Western Province lead six unbeaten teams into the third round of the U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week

The second day of the Coca-Cola under-13 Craven Week in Durban saw Western Province march on towards a possible spot in Friday’s prestigious final game of the week following their 10-8 win over a very good Valke side in the day’s concluding fixture.

The game was a thriller, between two evenly matched teams and the Valke had an opportunity to force a last-minute draw when they scored a try close to the posts, but the conversion went wide and Western Province were able to keep their unbeaten record.

Province were easily the most impressive side on the opening day, but their skillful backs were given far less possession to run with by the Valke, and the defence of the East Rand side, with centre Franco Wagenaar in the van, cut them down when they did look like breaking out.

In the end, it was the forwards who got the try that sealed the game for Western Province, with flank Benjamin Van Schalkwyk barging his way over from close in to put them 10-3 up ahead of the last gasp try by Ulrich Wiese closed the gap to two points.

The Valke, who beat Namibia in their opening game looked like one of the best teams on show so far and they will, hopefully, be given a good fixture on day three and still be in with a chance for one of the late time slots on the last day come Friday.

The other side to impress on day two was Eastern Province who beat the Golden Lions 22-7 and looked full of skill and determined running. They scored three tries, via Siyamthanda Hallom, Michael Paddock, and Enrico Bantom. The Lions could only manage one try, scored by Franku Muller.

Border managed to keep their unbeaten record, although they were given a stern test by the Limpopo Blue Bulls and scraped home 14-12. Border romped home against the Blue Bulls on day one.

It didn’t get any better for the Blue Bulls on day two. They went down 19-17 to SWD, while Free State also lost their second game in a row – 24-12 to the Pumas.

It was also a bad day for the hosts, KwaZulu-Natal. They lost 14-6 to Boland – their second loss, following their reversal to the Lions on the first day.

There are just six teams who have won both matches so far. In addition to WP, EP and Border, the Griffons, SWD and the Leopards have managed to make it two out of two.

Wednesday is a rest day at the week, play continues on Thursday, with the teams playing their last fixtures at Kings Park on Friday.

Results

Griffons 12 Namibia 5, Zimbabwe 31 Border Country 27, Pumas 24 Cheetahs 12, SWD 19 Blue Bulls 17, Leopards 33 Griquas 14, Eastern Province 22 Golden Lions 7, Boland 14 KwaZulu-Natal 6, Border 14 Limpopo 12, Western Province 10 Valke 8.

The U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week is all about enjoyment as well as identifying talent

The 2014 Under 13 Coca-Cola Craven Week is under way at Glenwood Boys’ High School in Durban and everyone here is in agreement that you would go a long way to find a tournament that has gotten off to better start.

The local organizers have been helped, of course, by the balmy East coast weather – which is being lapped up by the inland teams and their supporters, and Glenwood with its stands, pavilions and lush green field is the perfect venue for a week like this.

The Sharks Union pulled off a major coup by getting their Super Rugby squad involved. They spent the opening day at Glenwood – and they were all there, Springboks included. In a great move, the players joined the provinces that they were affiliated to as schoolboys for the march-on at the opening ceremony, and the team held their practice session on the field at the end of the day’s play.

The under-13 Coca-Cola Craven Week is all about rewarding players at the end of their primary school rugby careers, and about motivating them to continue their development when they go to high school next year. The participation of the Sharks on the opening day certainly went a long way towards achieving those goals.

Yusuf Jackson, SA Rugby’s manager of amateur rugby, who is at the week in Durban, stresses the fact that this particular week is about giving the current top primary schools players an opportunity to compete on a national stage.

“We are aware that these players are at the start of their rugby careers. The under-13 Coca-Cola Craven Week features the early developers and we don’t pay too much attention to results at this stage,” he said.

“So, this week is all about participation, and about making the provinces aware of the young talent they have in their ranks. There’s no point in trying to identify future stars at this stage because there are many players who are not here who will develop physically in the years to come.”

At the same time, however, it’s important that no talented players should fall through the cracks and there are enough agents and marketing people from the top rugby schools around the country to ensure that that doesn’t happen.

Fetsi Mbele, Coca-Cola South Africa Marketing Assets Manager tells us that the goals of the tournament also extend further than what happens on the field, “Not only does the Under-13 Coca-Cola Craven Week unearth talented youngsters it also teaches them to live a healthy and active life through their sport of choice.”

For the spectators, in the meantime, it’s been a feast of barefoot rugby, on a lush emerald field, in Durban’s sub-tropical winter sunshine – it doesn’t get much better than that.

Day 2 Results at lunch

Leopards             32 - 14                   Griquas               

Blue Bulls             17 - 19                   SWD

Free State           12 - 24                   Pumas 

Namibia               5 - 12                     Griffons              

Zimbabwe           31 - 27                   Border CD

Ends.

About The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world's most valuable brand, the Company's portfolio features 15 billion dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply and Georgia. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate of 1.7 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. For more information about our Company, please visit our website at www.thecoca-colacompany.com.

Results from day 1 of the U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week

Border and Western Province were the most impressive teams on view on the first day of the under-13 Coca-Cola Craven Week at Glenwood Boys’ High School in Durban on Monday.

Border ran in nine tries in demolishing the Blue Bulls 52-10. Centre Luwaka Bata and fullback Siposiso Java got two tries each and the Bulls had no answer to Border’s pace, and their willingness to run the ball at every opportunity.

The markedly bigger Blue Bulls team tried to keep it tight – their tries came from lineout drives close to the Border line – but they were ineffective against the inventiveness and ball skills of the Eastern Cape side.

Western Province were no less impressive in their game against the Pumas. Playing in front of the entire Sharks Super Rugby squad - who spent the afternoon at the under-13 Coca-Cola Craven Week, and practiced on the Glenwood field at the end of the day’s play – they scored 10 tries in a one-sided 56-0 win.

Province dominated all phases of the game. Their forwards won just about all the possession going, allowing their backs to run amok. In the end left winger Junaid Abrahams got a hat trick of tries and fullback Kerwin Stewart and rightwing Dalvon Blood scoring two each.

On this showing you can expect at least one of those two teams to be in the prestigious final game of the week on Friday.

In the final game of the day, the hosts, KwaZulu-Natal and the Golden Lions entertained the big crowd with some all-out attacking play. The sides were evenly-matched, with both sides scoring two tries, and the Lions taking the victory 15-12 thanks to a last minute penalty.

In other action on the opening day, South Western Districts caused something of a surprise by beating Free State 10-8 and Boland played some attractive running rugby in downing the Northern Free State Griffons 43-12

Play continues on Tuesday, Wednesday is a rest day, and the teams play again on Thursday. Their final fixtures on Friday will be played at the King’s Park stadium.

Day 1 Results

Griquas 36 Zimbabwe 12, Valke 13 Namibia 0, SWD 10 Cheetahs 8, Boland 43 Griffons 12, Border 52 Blue Bulls 10, Leopards 37 Border Country 5, W Province 56 Pumas 0, Golden Lions 15 KwaZulu-Natal 12.

Day 2 Fixtures

Field A

8:30 Zimbabwe vs Border CD

9:30 Cheetahs vs Pumas

10:30 Blue bulls vs SWD

11:30 Leopards vs Griquas

12:30 EP vs Lions

13:30 Boland vs KZN

14:30 Border vs Limpopo

15:30 WP vs Valke

Field B

8:30 Namibia vs Griffons

Does size really matter at the U13 Coca-Cola Craven Week?

There were the usual number of gigantic 12 and 13 year-olds on display on the opening day of the 2014 under-13 Coca-Cola Craven Week that is taking place at Durban’s Glenwood Boys’ High School this week.

The biggest of them was Stephan Posthumus of Hartenbos Primary School and SWD, who tips the scales at a hefty 116 kg and stands 1,79m tall.

A survey of the official programme reveals, if the numbers are to be believed, that there are 32 boys at this tournament that are over 1.78m tall, and 15 who weigh 80kg or more.

Those sorts of figures always get people talking, and in the social media response to a picture of Posthumus that someone tweeted, were quite a few questions around whether it was safe to have players of this size playing against smaller boys of that age.

At the week, as he will be at all of the Coca-Cola Youth Weeks, was SA Rugby’s medical manager, Clint Redhead, and he says that the issue is one that SARU certainly keeps an eye on.

The question asked, he says, is whether we should be playing weight-grade rather than age-grade rugby at this level, like they do in some parts of New Zealand.

And the answer, he says, is that there is no medical evidence to support It. “We had professor Mike Lambert of UCT do research for us a few year ago and he concluded that there is no difference in the injury-risks involved when age-grade and weight-grade rugby is compared,” he said.

“We keep an eye on the literature, and that hasn’t changed.”

Redhead believes there are social and maturity issues with making larger boys play with others who are older than them that make the practice problematic. “It can’t be good to take a boy away from his peers and put him among players who are older and more mature than he is. We believe that outweighs any benefits there may be to having games were everyone is roughly the same size.”

SARU keeps detailed injury statistics at all the Coca-Cola Youth Weeks and, according to Redhead the most common injuries at the under-13 Craven Week have nothing to do with size and weight. “We find that, because the players are at an undeveloped, growth stage, the majority of the injuries are caused by kids falling awkwardly.”

So, bring on the big boys. They have already added a lot of colour and interest to what is going to be a great festival of rugby in Durban this week. 

Fetsi Mbele, Coca-Cola South Africa Marketing Assets Manager comments, “The Coca-Cola Craven Week creates an environment where natural talent, player skill, hard work, dedication and team work meet and the future heroes of South African rugby are made. We are proud to sponsor a tournament where all kids have the opportunity to take part.”

Ends.

About The Coca-Cola Company

The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world's most valuable brand, the Company's portfolio features 15 billion dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply and Georgia. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate of 1.7 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. For more information about our Company, please visit our website at www.thecoca-colacompany.com.