International Schools team series

The rst match was between the "second team of the South Africa in the opining match is the series. Due top a last minutes try the Irish won the match.

In the second match England played Georgia and the English lost the match 35-31. Does not look good for the English schools to lose he match. Realy a poor show by the English side, After todays amtch what can we expect from the English team - not much insofar as thir matches against the much stronger SA teams are concerned,

In the SA top team beat France 42-21.

Prat, the number 7 and Muller were again class acts,

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It’s good to see Georgia playing a good brand of rugby they are definitely a nation on the up and it’s great for rugby

The SA A side threw it away against Ireland - they were poor at protecting the ball - lost by 3 but should have won it

The SA main side looked unstoppable in the first half running up 31-0 at halftime

Wholesale changes in the second half saw the side fall off the pace which was disappointing

Best SA players were AJ Meyer at lock, Josh Neil at 7 and Pratt at 1. The scrum destroyed the French scrum to the point they had a prop yellow carded

The backs never really fired - too heavy underfoot

Davo did you watch the Paarl derby?

what a game.

I’m a big Jooste fan. Fuck me he is strong.

the GIM locks were epic.

Muller looks like he has incredible game sense.

also… Lamla Mgudesi the Grey College fullback is magic.

Chippo

What about De Villiers playing as a loosie? I was vey impressed by him as well - he scored a try and was also involved in another try scord by the Juniors.

Yes Chip watched that derby it was awesome

Jooste at lock is very good far better than the 4 that starts for the SA Schools side

Jooste’s twin is at 13 for PB’s good player as well

Lamla should be starting on the wing in the SA Schools side given they have Siyaya at 15

He is far more impactful than the two wings starting

Um Dave

Jooste is a looshead prop for PB.

Ah shit sorry yeah

I was thinking of the Joubert twins at PB one a lock the other 13

The tighthead from Grey B was very good to

What about Theunissen - in a way he reminds me of P-S du Toit ak ove the fied wit ball sense, The tyoe of player Mozart dislikes and Plum wnats to use at Inside Center - but a top class loosie in the make,

Mike Theunissen is hardly a young kid on the block he is 26 and is nothing like PSDT given he is best suited to 6 or 8 at around 105kg

He is a damn good player though that never gets any recognition

Good enough to be a Bok I’d take him over v Staaden all day long

Tuesday, August 12 (Boland Landbou):

SA U18 ‘A’ v Georgia (11.30)

SA U18 v Ireland (13.30)

England v France (15.30)

The games tomorrow - team selection noy available.

My forecast

SA "A" Under 20 team to win by 19 points

SA Under 20 team to win by 28 points

France to win by 13 points

Nice watching and subsequent comments,

Dave

I really am stupid, I really referred to De Villiers and not Theunissen when dealing wth the Under 18 playes, Rank idiocy to my mind on my part maybe because they look like each other physically. Now back to the guy that impressed me against the French - it was De Villiers.

The teams have been announced and are as follows:-

SA U18 (v Ireland): 15 Zekhethelo Siyaya, 14 Junaide Stuart, 13 Markus Muller (captain), 12 Christian Vorster, 11 Lamla Mgedezi, 10 Ruben Groenewald, 9 Jayden Brits, 8 Gert Kemp, 7 Wasi Vyambwera, 6 Jacobus de Villiers, 5 AJ Meyer, 4 Jayden Joubert, 3 Matthew van der Merwe, 2 Clinton Agu, 1 Jordan Jooste.

Replacements: 16 Altus Rabe, 17.Kai Pratt, 18 JG Badenhorst, 19 Lwandile Mlaba, 20 Chinedu Amadi, 21 Joshua Neill, 22 Morne Noble, 23 Liyema Nela, 24 Ethan Adams, 25 Jadrian Afrikaner, 26 Thabiso Simelane.

SA U18 ‘A’ (v Georgia): 15 Ethan van Biljon, 14 Junade Pasensie, 13 Erin Nelson, 12 Sbabalwe Magwebu, 11 Ncutu Kepe, 10 Jeandre Uithaler (captain), 9 Mickyle Booise, 8 Quintin Potgieter, 7 Liam Lightly, 6 Briint Davids, 5 Migael Turner, 4 Lian Terblanche, 3 Deon Botes, 2 Thomas Muller, 1 Pieta Cilliers.

Replacements: 16 Keenan Myners, 17 Jeffrey Singo, 18 Bernhard du Toit, 19 Diaan Augustyn, 20 Nhlanhla Ndlovu, 21 Zirk Meyer, 22 Lizwe Mthethwa, 23 Nathan Aneke, 24 Reinhart Viljoen, 25 Jeneall Davids.

A few changes have been made to both sides

Dave

By the way a cousin of mine met Pratt's parents, They are living in Stilbaai and she saw him with them a couple of times, She said Pratt is really a big guy. I am going to see Frans Malherbe's parents the moment the car reparis are completed and am sure there would have been some isses the two families - both from Stilbaai - would have discussed.

So will keep you posted on that one.

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I’m sure the commentator said Pratt was related to Rob Louw and that Kai was a very good surfer

They said he weighed 117kg

Would be no surpise. Louw had a long history going to Stilbaai an he once claimed that he developed his muscles by surfing at Stilbaai - he still goes for his holiday to Stilbaai where he owns a flat. As a matter of fact his father had a caravan and my parents and his camped fo 35 years on adjoining sites evey year. The were close friends and when Rob's son was borne - he phoned his parents and n-laws and my parents in that order to indorm them of the birth.

I was always asked to go and see Rob when he played for Maties in the Easter Weekend club Championship held in Durban every year in the 1970's and on one such opccassion I saw a very shy Naas Botha staying in the same hotel. Chris Faure was then the Tukkie captain and was dating the daughter of a collegue of mine so he went wth me to go and see Rob. When we got to the hotel thee was not a single Matie player in aight and Faure told us tha the Maties are having a team talk. About an our later out of the lift came Dr Craven and he came to say to Faure the Tukkies would have an easy game game that day because the Maties had serious njury problems. I went to speak to Rob and he was lierraly trembling. I asked him about it and he told me that Dr Craven spoke for fve minutes to every player and they were all hyped up. They were uff for a field training exercise hours before the match. What I can remeember is that there was one incident that was years later mentioned on a TV intervoew involving both Naas Botha and Louw, There was a scrum near the Matie tryline and the ball was past to Naas. When he saw Louw comin for im he dropped the ball and the Maties scored a try, Not the only one though - the Maties won the match 27- 6

Stilbaai from the 1890's was a rather unique place where the farmers from the Riversdale area and wealthy businessmen went for their holidays, They always owned holiday homes in Stilbaai and their descendents from all over SA had Stibaai as their favorite holiday place. Until the 1980's the palce did not show much insofar as development is concerned and I must mention that Rob''s mother was a Versfeld family member from Riversdale. However, I can reember in the 1970's when I went to Stilbaai and my father one day was in a sour mood and mumbling - so I asked him about it and he told me that a saleman suggested he should buy 5 sites in the planed now extension for R300. Well he got a tongue-lashing from me and his response was that nobody would build a home where the plan was catered for. I wish I bought the sites myself - but my salary then was less than R150 a month and I had a difficult time surviving on that.

The moral of the story is that if Rob Louw and Pratt is related Pratt's father must have relatives in Riversdale as well and that is probably how my cousin got to meet with them. The fact is that the town changed since the 1980's and Stilbaai is now a favorite resort of he weahthy. Homes their cost between R7 million and in some cases cost above R20 million - one site with three homes was sold in fact for R90 million. .

The other nearby smaller resort is called Jongensfontein and used to be a fishing village where the poorer people from Riversdale went on holiday. So now it is another favourite resort for ex-rugby players. People like Spies and John Smit have homes there in the above R10 millon range,

In essense many people moved from cities and other provinces to Riversdale and the homes even in Riversdale are beoming very expensive. When I bought my present home in Riversdale it cost me R910 000 n 2015. That home now is worth over R3 million.- house built at the same time about 50 meters from mine on the same street was sold for R3 100 000 a month ago. Most homes has no securty femce or wall around them since serious crimes just do not happen here and the refugees are on a waiting list of over 300 to buy homes here. Homes for sale is as rare as hens teeth though,

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You said you bought a house in Port Alfred, When staying in KZN I often slept over in the hotel in the lagoon island there. Just a question are homes in Port Alfred as expensive as those in Stilbaai became/

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. . . .

Duplication

Now back to rugby, The final three matches in the series is on Saturday and will end before the Springboks -Wallaby match starts at 17:10

Saturday 16 August 2025 at Paarl Gymnasium:

11h30: France vs SA U18 ‘A’

13h30: Ireland vs Georgia

15h30: SA U18 vs England

Taking into account as to what happened thus far in the series I think England will be beaten by a cricket score type of result.

So Georgia beat England in the first round

Today SA A thrashed Georgia

Then the SA side thumped Ireland 45-5

Id hate to know what the score would have been had it not been played on wet underfoot conditions effectively nullifying the pace and creativity of the SA backs

SA schools rugby is just next level - the gap closes at the players get older

The SA side thumped France and France just thumped England today

Our next game is against England:)

A cricket type of score - something like 70-6

I do not think I agree with you about the getting older - the SA Under 20 team was unbeatable. this year in the Under 20 RWC - so at least the 2 years looked like rugby in SA is on the up in SA. The massive investment in school rgby development is having a major impact on rugby development in SA.

The massive development I spoke about amounts to between R3 and R4 billion a year - ie about 150 million pounds The amoint comes from mostly local businesses and ex-pupils at the schools involved, as well as parents of present children.

Next tiime you come to South Africa I will take you to Oakdale school and show you around, Riverssdale is a very wealthy town on the whole and much money go lo the four high schools in town. I will also take you to meet Pratt's parents = but will find out what the linage was between Pratt's parents and the Riversdale area. I suspect that te linkage between Pratt and Rob Louw goes through the Versfeld and Cronje families. However - f you were borne before 1950 and grew up in Riversdale before the 1950's chances are that you somehow are related to 90% of he local residents.

One good year of under 20 does not mean it’s always going to be the case and by older I mean senior level

Our school boy rugby is so much better than the rest and with that you would think it would filter through to our senior sides being more dominant than they are

Much of the fall off I’d say is down to physicality. You can get away with being an 80kg centre playing at school or a 100kg lock - unless that player grows to a respectable size as an adult he has no chance of making it as a pro

No poblem with that sthumrny and am sure that the 2012 Under 20 team provided host of players for thw Springboks in succeeding years - but the coaches from 2012 to 2018 were idiots who destroyed more rugby talent than we ever heard of. Of the 2012 RWC winners more playes would have gone through - buy what Meyer did to Pollard nearly ruined his playing career. The same donkey brain response was noticeable under Coetzee and players like Marx, Beast, Malherbe, Etzebeth, Du Toit, Pollard and De Allende and Kriel only reached their real potental under Erasmus,

The oher difference is that prior to 2018 there were loads of quota selections - with Erasmus in charge S A Rugby tje support base changed drastically and there is now a much wider player base to select players from.than ever before.

Here are the SA Teams for tomorrow:

SA U18 (v England): 15 Zekhethelo Siyaya, 14 Junaide Stuart, 13 Markus Muller (captain), 12 Ethan Adams, 11 Jadriaan Afrikaner, 10 Liyema Nela, 9 Morne Noble, 8 Gert Kemp, 7 Joshua Neill, 6 Chinedu Amadi, 5 AJ Meyer, 4 Jayden Joubert, 3 JG Badenhorst, 2 Altus Rabe, 1 Kai Pratt

Replacements: 16 Keenan Myners, 17 Jordan Jooste, 18 Matthew van der Merwe, 19 Lwandile Mlaba, 20 Wasi Vyambwera, 21 Jacobus de Villiers, 22 Jayden Brits, 23 Ruben Groenewald, 24 Christian Vorster, 25 Lamla Mgedezi, 26 Thabiso Simelane.

SA U18 ‘A’ (v France): 15 Reinhart Viljoen, 14 Ncutu Kepe, 13 Erin Nelson, 12 Lizwe Mthethwe, 11 Junade Pasensie, 10 Jeandre Uithaler (captain), 9 Mickyle Booise, 8 Quintin Potgieter, 7 Liam Lightly, 6 Briint Davids, 5 Migael Turner, 4 Diaan Augustyn, 3 Deon Botes, 2 Thomas Muller, 1 Jeffrey Singo.

Replacements: 16 Keenan Myners, 17 Pieta Cilliers, 18 Bernhard du Toit, 19 Lian Terblanche, 20 Nhlanhla Ndlovu, 21 Zirk Meyer, 22 Ethan van Biljon, 23 Nathan Aneke, 24 Sbabalwe Magwebu, 25 Jeneall Davids