{"id":92414,"date":"2026-03-27T13:01:41","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=92414"},"modified":"2026-03-27T13:01:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T11:01:41","slug":"rejuvenated-rhinos-zwarries-set-up-early-northern-dominance-at-noord-suid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=92414","title":{"rendered":"Rejuvenated Rhinos, Zwarries set up early Northern dominance at Noord\/Suid"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_92425\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-92425\" style=\"width: 400px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-92425\" src=\"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Nelpsruit-vs-Framesby-1-400x293.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"293\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-92425\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo: Frans Lombard\/Actionpix.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Thirteen tries to four revealed the northern sides&#8217; early dominance on Friday, the opening day of the <strong>NMI Toyota Noord\/Suid Rugby Tournament<\/strong>, which has returned to Pretoria&#8217;s <strong>Afrikaanse Ho\u00ebr Seunskool<\/strong> this year.<\/p>\n<p>Relive all the action live on\u00a0<strong>SuperSport Schools &#8211; (www.supersportschools.com)\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The rejuvenated <em><strong>Rhinos<\/strong><\/em> of <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Nelspruit<\/strong> ran in five tries in their opening victory over <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Framesby,<\/strong> from Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Nellies<\/strong><\/em> asserted control early, laying the foundation for success with a powerful opening spell driven by their big hitters up front.<\/p>\n<p>The lock pairing of\u00a0<strong>Dirk-Arnold Joubert<\/strong> and <strong>Christiaan Botha<\/strong>, combined with the attacking impetus of dynamic eighthman <strong>Vian Louw<\/strong>, ensured the Lowveld side dictated proceedings from start to finish.<\/p>\n<p>As the curtain fell on the second match of the opening day, Nelspruit&#8217;s exciting fullback <strong>Rhandzu Mkhabela<\/strong> was named the <strong>Player of the Match<\/strong>. Renowned across Mpumalanga for the electricity he brings from the backfield, Mkhabela lit up the tournament&#8217;s big stage, causing the crowd to take notice.<\/p>\n<p>To complement his sharp attacking display, he was equally assured in defence, providing an uncompromising final line as the Rhinos closed out a commanding performance.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Rugby - Ho\u00ebrskool Zwartkop vs Bethlehem Voortrekker - NMI Toyota Noordsuid - 27 March 2026\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5FTnjGCBnHs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In the opening fixture of the tournament, <strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Zwartkop<\/strong> captain <strong>David van Jaarsveld<\/strong> crossed the whitewash twice as the <em><strong>Vikings<\/strong><\/em> marked their debut with a commanding 50\u201314 victory over <strong>Bethlehem Voortrekker<\/strong>, scoring eight tries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Van Jaarsveld combined superbly with the <strong>Player of the Match<\/strong> flyhalf <strong>Tilon Baron<\/strong>\u00a0and orchestrated proceedings in the midfield, steering Zwartkop&#8217;s expansive and incisive attacking display.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Van Jaarsveld, in particular, was devastating when carrying the ball. His powerful, bullocking runs repeatedly split the defence and brought him 10 points after two deserved visits behind the Voortrekker tryline.<\/p>\n<p>Up front, the reliable hooker <strong>Regan Blignaut<\/strong> set the tone for a dominant Vikings pack. His powerful carries stood out as he consistently punched holes deep in Voortrekker&#8217;s defensive line, making metres well beyond the gainline.<\/p>\n<p>Blignaut was ably supported by second rower <strong>Jethro Le Roux<\/strong>, who is one of 14 players returning to the Vikings 1st XV in 2026. Le Roux capped his industrious performance with a superb try, bursting through the defensive line with an attacking run that left even the centres scrambling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Scorers<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Ho\u00ebrskool Nelspruit 29 (24) <\/strong>&#8211; Tries: Hanr\u00e9 Smit, Kamo Monkwe, Rhandzu Mkhabela, Aldo van Jaarsveld, Vihan Louw. Conversions: Ewan van der Merwe (2). <strong>Framesby 14 (0) <\/strong>&#8211; Tries: Zandr\u00e9 Schnetler, Reon Saaiman. Conversion: Miles Feltham (2).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Zwartkop 50 (26) <\/strong>&#8211; Tries: David van Jaarsveld (2), Tilon Baron, Dian du Plooy, Matthew Smith, Xander Huyser, Jethro Le Roux, Ruvan Burger. Conversions: Ruvan Burger (5); <strong>Voortrekker 14 (7)\u00a0<\/strong>&#8211; Tries: Zak Steyn, Wessel Hattingh. Conversions: JC Pretorius (2).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Thirteen tries to four revealed the northern sides&#8217; early dominance on Friday, the opening day of the NMI Toyota Noord\/Suid Rugby Tournament, which has returned to Pretoria&#8217;s Afrikaanse Ho\u00ebr Seunskool this year. Relive all the action live on\u00a0SuperSport Schools &#8211; (www.supersportschools.com)\u00a0 The rejuvenated Rhinos of Ho\u00ebrskool Nelspruit ran in five tries in their opening victory [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":92425,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-92414","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\/92414","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\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=92414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/92425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=92414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=92414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=92414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}