part of our national sporting fabric.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBy investing in these tournaments, SA Rugby is not just growing a sport \u2013 it\u2019s rewriting a narrative. One that says rugby excellence knows no gender and that the next icon of the game could just as easily emerge from a girls\u2019 scrum on a windswept pitch in Gqeberha as from any traditional stronghold.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s a cultural shift that will echo into classrooms, homes, communities\u2014and eventually, into packed stadiums both here and abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first round of the U18 competition kicks off on Monday morning, with Eastern Province meeting the Leopards on the A Field at Queens High School.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, Border will face a Golden Lions Invitational team in the opening match of the U16 tournament.<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-72980\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/u18GirlsWeek-logo-FNB-CMYK-400x486.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"486\" \/>\u00a0U18 fixtures (Monday, 30 June):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>09h00: Eastern Province v Leopards, A Field<br \/>\n09h00: Western Province v Valke, B Field<br \/>\n10h30: Sharks v Griffons, A Field<br \/>\n10h30: South Western Districts v Pumas, B Field<br \/>\n12h00: Zimbabwe v Griquas, A Field<br \/>\n12h00: Border v Blue Bulls, B Field<br \/>\n13h30: Opening Ceremony<br \/>\n14h00: Golden Lions v Free State, A Field<br \/>\n14h00: Limpopo Blue Bulls v Boland, B Field<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-72977\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/u16GirlsWeek-logo-FNB-CMYK-400x486.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"486\" \/>U16 fixtures (Monday, 30 June):<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>08h45:<\/strong> Border v Golden Lions Invitational XV, C Field<br \/>\n<strong>10h00:<\/strong> Sharks v Limpopo Blue Bulls, C Field<br \/>\n<strong>10h00:<\/strong> Western Province v Leopards, D Field<br \/>\n<strong>11h15:<\/strong> Boland v Griquas, C Field<br \/>\n<strong>11h15:<\/strong> Eastern Province v Zimbabwe, D Field<br \/>\n<strong>12h3<\/strong><strong>0:<\/strong>\u00a0Border Country Districts v Free State, C Field<br \/>\n<strong>12h30:<\/strong> Golden Lions v Valke, D Field<br \/>\n<strong>14h00:<\/strong> South Western Districts v Griffons, C Field<br \/>\n<strong>14h00:<\/strong> Pumas v Blue Bulls, D Field<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Issued by SA Rugby Communications<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa\u2019s best junior female players will be in action at the FNB U16 and U18 Girls Weeks staged at Queens High School in Johannesburg from Monday, two important tournaments on the local rugby landscape. The two\u00a0tournaments form part of SA Rugby\u2019s 2025 FNB Youth Weeks programme and will run from 30 June until 4 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":72980,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-76370","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\/76370","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\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=76370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/76370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=76370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=76370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=76370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}