SA School Sports

THE word "talent" suggests a natural aptitude or skill. Many schoolboys have it - the challenge is to convert it into something meaningful and lasting.

It is the one school rugby match that is perhaps getting more air time than any other that has been played this season and it doesn’t even feature one of the top First XV’s in the country.

A cold, wet and miserable day greeted both teams as the men from Pretoria travelled down to the coast of Durban to clash in what promised to be a very physical encounter between the two teams who boasted some very big boys.

Queen’s College Taunton (UK)- Head of Hockey (Full Time) – Approximately £25,000 p/a - To Start –Late August 2017

The St Charles College first XI cricket team have never won the KZN Inland region T20 tournament, hence the dream of competing for the KZN Dolphins Franchise gold medal match has never materialised. 

 A fighting 40 from Thamsanqa Khumalo during the Coca Cola Schools T20 Regional Finals against Clifton College at Sahara Stadium Kingsmead on Friday, 3 February, set up an eight run win for Glenwood in an exciting but low scoring affair.

This weekend saw Glenwood play host to the Witbulle from Pretoria, Affies. This game had all the makings of an epic battle with both teams leaving nothing to chance out on the field.

Still licking their wounds after going doing in a narrow defeat to Kearsney College, the KZN Powerhouse, Glenwood looked to recapture their mojo with a trip up to the Midlands to meet Michaelhouse.

Glenwood , DHS and Clifton seem locked in a bitter feud following an incident involving key members of all three teams and coaching staff that has brought school water polo under the spot light for all the wrong reasons.

On Saturday, 6 September, Glenwood Gr 9 boy, Reuben Schoeman from Yellowwood Park swam a personal best time of 59.03 in the 5km event in the 14 – 16 year age group category at the Federation International de Natation (FINA) world junior open water swimming championships in Balatonfured, Hungary.

It wasn’t going to take long before old boys from both Glenwood and Hilton College joined the skirmish that has erupted over Hilton’s decision to withdraw from all rugby matches against Glenwood and so end a rivalry that started years before the Great Depression.

The traditional rivalry between Glenwood and Hilton College on the rugby field is all but over and it may well stay that way for many seasons to come. We spoke exclusively to the Head Master of Glenwood, Mr. Trevor Kershaw to get his take on the situation.

Glenwood and Hilton College will no longer play any rugby fixtures against each other in 2015 and perhaps for some time to come.

In a dramatic stance taken by Hilton College it looks unlikely that the two KZN teams will be competing on the rugby field for some seasons to come following an announcement from Hilton this week.

Glenwood’s Jaco Coetzee has been selected to captain the SA School’s U18 Rugby Team for 2014 at the forthcoming U18 international series against France, Wales and England, from 10 to 24 August. Their first match is against France at the City Park Stadium in Cape Town on 15 August, followed by Wales at Outeniqua Park in George on 19 August, and England at the Paul Roos Markötter grounds in Stellenbosch on 23 August.

What a prospect! And so much to play for!  Maritzburg College entertain Glenwood on their cherished Papes Astro Saturday morning in a clash that has so many possibilities it all points to a dramatic occasion.

 There are understated mutterings on the schoolboy rugby scene that Glenwood High School has unearthed a gem in their decorated rugby program. He is said to possess the versatility of Sharks and Springbok breakout star, Marcel Coetzee; that rare and invaluable ability to comfortably shift between all three positions in the back row and could quite easily become the perfect hybrid of all three.

The final round of fixtures for the 2^nd term saw Glenwood play host to Kearsney at the UKZN rugby grounds. Having lost to the visitors 2 years in a row, the Glenwood team would have been keen to get back to winning ways.

The Green Machine, Glenwood High School, travelled up to Hilton College on Saturday the 7th June, 2014 to play against a home team that would have been keen to make amends for their heavy defeat against Maritzburg College last weekend.

The Green Machine is bruising after their loss to Monnas over the weekend but they will be eager to put that behind them as they take on Hilton College this week.

On Saturday the 31st May, 2014,  Glenwood traveled up to Monument Hoërskool, a game which formed part of the annual Mutual & Federal Inter-schools derby.

Over the past few season’s the matches between Glenwood and Maritzburg College have been epic affairs with the majority of matches ending in hard fought for draws.

It is not everyday that a school has the services of a coach that also takes care of a national team but such is the case with the Glenwood hockey side. Fabian Gregory, the newly appointed head coach of the national men’s team is also the Glenwood 1^st XI hockey coach.

Glenwood Grade 9 swimmer, Reuben Schoeman, is fast becoming one of the most talked about open water swimmers in the country and many are tipping him to reach the highest levels in the sport.

On Saturday the 18 January, 2013 eagerly awaited clash between Glenwood High School and Westville took place at Bowdens Field Westville.

After the departure of Sean Erasmus who has taken up a post as Head of Rugby at Paarl Boy's High, Glenwood have appointed Rudi Dames as their new 1st XV Head Coach. 

For much of the year the race for the No.1 spot was a three horse race with Waterkloof taking the early lead with a powerful start to the first term and going into the last month of the season it looked like the Pretoria team might have done just enough to secure the top spot for 2013.

Glenwood Wrap up Cricket Season with a Win

The final cricket match for Glenwood took place in Durban on Saturday 2 November, 2013 as they took on the dangerous St Charles team. Fortunately the rain stayed away allowing for a full day of exciting school boy cricket. St Charles won the toss and chose to bat first and the openers initially survived the opening spell but eventually lost their first wicket when St Charles opener Z Kourtsouris edged one to the slips giving Glenwood’s C Pearce his first wicket. A few errors in the field allowed for a 3^rd wicket stand of 58 between M Mortman (43) and B Philpott (52) before A Phehlukwayo broke the partnership. From then onwards the St Charles batsmen couldn’t maintain a decent partnership and lost wickets at irregular intervals. Glenwood’s spinner S Nhlebela proved to be a problem for the batsmen and was managing to use the pitch to his advantage taking 3-31 in his 10 overs. St Charles eventually ended their innings on 199/9 in their 50 overs.

Glenwood’s innings started slowly and the loss of 2 quick wickets didn’t help their cause as they reached 41/2 after the 10^th over. The powerful G Wissing managed to hit a quick 28 but it was the 4^th wicket stand of 90 runs between A Phehlukwayo (85*) and M Hay (27) that helped Glenwood chase down the target. Phehlukwayo’s mature innings of 85 not out consisted of four 4’s and four 6’s proving to be a major contributor to Glenwood’s 4 wicket win. Glenwood High will now focus on the T20 series for the remainder of the year and hope to keep up their unbeaten streak in this year’s series.

The KZN Top 10 came to a conclusion yesterday with the Glenwood junior teams performing exceptionally well.
 
For the 1st team it was a nightmare come true with their Goalkeeper withdrawing at the 11th hour as a result of a debilitating virus. His replacement too was unavailable due to a family tragedy and the third replacement had a broken hand. As such the team relied on the U15B Goalkeeper as well as a player to fulfil the role. Both players gave 100% effort.
 
The U15A team performed extremely well. In their final pool match against Clifton, the team played their best water polo with Clifton snatching a draw in the dying moments of the game. The boys then had to play DHS two hours later and although we had a 3-0 lead, the physical demands of the Clifton game took its toll and the boys weren’t able to maintain this lead and lost 4-7. In the end the team finished third overall, a superb result.
 
The U14A team too had a brilliant tournament. The boys played exceptional water polo and deserved their place in the final. However they were very unlucky. They led for the entire match only to be beaten by an unfortunate goal in the end.
 
Glenwood finished in 2nd placed in the overall standings behind Clifton, the highest position we have attained since the inception of the KZN Top 10.

The Glenwood Premier League

There were mixed results for the Glenwood 1^st XI cricket team as they travelled to Pietermaritzburg to take part in the Michaelmas cricket week.

The annual Oppenheimer Cricket Week in Pietermaritzburg, once again sponsored by that great benefactor of the game, Jonathan Oppenheimer, kicks off on Saturday, September 21 and runs until Tuesday, September 24.

A thoroughly convincing victory by Westville over Maritzburg helps to cement their place at the top of KwaZulu-Natal Soccer rankings having enjoyed a very productive season.

The Green Machine 1^st Water Polo side were able to reverse their fortunes of the Term 1 match against DHS by running out 8-5 winners in the first inter schools fixture of 2013.

With the start of the final cricket season of 2013 there is plenty of cricket that is about to be squeezed into a few very competitive months and if the weather plays the game we are in for a treat of schoolboy cricket.

It has been a long time coming but finally we have compiled rankings for soccer although it is only for one province of the country.

An inform Angus Ellis-Cole gave St. Stithians a wonderful start to both matches they played in the past week and helped to get their season off to an encouraging start.

A season of some of the world’s best school boy rugby has all but come to a close and for the players who ran out for the last time for their school they will be left with that supreme pride that comes from wearing their teams badge and playing to their best ability. A memory that will live with them for decades.

It was a tightly fought season which saw three teams vying for the top spot almost from the start of the season and at various stages all three, Affies, Outeniqua had a taste at being the number one side in the country.

However it is perhaps fitting that it is Affies who can lay claim to the top team in South Africa after completing the season without being defeated, without drawing and winning every single match. It is a supreme effort by a side that played the country’s most powerful teams and still remained competitive scoring heavily in most of their matches.

It is perhaps a pity that somewhere along the line Affies and Paarl Gim never met, as on paper there was very little to choose between the two teams, however Gimmies were held to a surprise draw by Oakdale in what was their only ‘blemish’ on an otherwise spotless season so perhaps finishing in second spot is justified.

A strong finish by Grey College, after an indifferent start to their season put pressure on Outeniqua for the third spot, but the consistency of Outeniqua helped them to finish in the Top three after suffering just the one defeat at the hands of Paarl Gim.

It was another great season and our thanks to the thousands of players, coaches and the avid fans of schoolboy rugby that showed sustained interest in the rankings, offered advice and suggestions and supported us. Rankings are not an absolute science but by factoring in the strength of the opponents, margin of victories and the actual results it is hoped that a team’s current form can be judged.

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Glenwood hosted Maritzburg College on Saturday 3^rd August at the 3 schools Astro. After losing narrowly up at College and enjoying a recent run of good form, the 1^st XI were quietly confident that they could record the victory against College Hockey at first team level that had so far eluded them for a decade.

The unbeaten run continue for Paarl Gim and Affies who brushed aside this week’s opposition with very little worries.

Victories by Paarl Gim, Affies and Grey College consolidated their status as the leading teams in the country as the second half of the school rugby season kicked off this past week.

A professional baseball career for a South African schoolboy regardless of the talent is a remote if not impossible dream.

A high pedigree Cape School’s Week dominated proceedings in the SA School Rugby scene this past week where there were one or two surprise results and some expected victories for the big names.

“All Campbell wants from you..................................is all you have!” After these words from their coach, who would’ve dreamt how the drama would unfold in their final match of a 25 game season.

The top five all recorded wins over the weekend which ensured that their positions didn’t change and it is a pity that the much anticipated Kearsney v Maritzburg College had to be cancelled due to a flu epidemic.

Please note that two outstanding results for Pretoria Boy’s High have been included which had a small bearing on this week’s rankings. This weekend there is the big “Battle of the Jukskei” when Pretoria Boy’s meet St. John’s College which will give both teams a chance to move up the table.

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A huge effort by Oakdale finally has brought the mighty Paarl Gim bulldozer to a temporary halt although they will no doubt feel the 17-17 draw was more of a speed hump than an arrestor bed.

The Wynberg machine continues on its merry way with yet another victory in what is turning out to be an outstanding season for the Cape Town outfit.

It was yet another emphatic win by Paarl Gim who managed to steam roll their way over Wynberg to keep their dream of remaining unbeaten very much alive at this stage of the season.

There is some massive hockey taking place this week and it is the Girl’s in particular that will be very busy with several high profile matches on the go and the much anticipated ISSF Festival taking place in Pietermaritzburg.

Rugby Profile of Glenwood High School:

Formed in 1910 and originally known as the Day Continuation School, the name was changed to the Durban Technical High School in 1916 by which time the school had 150 pupils.