The moment that many school rugby players dream about has arrived.
Tonight the hall at Cillié High School will be filled with talented and proud players, when the Eastern Province High School Rugby Association (EPHSRA) capping ceremony takes place.
There is huge excitement about the upcoming Youth Weeks, when EP will be represented by the u/18 Craven Week side, the u/18 Academy Team, the u/16 Grant Khomo squad and the two girls’ teams, u/18 and u/16.
It will be the u/16 players who will get the show on the road when the Grant Khomo Week starts on Monday at the Landbouskool Boland in Paarl.
This tournament was initially scheduled to take place at Paul Roos Gymnasium Markotter Fields in Stellenbosch, but after some recent heavy rain the fields have become unfit to host the event.
Although the conditions in Paarl should be much better, the fields are expected to be soft and even muddy as more rain is predicted.
The EP boys will have to adapt quickly to these conditions when they take on the Griffons in their first match.
For the u/18 boys, the Craven Week and Academy teams, the preparation continues with matches against Border at Kingswood College in Makhanda on Friday.
This past weekend in Jeffreys Bay the EP sides were involved in matches against the highly-rated South Western Districts (SWD), and got some vital preparation in for the upcoming tournaments.
SWD won the u/18 match 29–10, but in the match between the Academy sides EP came out on top 27–24. The u/16 side would have learned a lot from their tough encounter, with SWD beating them 45–17.
Craven Week starts on Monday July 3, and EP could not have asked for a tougher start.
They will play against Free State in their first match. Free State was impressive in their warm-up matches, and is expected to be one of the top teams at the week. They recently beat Griquas 97–10.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Academy team. This tournament also starts on July 3 in Johannesburg, and EP will face Western Province in their first outing.
The respective weeks for the Girls’ Teams start on July 10 in Johannesburg and the EP players are hard at work in the practice sessions.
“At the sessions one can see that these girls are 100 percent committed. They work hard and are serious about what they want to achieve,” said Valerie Witbooi.
- Lavela Pongolo of Grey High was part of the South African u/18 Sevens training camp in Bloemfontein this past weekend. Pongolo is on track to represent his country at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad & Tobago in August.
