Over the Easter weekend a large group of Northwood’s rugby contingent took part in various festivals.
The u14A team were at Parktown and played 5 shortened formatted games. The boys went unbeaten and had 5 massive victories over St Johns, Randburg, Fourways, St Davids and Pretoria Boys High respectively. One of the few unbeaten teams at the tournament, they managed to rake in a total of 251 points (averaging 50 a game for) and only conceded 17 (averaging 3 against). The boys are currently sitting on 7 games unbeaten with a win to Kearsney and a draw to Westville prior to the festivals.
Northwood’s u15A side were also at Parktown and were 2 points away from also being unbeaten. The team made it tough for themselves against St David’s on day one, but came away with a precious victory. Day 2 would see a highlight for the boys getting a great 24-17 win over Pretoria Boys High. Unfortunately, the final day saw the boys lose a closely contested game to a “better on the day” Saint Stithians team, 10 -12.
The u16A team travelled to Jeppe’s u16 Rhino Festival and came away as the only unbeaten team at the festival. The team had good victories over Litchenburg and Die Anker, however the highlight was definitely their 19-17 victory over the tournament favourites, Helpmekaar, on their final day.
The 1st side found themselves at KES once again and on day 1 did well to beat Muir College 50-7. The second game saw the Knights up against a large Ben Vorster team who had dominated from day one. With an extremely slow start and a strong reflection at half time, the boys bounced back to a respectable 38-28 loss. On the final day the Knights had drawn hosts and Gauteng powerhouse KES. The boys were up for the challenge and definitely earned a 10/10 for effort but just couldn’t finish off some well worked opportunities. The final score was an 18-8 loss, a massive turnaround to the past 4 years’ performances at the festival. With up to 12 grade 11’s on the field at one stage it was always going to be a big ask for the boys to pull off such an upset but they can definitely hold their heads up high. With such a young team and a great u16 side coming through, 2019 is already lining up to be a great year for the Knights.
A special mention must go out to all the boys from the u15B and C teams who represented the u15 Barbarians at the Northwood u15 festival. Going down by very close margins against other A teams from around the country, there is no doubt the entire age group comes away stronger for it and ready to tackle the rest of the season.
Lastly, thank you to all the coaches, learners and families who, as always, sacrificed precious family time to invest in the teams they are part of. With 12 out of 15 victories over-all during this period we can all be extremely proud of our young men in not only their on-field performances, but also the manner in which they conducted themselves off the field throughout as well.
Mr J Scruby – Head of Rugby
