Union High School would like to extend its heartfelt gratitude to Mr Arland Stanley of Stanley Accounting Services for his generous sponsorship of the u/16A rugby team with brand new jerseys this year.
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ๐ฃ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด!
Saturday, 15 March, saw Union High School’s senior rugby teams facing off against their counterparts from St Andrew’s School in Bloemfontein.
In the ๐/๐ญ๐ฑ๐ match, Union fought hard but ultimately fell to St Andrew’s with a score of 10-37. The ๐/๐ญ๐ฒ๐ team enjoyed a great game, holding St Andrew’s to a scoreless game, finishing at 12-0. The ๐/๐ญ๐ฐ๐ team battled valiantly but ended the day with a 12-29 loss.
The day saw excellent performances from the ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ซ๐ฉ, who dominated their match with a resounding 44-0 victory,
Our ๐ญ๐๐ ๐ซ๐ฉ triumphed over St Andrew’s with a strong 41-10 win. In the first half the Union boys got off to a very good start and we managed to put the first points on the board through a try by Ronan Ewers. St Andrew’s then got a penalty which they converted taking the score to 5- 3. Another try by Christopher Nqumashe extended our lead to 12-3. The boys put pressure on the St Andrew’s defense and this lead to a brilliant individual try by Elvandre Meyer extending our lead even further by 17-3. St Andrew’s then scored a try and we went into half time leading 17-10.ย
The second half the boys came back even more fired up as we broke the defense line of the opposition and scored once again through Yonela Wana, the scored 24- 10. Union then received a yellow card but that did not put us on the back foot as we managed to score two more tries through a second try by Elvandre Meyer and Shaakir Kazi, taking our lead to 41-10.
Overall, we are incredibly proud of our boys’ efforts and sportsmanship on the field today. ๐๐ผ ๐จ๐ป๐ถ๐ผ๐ป!
As we eagerly await the arrival of the boys’ new kit for the season, we want to take a moment to express our ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ง๐๐๐๐ง ๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐ง๐จ๐๐ to Mr Gustaf Ittershagen-Strauss of Build it Graaff-Reinet for generously sponsoring our 1st rugby team’s warm-up tops.
๐๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ข ๐ท๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ญ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ๐ด’ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฃ๐ญ๐บ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ.
๐ช๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก๐ to Union High School’s 1st XV on an outstanding performance at the Gill College Sports Day today!
Kicking off the year with a pre-season victory, the boys won their match against Lilyfontein School 31-0.
A commendable effort was also seen from the ๐/๐ญ๐ฒ๐ team, who triumphed over Hoรซrskool Ooskus Gimnasium with a score of 34-5.
A heartfelt ๐ง๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ to Brian Bands Sports Graaff-Reinet for their generous donation of rugby ball bags to support Union High School’s rugby programme!
๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ’๐ด ๐ด๐ถ๐ค๐ค๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ช๐ง๐ง๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
Meet Union High Schoolโs first team rugby captain:ย Mihlali Tyanase
Position:ย Eighthman
What makes it special to play for Union High Schoolโs first team? The Union High School white rugby jersey is exceptionally special because when you put it on, you donโt just represent the 2021 1st XVs, but the past, present and future of the school as a whole. Every time I put on my white jersey, I think about who I am doing it for. How will I embody a level of excellence and respect for those who have come before me, and those who will come after? For me, as a boy who grew up in a small village in Keiskammahoek on the outskirts of King Williamโs Town, it is a privilege to be able to play for the Union High School first rugby team.
What would you consider the strong points of your team this year?ย My teamโs strongest point has to, most definitely, be the lineouts. Thatโs where we have JJ Liebenberg in the hooker position who has the ability and skill to consistently hit our jumpers. We also have the expertise of Martin van der Berg and Liam Langeveld, both of whom are very skilled jumpers who navigate themselves quite well in the air. We also have skilled powerlifters in Liyema Mjoli, Bubele Thibini and Siphesihle Goliath โ these gentlemen do all the lifting.
What motivates you to give your best on the field week after week?ย For me it is all about leaving the jersey โ and what it represents โ in a better place than where I found it. This is only achievable by making sure that I play my heart out week in and week out. Knowing that Iโm holding my family name up high and making sure that Iโm using a talent that God blessed me with to the very best of my ability, also serves to motivate me.
Your team has been together for 5 years.ย What makes your team special?ย Our teamโs philosophy is โHumility breeds successโ. ย The members of our team continuously show humility by asking themselves, โHow can we do this better?โ and theyโre not afraid to put in the hard work to improve their performance. I think that is what makes us special.
What has been your teamโs greatest achievement over the past 5 years?ย Our greatest achievement came in our first year playing together as u/14As when we beat our fiercest rivals, Hoรซr Volkskool, in front of a jam-packed Botanics stadium- that was a very special moment.
Who is the joker of the team and why?ย The joker has to be Thando Matotie. That oke knows how to get the lads laughing. He has a great sense of humour and is always laughing โ even when weโre dead tired and doing hill sprints, youโll just suddenly hear him crack a joke that gets everyone laughing.
What is the most enjoyable time after a match?ย The most enjoyable time after a match is when we get the โWโ and we gather in the changing room where the lads take pictures with Sisipho Arnolsโ phone (best quality) for our various social media platforms. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, my most enjoyable moment was when Iโd walk over to my dad after a match and heโd give me a handshake and say, โWell played, sonโ.
Who was your matric hero in Grade 8?ย In Grade 8, my matric hero was the 2017 first team rugby captain, Ross Stanley. He always made me feel part of the team as its waterboy. That made me look forward to playing for the schoolโs 1stย XV.
Choose one:
This past week, on 26 and 27 May, Union High School was privileged to have Mr Anthony Heugh, an experienced and respected World Rugby Coaching Educator, in our midst, to assess all our coaches for their World Rugby Level 2 accreditation.
Mr Heugh has been working with the Union coaches since September 2019.
After having successfully completed their World Rugby Level 1 certification a while ago, each of them had to compile a coaching portfolio of their coaching processes along with the completion of a set of online exams, to be followed by a practical assessment to be conducted by Mr Heugh for their Level 2 accreditation.
Following his visit last week, Mr Heugh was very impressed by the high standard of work done by all the coaches and completed the practical assessments with the coaches over two days, ensuring that all coaches were fairly judged on their coaching abilities.
Union High School is very pleased to announce that Messrs JP Kruger, Erwin Ittershagen-Strauss, Hanno Sparrius, Christopher Felix and Donald Kingwill were all awarded their World Rugby Level 2 accreditation.
โWe are very grateful that the school has afforded us this opportunity,โ said Unionโs 1st team rugby coach, Mr Christopher Felix.
โPart of my goal for rugby at Union High School is that the coaches will grow together and provide quality coaching, be students of the game and keep sport educational. This Level 2 course definitely ticked all the boxes. All coaches were signed off as competent and received their certificates. We are looking forward to imparting the knowledge gained while completing the course with all our players.โ
