U/16 Rugby – Westering Festival

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

Archery

Over the weekend Matthew McNaughton and  Daniel McNaughton participated in an archery competition and achieved the following results:
Matthew came 2nd in the 3D category with a score of 274/300.
Daniel came 2nd in the Bull’s Eye competition with a score of 270/300.

Snr Rugby – St Andrews Bloemfontein

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.

https://www.facebook.com/unionhighschool/videos/2359727964059006/

U14s won 27-25

U15s won 33-5

U16s drew 19-19

2nds won 38-0

Well done guys!

Snr Hockey – Greg Beling Festival

Greg Beling Festival 8-10 March
Union’s first team hockey girls traveled to East London to take on some top opposition this weekend.
Results:
Union 3 – 4 Kingswood
Union 1 – 4 DSG
Union 1 – 6 Eunice
Union 3 -2 Eldoraine
Out of the 4 games played, the girls proved to be true contenders and were unfortunate not to walk away with a win against Kingswood and DSG. However, this was a major learning experience for the team and there is no doubt that the girls will bounce back this coming weekend.
Well done to the girls on humbly accepting defeat and playing the game in good spirit.

 

 

Top 8 Gala

A group of 7 Union High swimmers participated in the Top 8 Invitational Gala on Saturday 9 March, which pits the top swimmers of schools in the province against each other. Our Union High ladies won 4 medals in total and they were well rewarded for all their hard work during the season.

A congratulation to the following swimmers on their medal wins:

Elia Railton: Silver 50m Breaststroke;  Bronze 50m Backstroke

Amber Binney: Silver 50 Breaststroke

Megan Doyle: Silver 50m Freestyle

 

Jnr Hockey – Lorraine Festival

On Saturday our 1st junior hockey girls travelled to port Elizabeth to participate in the Lorraine Tri-sports festival. The girls played three matches in wet and miserable conditions, but performed very well over- all. In the first game we played against Outeniqua Primary from George. The girls took some time to get into the game after the drive and went down 1-0 very quickly. This proved to be the necessary wake-up call and the girls, while not managing to equalise, limited the score-line to that.

After re-grouping between games, the girls bounced back with 2 fantastic wins. They beat Charlo by 2 goals to 1, with goals coming from Soso Mroro and Chloe Erasmus. Our best performance of the day was undoubtedly against Herbert Hurd who thrashed us last year. The girls played a lovely attacking game with some beautiful passing to end the day with a 4-0 victory. Goals were scored by Soso Mroro (2), Chloe Erasmus and Xarah Hoffman.

 

Biathlon

Union is extremely proud of Megan Doyle, Mia Botha and Jenna McNaughton who have been selected represent the Eastern Province Biathlon team at the South African Champs in the near future.

Megan Doyle, Mia Botha and Jenna McNaughton

Snr Tennis: Fichardt Park McDonalds Tournament

Eight senior boys and girls participated in the Fichardt Park McDonalds Tennis tournament in Bloemfontein over the weekend of 1 March. Playing without our hockey and rugby players, the teams acquitted themselves admirably, every player giving of his or her best.

In both the A and B tournaments, our girls were outplayed by very strong opposition, but must be commended for both their tenacity and exemplary on and off-court manners at all times.

In the boys sections, Union High showed their depth of talent coming second in the A section to Upington High School. Upington ended the tournament with 78 games, and Union with 72. Noä Cilliers and Peter Watermeyer were awarded the prize for the best doubles couple there.

In the B section, Union’s second four players were unbeaten against Fichardt Park, Grens, Middelburg and Upington, but on game average, the winners of this tournament were Upington again. Union had beaten them by 11 games to 10.

Mrs Vorster and Mrs Galloway would like to thank all the players for their impeccable manners and behaviour. The boys in particular, were extremely helpful with carrying luggage, packing and hooking the trailer and we were very grateful for their assistance.