All set for Nashua Sevens Skonk Rugby Festival @ Woodburn
Saturday’s Nashua Sevens Skonk Rugby Festival hosted by Maritzburg College is upon us. Woodburn Stadium and Woodburn 2 are the stages that promise to conjure up speedy turnovers leading to dazzling touchdowns interspersed with a slew of corner-flag tackles.
The helter-skelter of 7s rugby suggests there’s no telling what will happen and when in the flurry of contests in the U17 (Woodburn Stadium) and U15 (Woodburn 2) tournaments.
The winning U17 School will represent the Sharks at the fully-sponsored Top Schools U17 tournament to be played in October.
Last year’s U17 event was won in fine style by St Charles College under the captaincy of Brandon van Zyl.
I think Maritzburg College won the U15 event.
The KZN 7s selectors will be in the house, so there’s plenty for the boys to play for – as individuals, combinations and for school honour.
The selection panel will be using the tournament as part of their selection process for the Sharks U17 squad.
The rules and regulations are in place and we’re all set to go in the U17 and U15 tournaments.
The popular Nashua Sevens event is named after the legendary Maritzburg College rugby coach Mr J.M. “Skonk” Nicholson, who needs no introduction.
I attended last year’s (and the years prior) on Goldstones and Snows at Maritzburg College.
It’s a day that never disappoints, especially so thanks to the superb organisation of Maritzburg College director of rugby Kevin Smith and his able team.
Maritzburg College staff put in a lot of work to ensure the smooth running of the Nashua Sevens Skonk Rugby Festival. Observing proceedings from the Kent Pavilion at the 24 August 2017 event are (l to r) Tim Orchard, Kevin Smith, Ryan Kyle and Dave Rogers.
Photo Jono Cook
All the matches feature rolling substitutions, the application of which adds another fascinating feature to proceedings – when is the right time to make those calls will be ever-present in coaches’ minds.
The rolling subs stipulations also add to the responsibilities of the already beleaguered refs, whose monitoring of how many players are actually on the field at any one time can be made more onerous by the sheer pace of play.
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If teams have had more than 7 players on the pitch, this will be penalised.
Great to see that Thabiso Dlamini’s talented local Development boys are in the mix alongside the traditional rugby schools.
Looking forward to seeing you at Woodburn tomorrow.