Garsfontein 1stXV's season as planned for the 2022 season is an exciting one, unfortunately, some fixtures which one would expect in a top school list is missing in 2022. Admittingly player welfare and the availability of the other top schools obviously play a big role when fixtures are determined.
However, if a school want to be taken seriously as a top contender, there are a few schools that must be included in the fixture list. Grey College and Paarl Gim are, unfortunately, missing from Garsies fixtures which will give all of their "haters" enough ammunition to still label them as the "wannabees" from Pretoria.
Pretoria Boys High is the first test of the season for Garsfontein and with Paul Anthony as PBHS' Head of Rugby Garsfontein can expect the worse from the Souties.
At the Noord/Suid Festival, Drostdy HTS under the guidance of Hans Coetzee will be a hard nut to crack. Then Paarl Boishaai with Sean Erasmus back will be an even tougher test for the Pretoria boys. I do think that Garsfontein speed out wide should serve them well against these two top-class opponents.
Then follows the "Big One" when Garsfontein makes the short trip to take on Affies at the Plaas. Emotion and passion most probably will be the difference between being victorious and losing with the scoreline expected to be close, very close.
Framesby and Paul Roos at the Wildeklawer Festival will be the last out of province opposition before the start of the VirSeker Cup competition. Garsfontein should be the favourites for both matches, however, travelling and hostel life could change smiles into tears in a split of a second.
Garsfontein's u/15's ended 4th in the 2019 VirSeker Cup while their 2019 u/14 team did not make that year's playoffs ending 5th. However, we all know the legend of the "Garsfontein Bus" rumoured to make weekly trips to the Western Cape to collect all the talent in the area. I must add that I witnessed the Garsfontein Bus in November last year and it was a bit cramped but admittingly shiny.
Garsfontein will as usual have a potent backline that will run most, if not all defensive structures to pieces. However, according to rumours, their engine upfront could lack some size and grunt.
"Wannabees?", nee wat, a school that established themselves as one of the top rugby schools in the country that do a lot to give their "Springbok" hopefuls a lot of exposure on and off the rugby pitch.
1stXV Provisional Fixtures (Home team 1st)
12/03/2022 Pretoria Boys High vs Garsfontein
25/03/2022 Garsfontein vs Drostdy HTS (Noord/Suid)
28/03/2022 Garsfontein vs Boishaai (Noord/Suid)
09/04/2022 Affies vs Garsfontein
30/04/2022 Framesby vs Garsfontein (Wildeklawer)
02/05/2022 Paul Roos vs Garsfontein (Wildeklawer)
07/05/2022 Middelburg HTS vs Garsfontein (VirSeker Cup)
14/05/2022 Monnas vs Garsfontein (VirSeker Cup)
21/05/2022 Garsfontein vs Menlopark (VirSeker Cup)
28/05/2022 Marais Viljoen vs Garsfontein (VirSeker Cup)
04/06/2022 Waterkloof vs Garsfontein (VirSeker Cup)
23/07/2022 Garsfontein vs Helpmekaar (VirSeker Cup)
30/07/2022 Garsfontein vs Noordheuwel (VirSeker Cup)
20/08/2022 VirSeker Cup Semi-finals
27/08/2022 VirSeker Cup Final
Other important dates:
29/03 - 02/04/2022 u/14A Skonk Nocholson Festival (Maritzburg College)
29/03 - 02/04/2022 u/16A Skonk Nocholson Festival (Maritzburg College)
01-04/04/2022 u/15A Francois Swart Festival (Affies)
