Snr Rugby vs Burgersdorp

A fantastic day of rugby

Union High School hosted Burgerdorp High School’s rugby teams this past Saturday, 4 May.  The fixture resulted in a day filled with good rugby played by both schools

Union’s u/14As lost 10 – 33, the u/15As (in the accompanying photos) won 24 – 19, the u/16As lost 22-24 and the second team won 19 – 7.  The third team, who played against Murraysburg High School, won 15 – 12.

After all these matches were finalised, spectators were treated to an epic clash between the two schools’ 1st XVs.  The match lived up to all expectations and had everyone on the edge of their seats for a thrilling 70 minutes.

Burgersdorp was first to cross the line with a well-played move from a set piece.  Union bounced back and continued to build pressure, holding onto possession and putting together some wonderful phases until they could take advantage of a well-set lineout. This saw Brett Amsterdam cross the line which he then also converted to put the scores level.

Union continued to maintain possession and control territory which led to a well-worked team try scored by Khwezi Simon.  Union was, unfortunately, unable to take advantage of this lead and allowed Burgersdorp to score on the brink of half time with the scores standing at 12 – 12 at the break.

In the second half, Burgersdorp was again first to strike with a try against the run of play.  Union managed to stay composed and once again put together phase after phase of attack, unfortunately, a lack of accuracy in the set pieces kept Union from crossing the line.  Despite the inaccuracy, the continued pressure allowed for some individual brilliance from Lihle Mxhunyelwa, who touched down under the poles for Brett Amsterdam to convert to level up the scores.  This seemed to give Union a boost in confidence and the team once again managed to maintain possession and dominate territory.

Unfortunately, Union was unable to capitalize on the advantages they gave themselves and allowed Burgersdorp to take advantage of their inaccuracy at set pieces which put the Union team under pressure.

In the end, Union was unable to keep Burgersdorp from crossing the line to clinch the match in the last minute and lost the match 19 – 26.

Jnr Rugby Results – UHS vs Adelaide

On Saturday, 27 April, Union’s junior rugby teams travelled to Adelaide for their first away fixture of the second term.  All the teams played to the best of their ability and managed to record positive results

The u/9B team won 27 – 15, the U/9A team lost 0 – 24, the U/11As won 27 – 5 and the U/13Bs won 32 – 12.

The u/13A rugby team played a challenging match against a strong Adelaide team. The game was played at a frantic pace with both teams playing exiting rugby.  Union’s boys managed to stick to their game plan, keeping the ball alive for numerous phases.  Continuous pressure on their opponents led to some brilliant team tries, with Union coming out the victors with a final score of 34 – 0.

Snr Hockey Results – UHS vs Collegiate

A tough encounter against Collegiate for UHS!

On Friday afternoon, 26 April, UHS met with Collegiate Girls’ High School in what turned out to be a very tough encounter for the Union teams.

It started with the U/16Bs facing Collegiate’s U/14As, which proved to be a huge miss-match.

The U/16As then showed real courage and determination in their match, to restrict their opponents to a 3 – 0 victory. Union’s players failed to convert their chances but delivered a really good performance overall.

In what was a very hard-fought encounter, the first team started their match on the back foot which resulted in them having to defend from the very first minute onwards.  With slick passing, Collegiate managed to score two goals in the 1st quarter.

The 2nd quarter saw three more goals against Union, but the girls fought their way back, with determination, to only allow two goals in the 3rd quarter and none in the 4th. The final score stood at 7 – 0 in Collegiate’s favour.

Special mention must be made of Sakhe Booi for her excellent agility in the goal box throughout the match.

Snr Hockey Results – UHS vs Aliwal North

Union gets the better of Aliwal North

On Saturday morning, 27 April, Union’s hockey teams were in action again, this time against Aliwal North High School.

At the start of the day, Union’s U/16Bs beat Aliwal 5 – 0. The third team drew 1 – 1 and the second team won their encounter 8 – 0.

During the first half of the 1st team’s match, the Union players struggled to find their rhythm and, despite several opportunities and penalty corners, no goals were scored.

In the second half, however, the Union players managed to up their game, with Laetitia Theron scoring a well-worked goal in the first minute.

Shortly thereafter, Laetitia doubled Union’s lead with a goal that was brilliantly set up by Jenna McNaughton.

Union managed to score again in the 15th minute with a goal by Micela Loock. This stretched Union’s lead and sealed the match 3 – 0 in Union’s favour.

Snr Rugby Results – UHS vs Aliwal North

Union and Aliwal North go head-to-head

It was a tough day on the rugby field for all the Union teams this past Saturday, 27 April, as Aliwal North proved to be a worthy adversary.The junior teams struggled a bit with the intensity, physicality and directness with which Aliwal North played.

The second team completely dominated their match, which encouraged the first team boys to give it everything they’ve got.

The first XV’s match started off with a bang with both teams playing at an incredible pace and intensity.  Lapses in concentration and defensive structures quickly saw the ‘Mighty Whites’ 12 – 0 down.  After calming the storm and regaining composure, the boys soon found their rhythm and got onto the scoreboard through a try by Bowen Langmead.

Aliwal North once again capitalised on one of Union’s mistakes and converted to make the score 19 – 5.  Good interplay between Ashton Dawids and Zusakhe Ngwane saw Union cross the line again.  Brilliant pressure from the base of the scrum saw Brett Amsterdam charge down a kick in the Aliwal North goal area which led to a try by Khanya Butshingi.

Union trailed 19 – 15 at halftime.

UHS regained control of the game in the second half and were first to score in the second half.  A brilliant maul followed up by great play by the backline saw Junior Duba score in the corner.  The scoreboard now read UHS 22 – 19 ANHS.  With confidence growing and good ball possession, Jaden Brotherton created space and put Bladen Jacobs away to score under the poles. Jaden converted to take the score to 27 – 19 in Union’s favour.

Aliwal North once again scored as a result of a blunder by Union and converted to make the score stand at 27 – 26 in favour of Union.  Union held on well and kept their heads in this seesaw battle. The boys showed tremendous character and a fighting spirit to the bitter end.  The final score was Union 27, Aliwal North 26.

Union’s try scorers were Bowen Langmead, Zusakhe Ngwane, Khanya Butshingi, Junior Duba and Bladen Jacobs.

Jaden Brotherton successfully converted 1 from 5.

Other Results

U/14A lost 14 – 17

U/15A team lost19 – 17

U/16A team lost43 – 14

2nd Team won 44 – 12

All teams are encouraged to work hard this week in preparation for the weekend’s fixture against Burgersdorp where the same type of rugby is expected.

Shooting

On Wednesday afternoon, 17 April, Union High School hosted its very first competitive shooting league event.

Twelve UHS competitors took part in this sporting contest against the top shooters from Hoër Volkskool and Marlow Agricultural High School.

The event – which was held at the HVS shooting range – was a great success and saw the Union shooters achieve some very good results.

Jnr Hockey Results – UHS vs Sunridge Primary

In their encounter against Sunridge Primary School in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, 13 April, Union’s young hockey teams delivered the following results:

The junior third team won 2 – 0, while the junior second team won 1 – 0 and the junior first team lost 1 – 3.

The junior first team was unfortunate to lose, but learnt a lot.  The game was played in wonderful weather and a friendly spirit.  The first half saw the Union girls pushing themselves in applying tactics they have learned these past few weeks.  Sunridge was, however, first in breaking past their opponents’ defence to score a goal.  Although it was a struggle to, in turn, break past Sunridge’s defence, Union managed it successfully to score a goal – shared by Chloe Erasmus and Leshay Fourie.  The first half ended with the score tied at 1 – 1.

In the second half, the Union team strived to make a breakthrough, but did not succeed.  They soon lost concentration as well as their perspective of the game.  Struggling to pick up the pieces, they allowed Sunridge to convert the score to 1 – 3.  The game ended with Union going down 1 – 3 to Sunridge.

Although the girls lost, the match gave them a fair idea of the areas they need to work on so that they can make the most of the season that lies ahead.

Snr Hockey Results – UHS vs VP

Spectators witnessed an extravaganza of goals, when Union’s senior hockey girls competed against Port Elizabeth’s Victoria Park High School (VP) on Saturday, 13 April.

What turned out to be a clean sweep for the teams, started with the U/16B team putting 6 unanswered goals past VP’s defence.

The U/16A team then took to the turf and struggled to find momentum at first with what seemed to be a lack of enthusiasm. It took them 30 minutes to finally break through VP’s defence, but this then seemed to put the spark back into their play – they then continued to press and put a further 5 goals in the back of the net which gave them a convincing 6 – 0 victory in the end.

The 2nd team, too, had a good day on the field as they cruised to a 7 – 1 victory.

Goals didn’t seem hard to come by as the 1st team started their encounter with goals in the 3rd and 6th minute of the 1st quarter by Laetitia Theron.  Sara Kingwill increased Union’s lead to 3 – 0 with a goal in the 2nd quarter.  VP scored a goal in the 3rd quarter and also starved Union of any scoring opportunities during this period.  The 4th quarter saw Rosslyn Sparks and Sara Kingwill each scoring, to put an end to what was a good entertaining encounter. The match ended with the score standing at 5 – 1 in Union’s favour.

“The girls must be congratulated on their results, as well as for remaining humble in their victory and treating their opponents with respect,” said coach Alvin August.

“The girls have a few tough encounters lying ahead and they will need to put in maximum effort to ensure good results.”