Rugby, Sport Results

Snr Rugby Results – UHS vs VP

This past Saturday, 13 April, Union hosted Victoria Park High School (VP) from Port Elizabeth for the two schools’ annual rugby and hockey derby.  The positive atmosphere around the campus and the great support for all of Union’s teams ensured that UHS completely dominated the fixture.

All the teams played at a high intensity level and showcased the high quality brand of rugby Union is known for.

U/14A team won 50 – 17
U/15A team won 26 – 7
U/16A team won 55 – 12
3rd team lost 25 – 17 against Asherville Secondary School’s first team
2nd team won 41 – 19 against VP

These incredible performances from all the Union teams set a high benchmark for the 1st XV game which was to follow.

There was also a lot riding on this match, with the school’s “Mighty Whites” owing the community a better performance after last weekend’s loss against Muir College.  Three minutes into the game, Union was first to cross the whitewash through Luke McNaughton picking up a lose ball and running half the field to get Union onto the scoreboard.  A few minutes later, the forwards set up a good maul, with Zusakhe Ngwane dotting down to increase Union’s lead to 12 – 0.  Victoria Park bounced back and scored when Union was two players down due to ill discipline.  Ten minutes before half time, the Union team was back to their full contingent of players and took control of the game once again.  Good continuity and setting up phases, resulted in Gary Shell scoring Union’s third try, taking Union’s lead to 17 – 7 at the break.

In the second half, Jaden Brotherton and Brett Amsterdam used the conditions perfectly, ensuring that most of the play took place in VP’s 22m area.  Union, once again, scored first in this half, through Gary Shell from good trick play off a lineout.  VP hit back with a penalty a few minutes later, taking the score to 24 – 10 in Union’s favour.

Amazing attacking play, running lines and interlinking between backs and forwards saw Union score three more tries by Bowen Langmead, Khwezi Simon and Lihle Mxhunyelwa.  Jaden Brotherton successfully converted all three.

A lapse in concentration and turning our backs on the opposition led to VP scoring towards the end of the game.  The final score was 45 – 17 in Union’s favour.  Union High School’s try scorers were Gary Shell (2), Luke McNaughton, Zusakhe Ngwane, Bowen Langmead, Khwezi Simon and Lihle Mxhunyelwa, with Jaden Brotherton successfully converting 5 from the 7.

All in all, it was a wonderful day for Union rugby and a good comeback by the 1st XV.

Sport Results, Tennis

Jnr Tennis vs LVS

Monday afternoon, 8 April, saw Union’s top junior players facing Laer Volkskool in, what turned out to be, a very closely-contested bout of tennis.  The UHS junior girls proved superior on the day, beating Volkskool with 6 matches to 3.

The junior boys, who could, unfortunately, only field three of their regular first team players, lost their encounter with 3 games to Volkskool’s 6.  All the players put forth their best efforts on the day and certainly did the school proud.

Well done girls!
Rugby, Sport Results

Snr Rugby Results – UHS vs Muir College

On Saturday, 6 April, Union High School’s rugby teams faced one of the school’s oldest rivals, Muir College from Uitenhage.

A morning of hard fought competitive rugby ensued, resulting in a mixed bag of results.

The U/13A team won their match 38 – 19 and the U/14A team lost theirs 0 – 33.

The U/15A team beat their opponents 19 – 12, with the U/16As losing 10 – 45.

The third team and the second team then won their matches, 34 – 10 and 19 – 17, respectively.

The all-around tough matches set the tone for the much-awaited 1st XV game that followed.

The game between the two schools’ first teams was tremendously fast-paced from the get-go with both teams taking turns to test each other’s defences with neither one giving way.

The stalemate was broken when Muir converted a penalty kick to take the lead.

The game continued back and forth until Muir, through some individual brilliance, managed to break Union’s defences and crossed the line for the first try of the match.  Despite being behind, Union’s defence held true and although on the back foot, some quick thinking from Brett Amsterdam, turned defence into attack taking a quick tap penalty to put Junior Duba away to cross the line.  Muir kicked another penalty and the teams went into half time, with the score standing at 13-5 in Muir’s favour.

The second half seemed to prove a very different game, with Muir almost immediately taking the advantage to cross the line.  This seemed to have taken the wind out of Union’s sails and the players struggled to recover, leaving our defence breached too easily. This allowed Muir to cross our line almost at will and left too much work to play catch-up.

Despite falling far behind on the scoreboard, the Union boys continued to fight and put together some wonderful phases of attack towards the end of the game. They were finally rewarded for their efforts when Zusakhe Ngwane crossed the line after a well-structured mall from ten meters out.

The game’s final score was 37 – 10 in Muir’s favour.

“As expected, this was a tough, but well-contested match,” says coach Stephen Bezuidenhout. “We were, unfortunately, our own worst enemy and went down to a better side on the day.”

Hockey, Sport Results

Snr Hockey Results – UHS vs VGHS

This past Saturday, 6 April, Union High School’s senior hockey teams came out tops in a full schedule of hockey fixtures against Grahamstown rivals, Victoria Girls’ High School (VGHS). A new match format being implemented by SA Hockey, saw all teams playing matches consisting of four 15-minute quarters each.

After the u/16Bs, u/16As and second team beat VGHS 3 – 0, 3 – 1 and 3 – 0 in their respective encounters, it was the first team’s time to shine and continue their winning ways.

The game started off at a good pace with Union dominating possession which lead to a goal in the 5th minute by Laetitia Theron, putting Union 1 – 0 up. VGHS bounced back not long after with an equalizer. With the scores level, the scene was set for a feast of goals.The Union girls stepped their play up a gear with a goal by Henze Japhta in the 15th minute which saw the first quarter end with the score standing at 2 – 1 in Union’s favour.The second quarter saw Union extend their lead to 3-1 with another goal from Laetitia Theron which was as a result of a superb build-up from good accurate passing. Sara Kingwill then put victory firmly beyond VGHS’s reach with a fourth goal in the 35th minute, which ended the third quarter with Union 4 – 1 up.

“The water breaks in-between quarters in the new match format, caused the girls to lose some momentum and concentration which resulted in them missing out on possible goal opportunities,” says coach Alvin August. The fourth quarter only saw one goal by Henzѐ Japhta in the 59th minute to give Union a convincing and well deserved 5 -1 victory.

Shooting, Sport Results

Shooting

In an exciting end to their school holidays, 11 Union High School competitive shooters participated in their very first ‘big’ competition – the Eastern Province Open Championships – this past weekend.

The event, held at the Koedoeskloof shooting range in Uitenhage on Friday and Saturday, 29 and 30 March, transpired in cool, windy weather but saw the shooters deliver excellent scores nonetheless.

“It was a stress-filled day for all involved, but the learners gave it their best and we couldn’t be happier with the results they achieved,” said coach Christelle van Eck. “The learners were well-mannered, never complained and helped where ever they could, truly keeping the Union flag flying high.”

Amber Bezuidenhout, Angus McGlaggen, Michaela Price, Megan Putter, Lauren Waddelouw, Amy Waddelouw, Tessa James, Tammy James and Kelly-Page Scott competed in the Air Rifle Open Sight event, with Corniel Vorster competing in the Air Rifle Open Sight, Air Sport Pistol, Air Pistol Standing and Air Pistol Freestyle events and Schea Johnson competing in the Air Rifle Open Sight, Small Bore Rifle Light Open Sight and Small Bore Rifle Silhouette Open Sight events.

Hockey, Sport Results

EP Hockey Trials

Congratulations to the following hockey players who have made it through to the next round of EP trails.
U/18:  Jenna McNaughton;  Micela Loock;  Sara Kingwill;  Sakhe Booi;  Laetitia Theron
U/16:  Chloe Shires
U/14:  Leah Marais;  Sonwabisa Mroro

Rugby, Sport Results

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

Sport Results

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.