As part of the Women’s Day Festivities, the WP Rugby Union will host a rugby tournament on Thursday. About 500 women rugby players will be in action during the tournament including high school teams and primary school teams. The primary schools will take part in a sevens tournament.
I also want to use this opportunity to congratulate the WP Women’s Team for their fine performances during the 2012 season. They started with a victory over the 2011 champions, the Bulls, and followed it up with a win over the “Blue-Eyed Girls of SA Rugby, the team from Eastern Province.
The WP team will play on 18 August against SWD and on 1 September against Border.
To the captain Natasha Hofmeester (Maties) and her WP team – good luck for the rest of the season.
During the July holidays the WP u.16 girls team participated in the National Youth Tournament and were unbeaten. The message is clear – women’s rugby in the Western Province is strong and is going places!
A GREAT MATCH AND ATMOSPHERE
While attending the club rugby match in Premier League A between Elsies River and UWC I realised (yet again) the huge and positive influence of club rugby in a community.
The fact that Elsies River managed to trounce the unbeaten team of UWC obviously got the crowd and supporters excited, but what impressed me the most was the festive spirit after the match. Until late in the night the people gathered around the “braaivleis vure” to talk about rugby and it was interesting to see that a number of other Premier A club members also attended the match and took part in the festivities.
Hats off to the hard work of the Elsies River Committee under the chairmanship of Jerome Steyn. I also have to single out the name of Alice Michaels – her communication work for the club is excellent.
It was also interesting to learn that Leon Faro and his wife have been taking care of the first-aid duties of the Elsies River club the last 7 years.
A LESSON FOR UWC
UWC should learn a lesson from their match against Elsies River. They received a number of kickable penalties at the end of the match, but ran with the ball instead. Unfortunately they did not score any points from the tap-kicks. The hard lesson of rugby is a simple one: take your points; get in front on the scoreboard and then you can run with the ball from anywhere.
DURBIES ARE BACK ON TRACK
After their shock defeat against Tygerberg, Durbanville/Bellville showed their mettle with a victory over the strong team of Maties.
Also in a Super League A clash, Belhar defeated False Bay and this improved their log position.
There will be no matches on Saturday, but there is a strong possibility that Ikeys will play on Thursday against Durbanville.
Next Wednesday Maties will play at home against Belhar, whilst Hamiltons will tackle Vics.
THE BIG CLASH OF THE WEEK-END
This Friday the big clash in Super Leauge B will be the one between Helderberg and NNK. Helderberg, with 56 league points after 12 matches, are currently strong front-runners in this league, but NNK will be a difficult team to beat on their home ground.
NNK and Bellville are in the second spot on the log with 47 points after 13 matches, but their other stats differ quite a lot. NNK has scored in total 454 points and their point difference is 224. Bellville have scored in total 325 points and their point difference is 39 – this stats show how hard the Bellville team had to work for their position on the log.
This week-end Hands & Heart will play against Brackenfell, whilst Kuils River will play at home against Goodwood.
KRAAIE ARE GETTING CLOSER
The defeat of UWC against Elsies River has meant that Kraaifontein has closed the gap on the log between them and UWC. UWC are in front with 50 league points after 11 matches, whilst Kraaifontein has 48 points after 12 games.
This week-end Elsies River will play at home against St Georges, whilst Hamlets will tackle Kraaifontein. UWC will play at home against Scottsdene.
SPRINT BETWEEN TEAMS IN THE HELDERBERG REGION
Macassar or Sir Lowrians? That is the big question in Premier Leauge B. Macassar is the log-leader with 48 points after 12 games, but Sir Lowrians with 46 points after 11 matches are in a strong position to overtake them as the log leaders.
On Friday Van der Stel will play at Bergzicht against Sir Lowrians, whilst Franchhoek will play on Saturday against Eerste River. Macassar will play at home against Lagunya.
WELL DONE TO SUPPORTERS OF RUGBY IN WP
The tough 2012 Vodacom Super Rugby Season has come to an end. I want to use this opportunity to thank the thousands of DHL Stormers supporters. The attendance figures at Newlands were the best of all the teams in this competition and it shows the great support of rugby in the Western Cape. I also want to thank the supporters for adhering to the request to stop their jeers when opposing teams take penalty kicks at Newlands. Thanks again for your great support.
BOKS BACK AT NEWLANDS
Next Saturday the Boks will play at Newlands against Argentina. Congratulatons to Juan de Jongh and Siya Kolisi for their inclusion in the Bok Squad for the upcoming series. It will be great to see the Boks again in action on Newlands.
CONSISTENCY THE KEY-WORD
The Currie Cup Season for DHL WP will start this Saturday at Newlands when they will play against the Sharks.
The WP u.19 and W u.21 teams will also be in action on Saturday. Both teams started the 2012 season with solid victories, but then lost momentum. We look forward to solid performances from both teams week after week.
The performances of both these teams are very important for the WP Union, because they represent the future of WP rugby.
SEVENS TOURNAMENT
In conclusion – in the beginning of October the WP Rugby Union will host a Sevens Tournament for clubs in the Western Province
Rugby Greetings
Herman Abrahams