The Weekend To Come – 10/03/2019

This weekend promise to be action-packed with u/20 Six Nations in its fourth round with Ireland and France battling it out for the title tonight. Maties have on Monday again showed that they are the leading University in the Varsity Cup as well as the Young Guns. SChoolboy rugby almost at 100% action with Pionier beating Kearsney (33-24) as the biggest upset for the 2019 season.

International

Tonight all eyes will be on Ireland u/20 and France u/20 match, hosted at the Irish Independent Park. The winner will be decided tonight with Wales having only a mathematical chance to be crowned as the 2019 u/20 Six Nations Champions.

South Africa

Varsity Cup

Maties showed on Monday that they are the leading university in this competition as they won both their games against the Pukke (NWU) who was unbeaten in both competitions before Monday's matches.

High School

Central Region - The Wesgrow Series is in its second weekend with Noord Kaap wanting to stake an early claim in this competition against Fichardtpark. Jim Fouche who have beaten Potch Volkies last week comes up against Voortrekker Bethlehem and would want to think they can get their first win in this competition.

At the Pieter Swanepoel Rugby Day, all eyes will be on the match between Grey College and Welkom Gim. Grey College did beat Duineveld (60-21) last weekend and Welkom Gim will be on the receiving end tomorrow.

Affies will travel to Kimberley on Saturday with both sides not at their best yet. Diamantveld has lost two from three already this year while Affies' performance at the Afgri Prestige Rugby Day was good enough to beat Middelburg HTS (30-05) but still full of early season mistakes.

Eastern Cape - Selborne plays in their first match of the season against Hudson Park while Dale vs Stirling, Marlow vs Port Rex and St Andrew's vs Nico Malan will provide additional great matches.

KwaZulu-Natal - Glenwood who is looking very good in early matches will host Westville Boys High who is struggling in the past year or two. DHS host a Hilton side who lost against Glenwood (17-27) as well as against Pionier (24-33) on Monday. It will be DHS' first match without coach Scott Mathie and it will be interesting to see if any changes were made to their exciting way of play. Maritzburg who was also active in preseason matches hosts Northwood.

Noordvaal

NWU Prestige Series - The second round of this competition and still too early for any predictions. Marais Viljoen who will want to rectify their loss against newcomers Heidelberg Volkies in the first round will host Lichtenburg who is one of the early favourites. Middelburg Hoër who is adamant that things returned to normal after two years of shocking results will host Randburg while newcomer Heidelberg Volkies will travel to Hugenote (Springs).

NWU Pukke 16 Series - The big games should be between Pionier vs Volksrus and Stoffberg vs Pretoria Noord as all four teams are still unbeaten after two rounds. Leeuwenhof should not experience any problems with Overvaal while the last unbeaten team Fochvill should beat Wolmaransstad.

The big match must be Waterkloof vs Helpmekaar tomorrow. Waterkloof "struggled" up front and Helpmekaar coach must be smiling as he is quoted saying that for the first time in a while he has a pack of forwards who can dominate up front. The backline battle should ne an interesting one with the team that can provide their backline with the best ball should win this one.

Garsfontein vs Kempton Park should end just short of a massacre. Kempton just lost again Jeppe (15-20) at the Afgri Prestige Rugby Day but I do honestly not think they will be able to contain Garsfontein. Monnas will travel back from Nelspruit as clear winners. Admittingly we do not know much of the Nelspruit side and discarding their chances is a bit stupid but Monnas is not going to be stopped by an ordinary team either.

Transvalia hosts Menlopark and if they were not raided by the other VirSeker Beker Cup competitors this would have been a brutal battle. Menlopark did look good on Tuesday and should return as winners.

Western Cape - Most of the Premier A schools play "easier" opponents at one of the three big festivals in the Western Cape. At Brackenfell's Sports Day the main attraction should be Stellenberg vs Oakdale. With Stellenberg's victory against Drostdy HTS last weekend this should be a very physical and fast game with only retards doing a prediction.

At the Porterville Bull Festival, Paarl Boishaai and Drostdy HTS will play each other. Drostdy HTS is not looking good after a loss against Stellenberg (05-15) last weekend and an uninspiring win (15-10) against Montana (Pretoria). Paarl Boishaai won against the Cuba XV from Argentina with 37-12 which is not bad but was still missing some starting players in the backline. Boishaai will win but as we are uncertain of how many players are missing I am not willing to bet on the margin.

A lot of action with the first festivals just around the corner.