A jewel of a rugby tournament in the “platteland”
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As a freelance writer I was invited to attend the exciting NWK bpk, Santam Landbou under 16 rugby tournament in Lichtenburg which took place from the 1-5th April 2012 where 8 Under 16 rugby schools teams from all corners from South Africa were represented. Schools that were attending where namely: Hoerskool Voortrekker, Hoerskool Ben Vorster, Hoerskool Lichtenburg, Hoerskool Transvalia, Hoerskool Sentraal, Hoerskool Oakdale, Hoerskool Jeugland and a Barbarians team. Each one of these teams came with reputation that made the other teams nervous but excited.
I decided to weigh in all the pack of forwards and was surprised with pack of forwards weighing in from 661kg to over 700kg for 15 year old boys. Add to this fact most of these boys come from farming communities, it dawned on me that this is going be a tough /bruising tournament. Placing a bet on a winning team would be a high risk and I was almost guaranteed of loosing my money.
When a tournament like this is hosted in a farming town like Lichtenburg you can be guaranteed that this event is gonna be supported by the whole community and they are gonna go out their way to make the tournament a success and this I noticed from day 1 with Head Master Mr. Leon Bantjies and his team.
For the rugby players additional activities were arranged which included rugby coaching clinics, kicking competitions, rugby quizzes, trip to Sun City and local resort, selection of Platteland team, man of the match trophies and pink socks etc
For the coaches, post match evening functions was true Platteland hospitality and all I can say is “Eish Ja with Eish Ja” and Conrad’s spit braai “eish lekker”
I decided to stay in the hostel with the rugby boys and realised that more the things change the more they actually stay the same and boys will be boys and mischief will always be in the order of the day.
Day 1
The match of day was the bruising encounter between Oakdale and Transvalia, Transvalia already struggling with 3 backline injuries prior to the tour was put to a fierce bruising forward battle with Oakdale farm boys who matched them at rucks and mauls. Transvalia scored 4 tries to nun and won the match 20 -9 but paying the price of loosing their kicker due to a serious injury.
Other results from the Day 1
Voortrekker 47 – Barbarians 5
Litchenburg 28 Jeugland 5
Ben Vorster 33 Sentraal 5
Day 2
Two matches on Day 2 had the making of final.
Ben Vorster Beeld large school finalists up against Transvalia Nupower Finalists.
This match would be the powerful pack of drilled forwards of Transvalia against the speed and pacy backline of Ben Vorster. This game turned out to exceed expectation with the pace of the game fast and with no team stamping their dominance on the field and as expected Ben Vorster scored a back line try through broken play and Transvalia scored a try through a driving maul. In the end Ben Vorster narrowly won this battle 8-7 and this could have gone the opposite way if Transvalia did not miss a dead sitter penalty in front of the posts.
Voortrekker against Lichtenburg
This encounter proved to be the most bruising encounter of the tournament with two “Platteland” schools from different provinces measuring strength against strength. Lichtenburg encounter 6 injuries during the match and narrowly lost 10 – 5 This result could also have been different is Lichtenburg Flyhalf had his kicking boots on as well.
Other results from Day 2
Jeugland 5 – Barbarians 19
Oakdale 34 – Sentraal 8
Day 4
With teams nursing their injuries and struggling to get over the narrow losses less than 36 hours ago the match between Lichtenburg and Transvalia would be more a battle of pride for 3rd place. This was also the opportunity for reserves to state their claim on places in the teams. Lichtenburg changed kicker and this worked to their benefit as they kick over almost every penalty kickable. The standard of refereeing in this game was not up to standard and led to serious spectators and coaching staff unhappiness and this rubbed off on the children but the boys have to play the game in such a way that no matter how the referee blows it you must still be able to win and Lichtenburg took advantage of this and won 16 -5
The tournament final was played between Ben Vorster and Voortrekker both also tired from their narrow victories less than 36 hours ago.
The boys from Voortrekker showed all the teams what solid defence was and no matter was was thrown at then they defended like warriors and any Super 15 coach would be proud of such defence lines as displayed by the Voortrekker team. Tackles were clean and hard and stopped Ben Vorster getting momentum on many occasions. Voortrekker defence and ability to turn defence into attack ensured them a 20 – 15 victory.
Other results
Oakdale 55 – Barbarians 0
Sentraal 22 – Jeugland 12
A week of most enjoyable rugby where scores sometime flattered the winning teams and not a true reflection of the intense battle that took place on the field.
Any team attending this week in the future can only benefit for the experience of playing such competitive games as well as experiencing the hospitality of the “platteland.”
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