Year: 2019

Rugby, Sport Results

On Thursday 14th March the u16A rugby squad left for Port Elizabeth to take part in the Westering co-ed festival. On Thursday we played a match against Andrew Rabie High School prior to the festival. With co-captain and pivot James Pienaar not available due to injury the reshuffle proved to be costly as we struggled to find our rhythm and we simply could not deal with the line speed of the opposition who put us under pressure throughout the match. Union lost the match 14-5.

On Thursday night we stayed at Muir College, checking out on Friday when we travelled to Port Elizabeth and had a training session on the beach. This the team thoroughly enjoyed and it gave the boys the opportunity to connect as a squad and good team spirit was established.
We had lunch at McDonalds and relaxed for a while the Boardwalk.

At 15h30 Union played their first match of the Co-ed festival against Grey High School invitational side. Union played a great game of rugby where they manned up and played their hearts out. With the game deadlocked at nineteen all, Grey’s fitness proved to be the difference. Union lost the match 38-24. The team than went for supper at Baywest Mall where they were spoiled for choice. On Friday night we stayed at Cape Recife. After a very long day the boys were happy to finally get in bed.

On Saturday morning we played our last fixture against Alexander Road. Union started in the worst possible manner and soon found themselves 19-0 behind. We then settled nicely into our pattern and after countless attacks we crossed the white wash twice to go into half time trailing 19-12. Union showed complete dominance in the second half running in 5 tries. It was entertaining and clinical. All the pieces of the puzzle were put together and one of the spectators said, “This has been the most entertaining and structured schoolboy rugby I have seen in a long time, an absolute pleasure to watch”.

Union won the match 45-19. The Union team were commended on their fine behaviour, good manners and the way in which they played their matches. As coaches myself and Mr Sparrius can definitely tick this off as a successful trip and also complement our boys of their good conduct and being fine ambassadors to our school.

I wish to express my sincere thanks to the staff of Muir College and Cape Recife who hosted the team over the two nights. A special word of thanks to our parents who supported us and assisted with washing playing kit and sponsoring energy drinks, the team greatly appreciate your commitment.
Grey High School invitational – Union lost the match 38-24

Rugby, Sport Results

1ST XV vs St Andrews Bloemfontein

On Saturday 9 March Union took on St Andrews Bloemfontein in our first home game for the season in what is proving to be a highlight derby day which is eagerly awaited from both schools.

The day started well with the junior teams and 2nd XV putting on remarkable performances which set the perfect platform for an all-out clash between the two schools 1st XV’s.

As expected the game started with a bang and was played at an astounding pace with both teams attacking and defending with everything they had. In the end it was Union that managed to breach the defences first with Luke Mc Naughton crossing the line after excellent ball retention and superb backline play.

St Andrews then hit back with a well- worked try to even the scores out at 5-5 all. Union then capitalised on an excellent build up just before half time where Brett Amsterdam took a quick tap penalty with an excellent run which set Junior Duba up for Union’s second try under the poles which was converted by Jayden Brotherton. Union took the lead at 12-5 at the half way stage.

The second half started as we all expected with aggressive attacking and big hits in defence. Union took the first advantage early on in the second half scoring a fantastic well worked team try through amazing backline play that put Bladen Jacobs away in the corner for our third try to make the score 17-5. Without the hard grind from our forwards up front these platforms cannot be laid for opportunities such as these and credit needs to go to them for showing their dominance in phases against a much bigger pack, making these tries even more spectacular.

From that moment on Union was put under tremendous pressure as St Andrews showed amazing skill with excellent ball retention setting up wave after wave of attack which really tested our defensive grit, forcing Union to make over 100 tackles for the match. Despite the barrage of runners Union’s defences held true with the boys throwing everything they had in stopping St Andrews from crossing the try line. Mention must be made of Mack Rubige, Ebben Johnston and Cleathon Koeberg who lead with the highest tackle counts for the match. In the end it was an out and out team effort on defence which was only breached in the last minute allowing St Andrews to score which ended the match with the final score at 17-10 in favour of Union.

U14s won 27-25

U15s won 33-5

U16s drew 19-19

2nds won 38-0

Well done guys!