Struisiedag on Saturday

In an FNB Classic Clash Hoërskool Outeniqua goes up from George over the Outeniqua mountains and into the Karroo to play against Hoërskool Oudtshoorn in the land of the ostriches.

When the teams meet in George it is called Kwaggadag but in Oudtshoorn it is Struisiedag - when the Struisies meet the Kwaggas on home turf.

Last year in George the Kwaggas won 66-10, and one feels that a similar result is not out of the question even if it is in Oudtshoorn in 2014. To make matters more diffiuclt for the home side, players have been suffering from winter ailments.

Season so Far

Outeniqua have enjoyed a much better season than Oudtshoorn in the standard of their opposition and in what they have achieved. At present the Kwaggas are ranked 16th on the highly competitive FNB Top 20. Oudtshoorn have not been in contention for a place.

Outeniqua have played 13 matches, winning nine and losing four but the defeats were all at the hands of other top sides - Garsfontein, Paarl Boys' High, Grey Bloem and Oakdale. (They lost to Garsfontein and Oakdale each by a single point.) Top 20 sides that they have defeated are Glenwood and Paarl Gim. Last Saturday they beat Framesby 29-3.

Oudtshoorn have played 12 matches, winning seven and losing five. But they have not played a Top 20 side and their defeats were at the hands of Nico Malan, Marlow (69-7), De Kuilen, Alumni of Argentina and Langenhoven Gimnasium.

The two schools have no common opponents.

Representative Players

Both team's players are eligible for South Western Districts, and South Western Districts were chosen as one of the best two teams at Craven Week to play in the last match of the week. That tells you that South Western Districts were a powerful side, and lots of the players came from the Kwaggas. In fact only two of their starting team did not get provincial honours though three players on the bench did.

Academy Week

Outeniqua: Clayton Kiewitz, JP Duvenage, Neil Otto, Riaan Kleyn, Logan Stoffels

Oudtshoorn:  Lucian Jones,  François McKnight

Craven Week

Outeniqua: Corné de Klerk, Niven Langdown, Manie Libbok, Andrew Kuhn, Le Roux Baard, Christopher Roelofse, Eduard Zandberg, Anton Swart, Wynand de Necker, Roux Swart, Levuyu Ndevu

SA Schools

After the Craven Week a trial for 56 players was held in Kempton Park and from that a team of 28 players was chosen to play internationals against England, France and Wales later this month. Two of the players were from Outeniqua.

Outeniqua: Le Roux Baard and Eduard Zandberg

Teams

Outeniqua: 15 Corné de Klerk, 14 Clayton Kiewitz, 13 Dandré Maritz, 12 JP Duvenage, 11 Niven Langdown, 10 Manie Libbok, 9 Derick Minnie, 8 Le Roux Baard (captain), 7 Neil Otto, 6 Christopher Roelofse, 5 Eduard Zandberg, 4 Anton Swart, 3 Wynand de Necker, 2 Riaan Kleyn, 1 Andrew Kuhn

Replacements: 16 Stefan Gerber, 17 Roux Swart, 18 Pieter Steenkamp, 19 Levuyu Ndevu, 20 Isaiah Davids, 21 Jason Groenewald, 22 Steffen de Beer, 23 Logan Stoffels

Coaches: Martin Oosthuizen, Robert Gerber, Piet Cloete

Oudtshoorn: 15 Corné Marias, 14 Eldin Rossouw, 13 Clayton Isaacs, 12 Luciano Jones, 11 Lance Nortjé, 10  Francois McKnight, 9 Esjohnne Goliath, 8 Adriaan Coetzee, 7 JP du Plessis, 6 Jacques van Zyl, 5 Chalton Wagenaar, 4 Mark West, 3 Marvin Hartman, 2 Ernest Bekker, 1 Skye Joseph

Coach: Harry Coetzee

Date: Saturday, 9 August 2014

1st XV kick-off: 14.30

Venue: Hoërskool Oudtshoorn

Expected weather conditions: Partly cloudy with a high of 22°C and a low of 7°C

Rugby Programme

A Field  

08.30: Under-14 A  

09.30:  Under-15 A  

10.30: Under-16 A  

11.40: 2nd XV  

12.50: Old Boys' match  

13.45: March past  

14.30: 1st XV

B Field

08.30: Under-16 B

09.30: 3rd XV vs Outeniqua 4th XV

10.30: Under-14 B

11.30: Under-15 B

12.30: Outeniqua 3rd XV vs Uniondale 1st XV