KZN School boy rugby Fixtures for the KZN10

 

The 2nd term is officially open for all schools and that means that KZN School boy Rugby kicks off in earnest. KZN10 schools are all in action bar the Glenwood 1 st side who take a well deserved break after 10 matches.

 

Match Previews

 

Northwood Vs Hilton College

Venue: Northwood

 

An intriguing match as two of the highest ranked KZN schools, Northwood and Hilton College do battle. This could go either way as this Northwood side is well balanced and brimming with confidence.

Northwood may have the edge in the backs as dynamic runners Ntokozo Makhaza and Salizwa Mlenzana stretch their legs. Any Hilton side Coached by Brad MacLeod-Henderson though will be well organised defensively.

Hilton suffered its first loss in almost 2 years at the Kingswood 125^th Rugby Festival to a classy St Andrews College. Fatigue may have played a factor here as the Hilton lads had played 8 bruising matches in little over a month. Thats tough going at any level let alone schoolboys. Hilton should be well rested for this though as they did not participate in any of the Easter festivals so they will be fresh and hungry.

It will be fascinating to see how these two schools approach each other. Hiltons game plan is not to complicated, built upon trucking it up through the forwards and trying to get over the advantage line via the likes of Christopher D’Oliveira and Leftheri Zigiriadis. Narrowing the defence and then exploiting the spaces on the edge. Simple stuff, but executed with a great discipline.

It will be interesting in this regard if Hilton can create enough go forward ball as the Northwood pack stands back for no one especially when spearheaded by Vernon Matongo.

The age group matches should be something to keep an eye on. Last years U14A teams for both schools were undefeated with Northwood ending up 2^nd in the national rankings to Hilton Colleges 3^rd. For the school boy rugby enthusiast this years U15A match has the potential to be a huge clash. Northwood have lost some of the boys from their great side last year to other schools and may not have the depth of last year but they are still a formidable outfit losing narrowly to rugby powerhouses Selborne College and Maritzburg College.

Hiltons U16A is a quality side so should win along with Hiltons U14 age group

 

Clifton College Vs St Andrews School (Bloemfontein)

Venue: St Andrews School

 

Clifton College have a decent side this year and have had a few tough games to build up for St Andrews. Clilfton, who have been knocking hard on the door of top tier rugby, will go into this clash as favourites.

St Andrews took part in the Easter festival at Penryn College over the weekend and should be ready for a rested Clifton College team. Altitude could play a factor and it remains to be seen how the coaches aproach this.

Clifton should have the edge in all the age group games as they showed great early season form against Michaelhouse

 

Michaehouse Vs Westville

Venue: Michaelhouse

 

Michaelhouse host Westville in the Balgowan valley at the stunning venue of Meadows (Picture insert) which could be a great game. Westville put on dominating display against Jeppe and carried it over to the KES Easter Festival where in winning their two games they scored 84 points to a paltry 12 against whilst walking away with 2 impressive victories.

Michaelhouse will struggle with the Westvilles pack of forwards who are skilful and mobile. Mercurial flyhalf Luc Pousson will again be tasked with igniting the Michaelhouse faithful with his electrifying runs and out of the box play making.

 

 

The matches in the age groups could also be worth a look as both the Michaelhouse and Westville U16A’s had great wins at the Jeppe On Target U16 festival. Both schools won all their matches with the common foe being Pretoria Boys which ran both teams close.

Westvile U16A Vs Pretoria Boys U16A 19:8

Michaelhouse U16A Vs Pretoria Boys U16A 14:9

To tight to call! Possibly go with home ground advantage.

The Michaelhouse U14 A’s should be to strong for Westville at home whilst the U15’s will evenly matched.

 

Kearsney Vs DHS

Venue: Kearsney College

 

Both teams are coming off a string of losses at the Kearsney Festival. For Kearsney its seems that they have lost a bit of confidence after their trip to the Kingswood festival after tight losses to Makhanda(Grahamstown) privates Kingswood and St Andrews.

Kearsney showed great character against a good Framesby team but ultimately ran out of time to win the match. Possibly with a little self belief they can get the results going their way.

DHS have also been on the wrong end of results for some of their games, but not through lack of effort. They showed against Westville earlier in the season that they can create opportunities out of nothing.

In the age groups DHS’ U14’s should be good enough as both schools have played Hilton College with the horseflies U14’s narrowly losing to Hilton.

The U15’s wil be tight but the U16’s from Kearsney should be to good.

 

St Charles College Vs Maritzburg College

Venue: St Charles College

 

Could be a difficult day for St Charles College as they host Maritzburg College. The hosts had a solid showing at the St Johns College rugby festival whilst College seemed to have turned the corner with 2 convincing displays at the St Sthithians. For St Charles to compete they are going to have compete with College in the engine room of the game. It will be imperative that the boys from Harwin Road stand strong and not let themselves be bullied in the tigh lose and contact points.

For Maritzburg College the experiment of playing Philanni Simemane at inside centre has been shelved as he has moved to outside centre to let Captain Siphe Kekane link with flyhalf partner Anele Nzimande. Nzimande had a great St Stithians festival scoring 4 tries and seems to have the flair needed to keep school boy rugby defences honest.

There is slight edge to this Maritzburg College team as the early season losses would have stung and possibly inspired them to play with a bit of a chip on their shoulders to prove something.

If they can maintain their concentration and intensity they should win.

College should have the edge in the age groups with their unbeaten U15 age group leading the way.

 

Thats all for now, till next time,

Zeke