Sheepfarmers Clash in Cradock

On Saturday Cradock High School again play Gill College of Somerset East in an FNB Classic Clash.

For may years Cradock, founded in 1838 in a sheepframing area, played Marlow, the local agricultural school. But the Wolramme were really too strong for Cradock and so they played ancient friends, Gill College founded as a university in 1869.

Last year the Classic Clash was in Cradock where the visiting Gill side won 23-12. This time the match is again at Cradock and this time it is one of those too-close-to-predict matches.

In 2013 Cradock were rebuilding and struggled. But then only two of their 1st XV players left at the end of 2013. Their present team has experience and they have turned defeat to victory.

Season so Far

Cradock have played 11 matches and won 10 of them, losing only to  Volkskool of Graaff-Reinet by a single point..

Gill have played eight matches, won six and lost two. Their defeats have been at the hands of Die Brandwag of Uitenhage and Graeme College of Grahamstown who are probably stronger teams than any Cradock have played this year.

Common opponents

The only opponents both have in common are DF Malherbe of Port Elizabeth, Volkskool of Graaff-Reinet and Winterberg.

DF Malherbe: Cradock won 25-14; Gill won 57-0.

Volkskool: Cradock lost 21-20; Gill won 37-24

Winterberg: Cradock won 19-16; Gill won 28-12

Representative Players

The players of both schools are eligible for Eastern Province Country Districts, a vast area that includes the whole of Eastern Province except for the narrow strip from Uitenhage down to Humansdorp. In other words it is centred on Port Elizabeth while Country Districts includes Grahamstown and areas inland, including Cradock, Somerset East and Graaff-Reinet.

Craven Week

Each team had one player at the Craven Week in Middelburg.

Gill: Evert Joubert

Cradock: Chuma Mboxwana

Academy Week

Gill had two players and Cradock one player at the Academy Week in Worcester.

Gill: Rayno Kruger, Francois Jordaan

Cradock: Sinekhaya Vulindlu

Teams

Cradock: 15 M Goba, 14 L Maso, 13 L Peter, 12 W van Zyl, 11 S Bekebu, 10 R van Zyl, 9 Z Mulder, 8 S Mkolwana, 7 R Peters, 6 M Taljaard, 5 D Stroebel, 4 C Mboxwana, 3 L van Greunen, 2 B Matika, 1 S Vulindlu

Gill: 15 K Kruger, 14 R Sammy, 13 W Meaker, 12 W Viljoen, 11 C Troskie, 10 W Greef, 9 L Saayman, 8 D Gowar, 7 E Joubert, 6 R Kruger, 5 H Moolman, 4 Q Benecke, 3 M Lombard, 2 F Jordaan, 1 M Jacobs

Date: Saturday, 9 August 2014

1st XV kick-off: 15.30

Venue: Cradock Rovers Ground

Expected weather conditions: Rain with a high of 22°C, dropping to 7°C

Rugby Programme

Rovers A

0.900: Under-15A

10.00: Under-11A

10.50: 3rd XV

11.50: Under-13A

12.50: Under-16A

13.50: 2nd XV

15.10: Presentation

15.30: 1st XV

Rovers B

0.900: Under-11B

10.00: Under-14A

10.50: Under-13B

Cradock Voorbereidingskool

0.900: Under-7A & Under-7B

09.30: Under-8A

10.00: Under-9A