The Weekend To Come – 07/04/2019

 

South African schoolboy rugby is storming full steam ahead while the New Zealanders are slowly picking up speed. Such a privilege to be part of this game and see our future stars in action while they are doing what they love the most - play Ruggas.

New Zealand

New Zealand is slowly starting to wake up with the second week of preseason games taking place. Hamilton Boys High already tasted victory earlier in the week beating Westlake BHS (34-07) and the weekend's fixtures promise to deliver some great rugby. The pick of the bunch maybe Auckland Grammar (#9) vs Mount Albert Grammer (#27). But still early days.

South Africa

In the Central Region - Middelburg HTS travels to Bloemfontein to take on the might Grey College. Many say that this Grey 1stXV is the best Grey produced in a good 10 years, all I can say is mmmm they are very very good. So expect a 50+ pointer here. Goudveld who only lost one game this season must be the favourites against Voortrekker Bethlehem while Welkom Gym should win against Witteberg.
Eastern Cape - St Andrew's College who is the current bookies' favourites in the Eastern Cape and still unbeaten will host an also unbeaten Grey PE. This promise to be the match of the weekend in the Eastern Cape but could also be one of the best to attend in the country. Selborne who lost to Jeppe will be the overwhelming favourites against Grens while it is worth the drive to attend the Kingswood 125th Festival where some of the top schools from the Eastern Cape will attend.
KwaZulu Natal - Two big games with Glenwood vs Maritzburg College the big one while Westville will host DHS. Glenwood and Westville should win with relative ease as Maritzburg College and especially DHS are struggling this season.
Noordvaal - The Region to be at, as we are spoilt with some mouthwatering matches. Affies vs Helpmekaar will be an epic clash between the two top-ranked teams in the region. Affies for a win just because ...... St John's hosts a Jeppe team that is showing some early signs of yet another magnificent season with their only loss to St Andrew's College with one point. KES host Pretoria Boys High who is in a rebuilding phase and hopefully we will see the hand of old-boy Paul Anthony working wonders.

Monnas hosts Menlopark in what should be a great match and although Monnas "lost" to Jeppe in a Golden Lions trial match three days ago they must be the favourites if ................. Garsfontein's visit to Rustenburg should be without too many bruises and a good win. EG Jansen who is looking promising under the guidance of Rudy Dames should not experience too many problems in dealing with Kempton Park. Waterkloof should also prove to be too much for a struggling Transvalia at home. Transvalia who was raided extensively after their successful season in 2018 is struggling at this moment with their decision to send their 2nd stringers to the Noord Suid Derby hurting their rankings a lot.

Western Cape - (Tony Stoops)  Two of the main attractions happen to be right next door to each other as Bishops take on Paarl Gym at the Piley Rees and Rondebosch host mighty Paul Roos at their Tinkie Heyns field, but there’s a lot more elsewhere as Wynberg visit Boland Landbou, Paarl Boys’ High welcome Outeniqua and, further afield, HTS Drostdy travel up to Riversdale to play Oakdale.

There are also two across-the-mountain matches to entertain locals up the Garden Route. Oudtshoorn host PW Botha and Langenhoven Gym roll out the mat for George. No predictions about the first of these, although Oudtshoorn is rebuilding very efficiently, but the Lions are expected to deal summarily with George.

The pick of Western Province Premier B fare appears to be Parel Vallei’s debut in which they play DF Malan in Bellville. The Bulldogs will be oozing confidence, having run ran up two very large scores at the recent Wynberg Festival. In the other games in this tier, Stellenberg should run up a big score against Brackenfell, while Bellville is likely to compound Strand’s misery.