King Edward VII vs Maritzburg College Historic Overview 2019

by | Jul 24, 2019 | Historic Overview, News, Rugby

King Edward VII vs Maritzburg College Historic Overview

The Premier Interschools journey takes us to Johannesburg this coming weekend where Maritzburg College will be hosted by King Edward VII on Saturday 27 August 2019. The last 10 results show that KES is slightly ahead with five wins and College having three wins with two matches drawn.  KES have dominated the last three encounters winning both the matches in 2018 as well as the 2017 clash.

Last 10 Results:

Date KES MC
2010/05/08 14 26
2011/05/07 28 20
2012/05/05 42 25
2013/05/18 8 30
2014/05/10 25 25
2015/05/09 33 34
2016/05/07 32 32
2017/05/06 39 20
2018/05/05 37 18
2018/08/04 28 17

 

KES 2019 Season:

Date Opp For Against
2019/03/21 Glenwood 36 48
2019/03/23 Wynberg BHS 27 18
2019/04/06 Pretoria Boys High 41 27
2019/04/13 Parktown Boys 58 26
2019/04/18 Hentie Cilliers 36 15
2019/04/27 Affies 33 29
2019/05/04 Jeppe 49 31
2019/05/11 St Stithians 54 31
2019/05/18 St Johns 28 28
2019/05/25 Waterkloof 29 13
2019/07/13 Pretoria Boys High 36 19
2019/07/20 Jeppe 7 25

KES is having a very good 2019 season with wins over Wynberg Boys High, Affies, Jeppe (1st game) and Waterkloof to name but a few.  They currently find themselves in the top 10 rankings of schoolboy rugby in South Africa. They had 4 players that represented the Lions at this year’s Craven Week in Bloemfontein, with a further 3 players representing the Lions XV.

Maritzburg College 2019 Season:

Date Opp For Against
2019/03/09 Northwood 26 30
2019/03/23 Noord-Kaap 24 34
2019/04/06 Glenwood 7 15
2019/04/13 Pretoria Boys High 20 15
2019/04/18 Parktown Boys 31 5
2019/04/20 Kingswood 38 7
2019/04/27 St Charles 31 7
2019/05/04 Kearsney 14 12
2019/05/11 DHS 34 24
2019/05/25 Westville BHS 26 28
2019/06/01 Hilton 17 21
2019/06/08 Michaelhouse 42 17
2019/07/13 Affies 16 78
2019/07/20 Pretoria Boys High 26 25

Maritzburg College is not having one of the best seasons according to their own high standards and has only won 57% of their matches so far. They recorded good wins against Michaelhouse and Kingswood, but got thoroughly beaten by Affies two weekends ago, incidentally, the same team that lost against KES.

College only had 2 players representing the Sharks at Craven Week this year, but lock Wandile Hlophe made the SA Schools team as well.

Rugby at KES

Shortly after Desmond Davis, an Association Football enthusiast, retired in March 1931, plans were laid by his successor and “father” of all sport at King Edward , “Robbie” Robinson to start rugby at the School in the 1932 season. To this end he enlisted the help of a “god-father” in the person of Eric F.K. Tucker. He persuaded the Transvaal Rugby Union to level and grass an ugly dusty slope on the School grounds to transform it into two rugby fields to be available for the 1932 season.

On 27 April 1932 the School’s fields were opened when the Chairman of the Governing Body, and ex-Matie, H.J. Hofmeyr kicked off the first ball. On that occasion Frank Robinson expressed the wish that King Edward boys would repay the Transvaal Rugby Union in due course by reproducing in senior rugby, what they had learned while at School.

As early as 1931 the School rugby colours had been decided. For the 1st XV cardinal red jerseys with white collars and a badge and white pants and red and white ringed socks. The rest of the School were to play in red white and green ringed jerseys with dark blue pants and black stockings with red and white tops. And so it has continued to this day with the obvious change to the socks and to white pants for the whole School. It was only in 1935 that the badge was incorporated.

Bruce Macdonald who left the School in 1939 was selected for Transvaal and is the first ex-K.E.S. boy to have played in a Currie Cup final in 1947. The 1956 side produced two provincial players via. A. Miller and J. Faber, while A.H. Bladen was a member of the 1961 side, and he was eventually selected for the Junior Springboks. Norman Picker’s (later a Transvaal player) 1968 side with a 100% record after 17 games played. A few other names from past decades that played representative rugby are: L. Barnard, G. Lawless, E. van der Merwe, R. Keil, S. Marot and  D. Malherbe

List of KES Springboks

Henry Martin “Skaap” Forrest was the first old boy to represent the Boks. He played 7 tour matches on the 1931-32 tour to the British Isles and Ireland. He represented Transvaal before making his Springbok debut in 1931 (aged 23) against Swansea. The School has memorabilia kindly donated by Mr Forrest on display in the School Museum. He is recorded as Bok 229 by SARU. Interestingly enough Henry Forrest played no rugby at School, only 2nd team soccer (rugby only started at the school in 1931) and only took up the game at Wits Rugby Club. In his first season (1929) he was selected for Transvaal and two years later became a Springbok Tourist. The school then had a lengthy wait before “Big Joe” made it onto the Bok roll of honour. Bok 719 is Joe van Niekerk. Big Joe played 52 tests in all and was SA Rugby Player of the Year (2002). The huge, athletic loose forward also captained South Africa at U21 level.

Joe van Niekerk represented Golden Lions (2001-2002 & 2008), Western Province (2003-2007) and capped his career off at Toulon (from 2009 to 2013). As captain of Toulon, he put in consistently strong performances, earning the accolade as the best player in the French Top 14 in 2009.

Bryan Gary Habana became Bok 766. More impressively he became only the 4th Bok in history to earn more than 100 caps! Interestingly Brian also ended up at Toulon, France (since 2013). He previously represented Western Province (2010-2013), Blue Bulls (2005-2009) and Golden Lions (2004).

Malcom Marx became their 4th Springbok when he was picked for the South African team to play in the tri-nation series in 2016.

Rugby at Maritzburg College

Maritzburg College is traditionally the dominant school rugby force in KwaZulu-Natal. The first recorded rugby match in the province of Natal took place in the Market Square of Pietermaritzburg in October 1870. The contestants were Maritzburg College (then known as Pietermaritzburg High School) and Hermansburg School. Played on a sun-baked, wheel-rutted, gravel surface, the contest lasted for more than three hours and ended in a victory, for the High School, by two goals to nil.

The arrival of James Mervyn (Skonk) Nicholson, as a master at Maritzburg College, signalled a revival in the school’s rugby fortunes. From 1948 he coached the First XV for 35 consecutive seasons, until 1982. In 1949 the First XV was unbeaten, as were ten other teams of his, while a further thirteen First XVs during that period lost only one match each.

The legendary JM (Skonk) Nicholson

His teams in the 1950s and early 1960s were particularly successful, at one stage losing only five matches in eleven years!

Skonk’s successors were scarcely less successful. The 1985, 1988 and 1995 teams were unbeaten and four other First XVs lost only one match. Since the turn of the new century, College has often found it difficult to match those statistics. The reasons for this are many: the increasing importance placed on sporting success by schools; the greater spread of talent, often owing to lucrative bursaries offered to promising players; the erosion of the rural core of College boarders; and the greatly strengthened fixture list.

The First XV’s record, however, represents only a fraction of the rugby played at Maritzburg College. Every weekend, as many as thirty teams take the field, playing the game with fierce enthusiasm and pride. The school’s rugby success is therefore built on a very firm and broad foundation.

For many years, Maritzburg College’s rugby has been characterised by the rugged qualities and outstanding support work of its forwards, the hard running and punishing tackling of its backs and an eagerness to move the ball at every reasonable opportunity. Most notable, however, is the fierce determination and spirit typifying College teams and imbuing them with an indomitable will to win.

Maritzburg College’s superbly consistent record, great depth of talent and enviable reputation for a hard but sporting approach to the game have made it, historically, the premier rugby school in KwaZulu-Natal. No one would seriously dispute College’s right to that title.

List of College Springboks

No Name
157 Wally Clarkson
183 Bill Payn
190 Bertram Vanderplank
199 Phil Nel
359 Keith Oxlee
380 Ormond Taylor
432 Andy van der Watt
592 Joel Stransky
648 *Jeremy Thomson
713 *Pieter Dixon
715 Butch James
789 Peter Grant
837 *Craig Burden
867 Jesse Kriel

In addition, several College Old Boys have represented other countries: Hubert Freakes and Geoff Appleford (England), Juan Grobler and Chad Erskine (United States), Brenton Catterall (Zimbabwe), Wim Visser (Italy), Frank Goedeke (Germany) and Andrew Binikos (Cyprus).

 The game will be broadcast live on Saturday 17 July on SuperSport Ten from 13h55.

 

You can also catch the build-up Premier Interschools Magazine Show from Wednesday 17 July at 18:45 on SuperSport One featuring Scarra Ntubeni and Dan Kriel.

 

Preview:
Schedule Date Episode Schedule Time Schedule End Time Channel Status
24-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 18:45 19:00 CSN / SS1 / SS1A Premier
25-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 20:00 20:15 SS1 / SS1A Repeat
26-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 11:20 11:35 SS10 Repeat
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 02:30 02:45 CSN / SS1 / SS1A Repeat
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 04:00 04:15 SS10 Repeat
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 05:15 05:30 SS1 / SS1A Repeat
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 05:45 06:00 SS10 Repeat
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 09:45 10:00 SS10 Repeat
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 12:35 12:50 SS13 Repeat
Build-up:
Schedule Date Episode Schedule Time Schedule End Time Channel Status
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 12:50 12:55 SS13 Premier
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 17:30 17:35 SS10 Repeat
28-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 01:05 01:10 CSN Repeat
28-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 09:35 09:40 SS10 Repeat
29-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 15:35 15:40 SS10 Repeat
30-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 02:05 02:10 SS1 / SS1A Repeat
Live Fixture:
Schedule Date Episode Schedule Time Schedule End Time Channel Status
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 12:55 14:30 SS13 Live
27-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 17:35 19:00 SS10 Repeat
28-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 01:10 02:35 CSN Repeat
28-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 09:40 11:05 SS10 Repeat
29-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 07:25 08:50 SS8 Repeat
29-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 15:40 17:05 SS10 Repeat
30-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 02:10 03:35 SS1 / SS1A Repeat
31-Jul-2019 King Edward VII School vs Maritzburg College 01:30 02:55 SS1 / SS1A Repeat