Wrap from Week 7:

We seem to have unearthed that the rise in the intensity of our internal league rounds is directly proportional to how we advance further down the competition calendar. Week 7 was faster, harder and more enduring than a night with a Tugwell girl and more so than any other round we’ve had so far…

Also within the vein and spirit of our league was the cancellation of all the refs for Wednesday night but we managed to sidestep that hurdle by the reintroduction of our A list reffing crew. Once again thanks to all those guys…

You have to be a man bigger than the rest if you have the balls to pick up the whistle and field constant abuse from every supporter of the losing side when no one else sticks their hand up…

In Pool C we had two sides that have their eyes on a play off spot prize, the Purple Cobras and the Wildboys, facing up for their first matches in a while after having a bye last week. The Cobras played entertaining rugby scoring 49 unanswered points against the Shebeen Boys. The Cobras brand of rugby is so marketable it might be used for the 2008 Super 14 ad campaign. Their conversion of ‘no look’ offloads, in and before contact, is astonishing and something the Shebeen Boys found very hard to defend.

The Wildboys came up against the resilient Smuts side but just had too much firepower out wide and ran in a routing 72 points. The Wildboys aren’t doing anything special, but just doing the basics especially well. They create space outwide and then crucify the shoulders of the guy working the scoreboard as they finish just about every opportunity.

Pool D produced our first upset of the season with the Eastern Cape 2 Rios side taking 5 tries from lowly underdogs the Turtles. Easterns are a new side but proved more than formidable with some big results earlier this season but fell far short of their own benchmark when they let the Turtles walk all over them. The Turtles used the wind well to go up 10-5 into the break but then showed how pressure and ferocious defence can lead to points as they ran in a further 3 tries into the wind, coming up deserved 27-5 winners. In the other game the Panthers were at their clinical best with a 27-0 defeat over the Spanners, with David "Peter Hendriks" Finch scoring a double!

Pool A started with a massive result as College beat Clarendon 24-5, which is only the second win for the men in blue in their 110 year history at internal league. Besides a 0-0 draw against Van der Stel by the mighty 1906 side, captained by Jan Van Riebeeck Jnr, College only other non-loss came last year. Hence the magnitude of the victory this week will echo down the corridors on their Main Rd abode for another hundred years to come

The headline game of the week has undoubtedly been one of the most exciting games of Internal League rugby I have ever witnessed. Pool A's top of the table clash saw the Nadoes competing against Ubumbo for pool seeding honours. The game was physical to say the least. The wind was howling down the C field end of the Green Mile and the Nadoes used it to their advantage and went into the break 13-0 up. Ubumbo soaked up serious pressure on defence and were lucky not to concede more points.

The blustery gales that funnel down our channel of greenery nullify any attack beyond the 2nd channel when you are playing into it and kicking is really no option. Ubumbo were heroic into the wind on defence but their creative attack was a non-entity. The game threatened to spiral into a demise at the hands of ill tempers and reckless disregard of the laws at the tackle but ref Sean Shields didn't back down and kept consistency on his side when he punished offenders.

The second half chapter of the game's story might as well have been an entirely new book it was so different. The wind picked up and was now behind Ubumbo and flying hard into the faces of the Nadoes. The men in red and white were rock solid on defence without detracting from the clinicalness of their pattern but the constant pressure was too much and replacement outside centre Dan Watson made a telling run into the 22m brushing off defenders to score. 13-5.

With their tails up Ubumbo increased their intensity and played everything down in Nadoes territory. Ubumbo missed a few long range penalty shots, but eventually scored when Lyle 'Is he human?' Claasens picked up at 8 and drove through numerous defenders to score close to the polls. 13-12 Nadoes lead.

Minutes later Ubumbo goaled a penalty (through lock John Eales) to snatch the lead 15-13 with 8 minutes to go. Losing the lead was the trigger the young Nadoes side needed to get their game together and show why they proudly wear the reputation they have earned over the years. They played precise rugby attacking with accuracy and important ball control to get within range, get a penalty and bang it over to retake the lead 16-15.

With 1 point in it and the clock counting down the euphoria around the C field was incredible. Each side had brought its entire entourage and it seemed there were far more than 30 hearts involved on the field, although literally there were often more than 31 people on the field.

Ubumbo flew into everything and eventually earned the field position for another goalable effort which came at the death with a Nadoe infringing at a ruck. The African John Eales stepped up again and sailed the kick over from an acute angle to steal the win 18-16. Mayhem ensued.

Ubumbo deservedly won the pool stage battle and lets hope these side meet again somewhere in the play off to showcase for all us involved another rugby spectacle. Nadoes were gracious in defeat and showed their true champion colours. I think it is the first time they have lost since the last league game before the semis against the Squirrels in 2004. That's one impressive record.

Watch this space. See you on the Green Mile...

Week 7: Fixtures...


There are some massive fixtures this week. Look out for Nadoes v Ubumbo. It reeks of potential...

Wrap Week 6:

Os Du Randt took off a decade to go and farm and is now training for France, a world cup that is 12 years after the first one he played in. Luke McAllister’s dad told him if he wanted to make it he should take a year off and just gym, his legs now weigh 90kgs each. Chris Latham took 11 months off for a knee reconstruction, ran on in a test against the All Blacks and his first touch was a 60m touch finder…

We were forced to take an exceptionally long 9 week break and the League got up like a sleeping, conditioning, or injured giant to run amok up and down the Green Mile. A length lay-off does zero for momentum or continuity but it can rest tired bodies and refocus tired minds. Players came back eager and super keen to get stuck in.

It is an interesting aside that WP has decided to do the same. They have taken off this years Currie Cup and haven’t pitched up to any matches. I think they are focusing on Super 14 2008.

Sides how ever weren’t indolent however during this long layoff and some were in fact very active. The Nadoes and Purple Cobras went off on a whirlwind tour of the Eastern Cape playing such rugby stalwarts as Plett RFC, each others and the bouncers at Dropzone. Whilst Kopano and Smuts also enjoyed a quaint weekend away together at an undisclosed venue to hone the mauling skills.

The Wildboys entered the Knysna half en masse with most players walking straight from the starters pistol to the gates of the Crabs Creek after-party and the Shebeen Boys spent the winter posing for their upcoming 2008 Get naked for charity calendar, which is apparently meant to be the xmas present of choice this year.

Of course the Panthers returned to their summer houses in the south of Spain but this time not with rugby objectives but for the World Mullet Pageant where they impressive took First, 3rd and all the number from 5th-10th.

Unfortunately the lay-off wasn’t as lucrative and enjoyable with other teams as College, Marquard, Clarendon and Ikhaya all had to stay and do winter school, whilst the Turtles went back to Zimbabwe and are still hitching hiking back, pushing your car takes too long.

The Spanners were invited to an International Engineering Summit but were too disorganized to arrive. Ubumbo spent the break investing at the JSE and as an accumulative now have more preferential shares and board room seats in South Africa’s big businesses than Premier League football owners have in European equivalents. Most of the Eastern Cape to Rio’s (and hence the Barbarians since I'm not convinced they're separate entities) got arrested for drunken driving so spent 9 weeks bulking up in the awaiting trial prisoner’s gym facility at Goodwood prison.

Last night was the Week 6 of 2007 which to get technical was the 2nd week of pool matches in Round 2 leading up to the play-offs. Now that it is done we have two more weeks of pool matches (August 8th and 15th) and then we’re into the Play offs.

With the top 2 sides of every pool advancing to the Cup competition and the bottom advancing Bowl competition sides are playing attacking rugby to finish as high up there pool as possible.

In Pool D the Eastern Cape 2 Rios were horribly let down by a Spanner’s no show, so took the full points and nothing else from the disappointment. Panthers and Turtles then had a very physical encounter that was tight until deep into the 2nd half when the Panthers scored (through so excellent footwork) but the Turtles bounced back to score, convert and take the lead. Panthers then scored twice more near the death to give the score line a fair assessment of position and territory but an unfair testament to some staunch Turtle defence. The only difference between numerous Panthers line breaks and points on the board was relentless Turtle tackling.

In Pool B a very new look (new in appearance not new in age) Ikhaya side battled hard against little side Kopano but to no avail as the determined boys that spend all day trying to look into the windows of Graca Michel wouldn’t let anyone over their try line and they walked away 5-0 winners. I didn’t see the next game but heard it was a classic examples of hard, fast and attacking Internal League rugby when Barbarians took out Marquard 6 tries to 2.

In Pool A Nadoes ran riot against a brave Clarendon side. I am not using brave euphemistically to pander a team that took 50 as the Clarendon boys could easily have woken up in Carinus this morning and looked themselves in the mirror with pride. They were heavily outgunned but totally undeterred and gave everything for all 60 minutes. Concurrently another bravely fought losing battle was meted out by College against a more and more deadly looking Ubumbo outfit. College played an impressive amount of rugby but the Ubumbo charge was just too fast, too aggressive and too organized to halt.

This has become a reoccurring theme but massive thanks and congratulations must go out to our ad hoc refereeing committee that has been summoned for the 2nd round in a row and which has performed with such class and control we are deeply indebted. Chad, Stu Mac, Sean, Burt, Mike and Pig thank you so much guys. In my eyes you are the only guys justified to abuse the officials from the sidelines from now on.

Team of the week: Kopano. Traditionally a very strong team the boys from Belsen always arrived and stamp themselves underdog status but then perform to the potential and have more ‘shut outs’ on defence this season than many sided. And also because baby blue is so 2008.

The WP team of the week: Spanners – see you next week.

Massive apologies: Eastern Cape 2 Rios – you guys are used to getting all dressed up and going home along but not when it comes to rugby. Sorry dudes.

Try of the week: Nadoes, Ubumbo and Barbarians scored some crackers and the interplay of the one Panthers try was sick but it’s going to an individual today. Taking flat fast attack ball at first receiver Edward (someone) in the mauve of College house, showed the ball inside, looked for a man outside, and went himself straight through a flummoxed Ubumbo defence. Touches like that are priceless…

Celebration of the week: The Marquard fullback crossed over for a cracker against the Barbarians but then did everything short of a victory lap in his whooping hi5 throwing end zone dance. He should have got 6 points not 5…

Important Meeting 2008...

Attention all rugby teams: Very important meeting.

Date: 2nd August 2007 Time: 12h45 Venue: Lower Council Room

A senior/competent representative from each team must be present. The meeting is at lunch to accommodate everyone and will not run longer than 1 hour.

And here we go…

After a break that was long enough to put Bobby Skinstad’s exile from international rugby to shame we are back on the waterlogged Green Mile to finish off our league. All but one Pool has played one of their 3 pool games before we lead into the knockout stages.

How it works from here on in is:

We continue with three more rounds (weeks 6-8) in our current format.

We then move into quarter finals. The top 2 sides from each pool will play in the Cup finals and the bottom 2 to will play in the Bowl finals. A UEFA style draw will take place to determine which pool will face which pool.

Then semis and finals.

It’s that simple! The weather is going to be testing, disenchanted Currie Farce Cup spectators will pour onto our stands and hopefully further inroads will be made into the emerging afterparty concept. What lies ahead we look at with relish. It should be fantastic.

Yours in rugby!

Week 6 fixtures:

Wrap Week 5:

The league is in recess now until August due to our long winter exams and looming examinations but it went to sleep on a high note last night with the first weeks match ups of Round 2.

The purpose of Round 1 was to seed the teams into pools of equal strength so that the pool games leading up to the play-offs would ensure the match ups in the knock out stages would be as equal and as competitive as possible.

This structure would obviously enforce traditional minnow sides to face off against more established sides and despite what scoreboards reflect the games were hard, fast and very competitive.

The off field issue last night was the lack of organised referees. Usually Western Province Society refs come out to get blamed for losses but a major oversight by management meant that this was not the case and we had to beg, borrow and persuade refs to depart from the warm comfort of the sidelines and take up the most high profile job available.

Gracious thanks must be extended to Stu, Chad, Tom, Mike, Sean and Burt for being courageous enough to take up the whistle and give every player there last night the opportunity to actually play!

The games of Pool A saw Nadoes roll out an emphatic victory over College House in a very physical encounter and Ubumbo running away with a very tight match against Clarendon. Both games were punctuated with some entertaining interplay and individual touches of brilliance. Special mention must go to Clarendon, historically a very underprivileged side yet this year have been more than impressive.

Pool B entertained a strong Barbarians win over Ikhaya, and the very important res derby where Marquard beat out Kopano in a close game. Ikhaya having been struggling to grapple with the harships of Internal League rugby but there raw enthusiasm bodes well for a new side and if there were prizes for team spirit and support they would certainly walk away with top honours.

Pool C hosted the continuances of the points machine, the Purple Cobras, as they chalked up a big victory over Smuts Hall and another 'point-o-meter' the Wildboys scoring 7 unanswered tries against the Shebeen Boys.

The log after Week 5:

There were too many good tries this week to try and rate some higher than others and it was very difficult to single out a specific side to award the honours of team of the week. With that in mind Clarendon must walk away with more than special mention as they really were brilliant in never giving up against a very strong Ubumbo side and making it a contest all the way to the final whistle.

"Player of the Night" however, definitely goes to the exciting supersub inside centre for Ubumbo, Lebo. The guy came on and showed some individual brilliance with a pace to burn, feet and skill. The crowd weren't joking when they referred to him as SA answer to Luke McAlister.

The Warren "Bad Boys" Brosnihan commentary award:
There were multiply entrants last night and I think they should all humbly accept their award and spend next Wednesday night wondering the Green Mile alone repeating their comments to themselves. If you said one of these, please don't come back for Week 6, because rugby is policed by laws not rules.
- The ref doesn't know the rules...
- The ref forgot his rule book!
- Atleast the refs last week knew the rules..!
- Come one ref, is passing forward a new rule?

Round 2 -

The first Round was a success and now we have reshuffled the pools with a side from every tier in each pool and we are repeating the process but this time for money!

So the top 2 sides from each pool at the end of Round 2 (ie: after 4 weeks of rugby) will advance into the Cup finals whereas the bottom 2 will advance to the Bowl finals.

So basically, you need to win twice in 3 games to advance into the top 8.

Let's get ready to do this...

Wrap Week 4:

Unfortunately I have to keep this brief as I have an important pending date with a very important female lecturer. I know you understand.

Week 4 wrapped up the Round 1 last night and did so in fine style. The rugby was of an impressive standard with all sides coming to the party. If I use another cliché I might as well be Graeme Smith. Here are last night’s results:

The scoreboard tells a story that not even the embellish-king Dan Brown can expand on and judging by the amount of support that was up on the Mile last night I figure if you reading this you not looking for a match report since everyone was there to witness the events.

Okay, truth be told there were plenty blonde angels there not looking to see which team was playing the best pattern but if they didn’t come for the rugby they’re in bed at home right now recovering from what they did go for…

The end of Week 4 left the log standings looking like this after Round1:

We’re now ready to move onto Round 2 with the logs reshuffled. As explained ad nauseam, the logs are still premised on the same format of each consisting of a 1st rated, 2nd rated, 3rd rated and a reach for a dream team:


The fixtures for week 5 (which is next week by the way) will be out soon, but if your eagerness to work it out outweighs my inclination to take up my rendezvous with said female lecturer then I can tell you that it is the same format from week 1. Ie: 1 plays 4, 2 plays 3.

Here is more info for all you ESPN stats sluts out there. Since we advocate running rugby with a modicum of strong defense I think this table speaks volumes:

As mentioned the contests last night were fierce and physical. The “Hit of the Night” goes to the imposing inside centre figure of Scotty Dyson for the Panthers. If there was a silver award he would take that too, actually both his hits would tie for Gold. He smacked the counterattacking Baabaas fullback with such force the ref mentioned it at halftime and a 1st year girl was seen crying behind the floodlights pole she was in such shock.

“Try of the Night” has to go to the podium because there were so many:
3.) Brad Milne streaking away for a 55m against the run of play try for the Cobras that looked to sway the tide of the game against Ubumbo.
2.) The Clarendon right winger who scored a sick, game winning buzzer beater at the death to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat against Smuts.
1.) Ubumbo’s 2nd try. From where I was standing all I could see was the back of 400 supporters standing on the field but judging by their reaction the importance of the try to comeback and seal a draw spoke volumes. If the sides meet again it will be a cracker.
Special mention to Ikhaya has they actually scored a try, and then scored another….!

Week 4:

Lock up your daughters, switch on your PVR, sit down and shut up. It’s game time people…

The Green Mile is going to be rugby havoc this evening with 3 Pools playing the last game in this Round to determine the pools for the next 4 weeks of rugby. It is still earlier stages in the competition but ask the Crusaders how important these stages are if you want a home semi final.

Here are tonight’s match ups:

This is a blue print of how the Pools will reshuffle after this Round. As you will see Pool W has already booked their round place and now it is up to the rest to determine where they fall. Now lets given thanks to the weather gods for coming to tonight’s party!

See you on the Mile…

Wrap Round 1: Week 3

If you braved the icy weather to come see what was out and about up on the Green Mile last night your hunger for some impressive rugby action was certainly satisfied. Last night we witnessed 6 internal league games and two further friendly games between UCT u20s and the new WP Academy sides.

Rugby was up in the air and everyone was breathing hard...

Despite it only been Week 3 teams had thrown off the preseason jersey and were looking far sharper and better prepared. Teams also had to trade in the multistud option for the more effective 6 stud stewel as Cape Town has definitely taken a wintery turn and the conditions under foot aren't exactly akin to playing Craven Week in Rustenburg.

For Pool W it was a massive week with them not having had their bye yet the log at the end of Week 3 would determine their positions in Round 2. The top of the table clash was a tight affair with incumbent A League champs the Nadoes keeping out their incumbent B League counterparts the Wildboys 8-3. Contesting for an important 3rd place in the pool the once formiddable Leo Marquard Lions scrapped together a side and a victoy beating the Spanners 17-5.

With Pool X having a bye week, that left Pool Y and Pool Z to play their 2nd games. The in-form Wadda Purple Cobras side took apart the hapless defence of the Turtles side winning 29-0. In the other game, Ubumbo continued their attacking form of rugby outscroing the Ikhaya Shake and Bake Day Residence by 7 tries to zero to claim an important bonus point. Incidentally this pool is responsible for the lack of match day programmes being printed as the document centre doesn't have A3 paper. A formal request has been made for them to shorten their names like Sri Lankan cricketers do.

Pool Z was tighter than a 2nd years leotard with Kopano taking an important victory against Clarendon 7-5 to cement themselves firmly in 2nd place to hopefully springboard themselves toward the top 8. The new comes Eastern Cape 2 Rios were looking in impressive form needing no introduction into UCT Internal League as they lead their pool after a 2nd victory from two, this one against Smuts 17- 0.

I am afraid this weeks wrap is just about the numbers but I guess they are paramount at this stage. Having said that quick acknowledgement must be made regarding the refs that so selflessly take time out to run around in the pouring rain to officiate our fixtures. We are extremely lucky to have Matt so well connected at the ref's society to get us ref's of these calibre.

Now just because someone is off a high calibre doesn't mean they are going to perform well. Just ask Kobus Van der Merwe about the side he coaches and you will get what I mean. I just want you all to remember two things. Firstly, out of all the Internal League games I have watched, I have never seen a ref drop a ball, miss a tackle, be too lazy to hit a ruck, thrown a ball skew in the lineout or collapse a maul. I did see a ref make a tackle once but that was just as much the fault of the Rochester flyhalf as it was his. The second thing is that if the ref was as good as Mark Lawrence he would be going to France in September, and if you were as good a player as he was a ref, then you'd also be going...

Look forward to a post soon about how the Pools for Round 2 are going to be organised. Once week 4 is completed we reshuffle the pools to go for weeks 5 until 8 before splitting in the quarter finals. So watch out for the new pool draw and for the draw of which pools from Round 2 will meet in the quarter. It has to be done UEFA style otherwise it wouldn't be fair...

Check you on the mile...

Kick-off

Here we are back for week 3. The wrap for Week 2 wasn’t forth coming after a key link in our journalistic chain was overseas, (you need a passport to visit Potch) but we are back in action for the highlites of what promises to be an exciting round this week.

Eight sides will be looking to play their 3rd game out of 4 for Round 1 and a victory will certainly be needed to squeeze your way to the top of your pool for the upcoming reshuffle.

There was a certain amount of confusion last week with some managers being unaware or just plain illiterate to not realise a round of matches was never scheduled due to Intervarsity over the weekend. Hence a few sides arrived on Wednesday expecting a game. So to once again smooth out the bumps of confusion that persists in the minds of some.

This Wednesday is Week 3 of Round 1:

The remainder of the scheduled fixtures:

Bring your lady friends, this week is looking promising…

Wrap of Round 1: Week 1

Morning sports fans! I can admit without fear of contradiction that I am pretty sure last nights opening round of the 2007 UCT RFC Internal League can be accountable for many a sore head wandering around campus this fine morning..!

Amongst the copious amount of alcoholic concussions frequenting the plaza is the odd bruised, battered and stiff feeling that every rugby player sports after the seasons first real contact session. Never fear ailing men, you did yourselves proud last night and girls love scars… Okay maybe a sub muscular soft tissue injury doesn’t get a girl flowing but the odd wince of pain never hurt.

For anyone who managed to make their way up to the Green Mile last night they got ring side seats to vintage Internal League rugby. The blustery south east confirmed its omnipresence and it felt like the Korean indoor track team was training around the park the chill was so nippy.

But neither the cold nor the breeze could dissuade some hard running rugby and abundant warmly clad first year girls coming to expect the new crop of rugby talent.

All the sides from Pools W, X and Y had a go last night with only the exception of Pool Z sitting out, although they chose to sit it out on the sideline with cooler box and Weber at close at hand.

In Pool W the Nadoes fought off a stern challenge from the Spanners and then ran away with it scoring 5 tries to win convincingly 33-0. In the other game the Wildboys who are the incumbent B league trophy holders emphatically beat a flailing Marquard side 34-5. The real difference in that game boiled down to team work and cohesion with Marquard playing a lot of the rugby albeit as individuals compared to the unity of the Wildboys.

In Pool X the losing finalist of 2006, the Barbarians, recorded a comfy 28-0 victory over College House. Don’t let the score lie to make you think the game wasn’t hard or was one-sided. College pushed Barbarians right to the death and kept them honest for 60 minutes. The next game saw the rivalry between two B League superpowers continue with the Panthers edging out the Shebeen Boys 15-7, just denying them the valuable bonus point.


In Pool X the exciting Purple Cobras trounced newcomers “Ikhaya Shake and Bake” (yes, that’s their full name) 65-0 in a high energy match. Hats off must go to the ISB Boys who took their initiation into the League with their heads held high. The final game was a spectator thrill with Ubumbo beating a tough Turtles side 17-3. Ubumbo scored 3 cracking tries but still manage to blow hot and cold although that could be down to early season jitters. The pack for Ubumbo was devastating in the tight loose and very efficient in open play, an aspect of their game which could be menacing for their future opponents.

Last nights results vindicated the somewhat controversial decision to mix up the leagues this year and move away from the traditional A and B League structure. The Nadoes, a bench mark of excellence of Internal League rugby, only put 5 tries past the Spanners a perennial social side from the B league that has never played a semifinal before. The Wildboys, winners of the B in 2007 and runners up in 2006, put 5 tries on Marquard who placed 6th in the A league last year. The Barbarians, 2007 losing finalist, beat College house by only 4 tries (burglering the last one at the death) and up until last year College had never won a B league game since Cecil Rhodes captained the Nadoes.

The IRB is faced with the problem that come World Cup time they have 3 nations that can compete for the Webb Ellis and maybe another 4 or 5 that can ensure the spectators get their ticket price worth. Argentina is one of these fringe 5 and don’t be surprised if they upset Ireland in the Pool Stages. The only way talented sides that are bubbling under the pace of top nations are going to get competitive is through exposure and playing beyond your watershed.

When an underdog warms up in silence on the Green Mile and then takes it to pedestaled top sides do they learn to up their game and learn how to win at that level.

Game of the Week: The Panthers v Shebeen Boys tussle. Having cast aside last years childish off field niggle in favour of going out their with rugby alone at the fore the game was an intense affair and great to watch.
Team of the Week: It goes to Ubumbo for pure passion. The play with an energy that excites the ground into delirium and never ease off the gas.
Try of the Week: Warren Kelly’s 60m effort showing that class doesn’t diminish with age.
- Bubbling under: Little Goldberg’s 50m break from a scrum on the halfway and of course “two tries with my first two touches” Jordan “Impact” Biderman-Pam.
Comment of the Week: It came from a member of Ikhaya’s impressive bench: “ya…they called me bullet at school cause of…I passed so quickly..!” Not the most eloquent of first language English speakers I have heard but certainly entertaining to watch guys come out and relive the glory days…

See you next week for more impressive rugby…

Moments away...


With less than a week to go until Kick-off, sides, supporters, families, talent scouts, bartenders and the nurses at Claremont mediclinic casualty ward nervously await the first week of big matches.


Thanks must be given to the power suit, power tie wearing committees that pronounce and sign off on all things attached to UCT for the extremely long holiday we have in june-july. It gives students ample time off to spend at home or overseas doing sweet nothing but also screws up our internal league fixture picture. And unlike the pictures on the back of residence lavatory doors (with the exception of Smuts of course) ours is not a pretty one.

-----------------------------A pretty one!

Our 11 weeks of rugby is split into two Rounds of 4 pool games and then the remaining 3 are the play-offs. Round 1 (in blue below) is then weeks 1-4, with Round 2 (in green) being weeks 5-8. Over 8 weeks, each side will play 6 games and have 2 byes and then each side will play 3 play-0ff games.



The problem arises is that June and July are write off rugby months because of exams and holidays so we only really playing in May and August with spill overs into April and September. I wasn't joking when I said it was going to be a long season.

Here are the fixtures for Round 1: [ie: Weeks 1-4]

Please bear in mind that the dates are subject to cancellation due to factors such as torrential downpour and unforeseen stuff like bird flu or a College victory. After the results of Week 4 we will reset the Pools for further games in Round 2.

Now that the administration is aside, let's play some footie.

The Taste of 2007…

After an 8 week banishment from Super rugby to take part in reconditioning and skills programs certain All Blacks returned to the fray with a competitive fire burning inside their newly constructed cores. Ricky Macaw made his first turnover in 2min 37s and made 12 tackles in the first half alone. When you keep a man away from something he loves, he comes back firing…

Speculation abounds whether the same rigorous training schedules were adhered to by the men of the Internal League rugby fraternity and although they might not look as attractive in a tight fitting adidas driFit jersey, I think there is little doubt that when they run out next week they’ll will be firing on all cylinders!

The off-season for many is a time of introspection and down time punctuated by hard kilometres on the road and hard sessions in the gym. The other 99% spend it hovering around the bars of Tiger or pressing the up-down button of ski lifts in Aspen. Regardless of which group you fall into, your mental mouth salivates at the thought of hitting that first ruck, making that first in contact offload or singing that first down-down song. The 18th of April is around the corner, and it’s time to let the games begin…

No matter how things change down on the Green Mile, everything seems to stay the same. Tries happen and are forgotten, fines meetings are had and cleaned up, players make their mark and graduate (unless they’re a nadoe), teams come and go, first you girls come and come again…but at the end of it all it just a team of friends playing the game of gods against another team.

The format of this years competition has been reconstructed to hopefully allow a structure that is more conducive to ensure the longevity of the brand of rugby that is associated with varsity rugby. A free flowing spectacle of fast paced running rugby where sides take on each other with skill and finesse thrown in amongst the standard SA approach of maul and kick. If you aren’t familiar with the new format scroll down to the post below and educate yourself on it.

The next 8 rugby weeks are dedicated to two sessions of Pool Stages (Round 1 and Round 2) where sides will compete against the sides in their pool to establish the draw for the knock out stages.

The pools are:

There are a few knew names in there including the readmission of Clarendon from Carinus Village, a side from the new day res, Ikhaya and the much talked about Eastern Cape 2 Rios. Clarendon’s absence from 2006 was missed heavily although probably by virtue of their travelling supporters club of golf5 sporting blonde haired beauties and not their substantial contribution to the rugby. Ikaya are an unknown quantity although we are predicting a similar impact to the Western Force in their first year of Super rugby. As their sponsorship suggests the EC2R’s have off field targets that may eclipse their on field antics but having signed many of the out casts from the Eastern Cape Spears they should have an impressive go of it.

The regularity that Wednesday night rugby will have on our calendars is stemmed somewhat by varies factors such as lank long varsity holidays, Intervarsity and other UCT RFC home games but spectators can diarised 9 such Wednesday’s and hence cancel 9 Thursday morning first periods. Since you can’t catch it on ESPN or at Tiger with $1 draft and free buffalo wings you will have to come catch all the action live. And if only half of you respond we will still probably get more bums on seats than if you hosted the ICC in the Windies.

See you soon, on the Mile….

About effing TIME...!!!



MANAGERS MEETING

DATE: 29th March 2007

TIME: 16h00 sharp

VENUE: THE LAB (postgrad pub above the Rugby Club)



Please send a representative. It's important...

It's a WORLD CUP YEAR...


Greetings all of the UCT Rugby fellowship. A new year has dawned and with it a number of exciting prospects to take us up and down the Green Mile for many months to come. I am going to continue rolling out the cliches so that you will be forced into thinking you are overhearing a conversation between Graeme Smith and Luke Watson at Nino's but you know what they say hey, when in Rome speak Romanian...

"I think the boys dug deep when our backs were against the wall and gave 110% but at the end of the day the bounce of the ball will determine whether you win or lose or don't win...umm...ya. I'd like to thank the crowd..."

I am blacklisting my number because some of you retards rate your rugby needs higher than my sunday afternoon exploits. Please if you going to call, do it during business hours..! You think I am joking?

Not so recently I got a call from a private number at 2am whilst I was recruiting some first year girls brother for the up and coming rugby season. (she said her brother was in matric, I figured 2008) Anyway, my point is some group of drunk screaming 'rugby' enthusiasts decided internal league was for them and they wanted to vindicate their decision by phoning me at 2am. Funny thing was they were on the balcony at Tiger and I was inside...

Moving along to the business end, now get your pencils and paper ready boys and girls:

Internal League Structure 2007:

Round 1: 16 Teams will be sorted into 4 pools. Each team will play 3 games over a 4 rugby week period against teams in their own pools. Teams will be sorted into pools according to the position they ended 2006 in.

Round 2: According to the results of Round 1 teams will be sorted in 4 different pools. Again each team will play 3 games over a 4 rugby week period.

Quarter finals: Every side will play. All the teams in 1st position of each pool will play against the teams in the 4th position, and every 2nd placed team will play against every 3rd placed team. Hence the 1st & 2nd placed sides from Round 2 will be competing for the Internal league Cup and the 3rd & 4th placed sides will be competing for the Internal League Bowl.

Semi finals: The Cup winners from the quarters will play the other Cup winners, whilst the losers will play each other. The same applies for the Bowl.

Finals: We are left with 8 games with each side competing for a place from 1 to 16.


Therefore each team will play two rounds of 3 pool games (ie: 6 pool games) and then contest a quarter, semi and a final game. In total each team will play 9 games during the season. If you haven't noticed this is based on the IRB 7's structure they use at their tournaments. A details breakdown of how this changes rules etc will be provided shortly...!

Essentially not much is different except the traditional distinction between an A and a B league has been discarded for two Pool Rounds. This will be reverted to from the quarter finals onward with the Cup being the traditional A league trophy and the Bowl the B league honours, except the sides will be correctly sorted into a top and bottom 8 according to merit.

Lovely. For any further questions listen to the detailed recording on my voicemail!

IMPORTANT DATES:

23rd February 2007 - Entrance forms available from Rugby Club Offices.

16th March 2007 - CLOSING DATE FOR ENTRIES and PAYMENT!!!

18th APRIL 2007 - ROUND 1 starts. First pool matches...

The managers meeting date still has to be confirmed! Please note that the entry form must be fully completed, incompleted forms will not be accepted. Selection criteria for sides has not changed from last year.

Since I am such a good oke and assuming you are possibly too lazy to fetch your entry forms, you can email me and request me to forward you one which you must then print out and complete yourself.

See you on the Mile...!

Season 2006 wrap...

I will not be lying when I say that the bleakness one experiences when a good thing comes to an end, in this case, in tempered with a healthy dose of relief and satisfaction that the League is actually over and went down bar any serious hang ups.

It was a great way to end a long season this past saturday with two epic finals and I look forward to a bumper season 2007 filled with the usual internal league-esque attributes. Do watch this space!

The games were hard fought contests to which thankfully I needn't dwell due to the lovely spate of media attention the League has been incurring of late. We've become like Paris Hilton's drinking habits and get more backpage exposure than other UCT internal leagues. I would send out a hearty pat on the back but Varisty newspaper won't remove it's hand...

I must say I was a little bleak that the B League didn't get as much newspaper noise as the A League which is a tad unfair since their final was slightly more entertaining. Nothing should be taken away from them although we might have to amend something to get them some print time.

My work is done here, [Ya lank, I have to plan next year] so just going to hand out some obligatory awards to cap off the season.

Champions 2006:
A-League - The Ucha cha Nadoes.
B-League - The Wildboys.

Wooden Spooners:
A - The 'please don't come back' Rochester Rhinos.
B - College House. (still unbeaten on the A field)

The Team Spirit Award:
A - Ubumbo
B - Shebeen Boys

Worst dressed Team:
A - Barbarians (I didn't know they made pastel grey. Should have stuck to colours)
B - The Turtles. (just look at your sleeve)

Drinking Team Award:
A - Cobras/Soco Thoco (sharing parties, sharing awards)
B - The Wildboys (only team this side of the wors curtain to drink pre-mix brandy and cola)

Hottest supporter base:

Management (by default)

See you on the clifton mile...

The Finals countdown...


The business end is over now ladies and gentlemen, it's all about glory. Here we go..

Wrap of the Semis…

The green mile was silent for much of last night. The teams warmed up in silence, lineouts were executed in silence, scrums were engaged in silence, tackles were no more audible than the thud of bone to muscle, the kickers lined up the balls in silence and bar the odd round of applause celebrating the awesomely planned balmy weather conditions the crowds were silent too…

The stillness that lay over the mile was like the foggy blanket that usually covers it in winter. The eerie calm must have emanated from the unusually high stakes that every passage of play had on it, but however unlike the relentless fog this stillness was intermittently punctuated by friggan loud raucous cheers and support from the massive turn out of spectators…

Every dropped ball, every yard lost, every tackle missed, every kick cooked meant one thing to sides last night, and that was the disappearance of a shot at higher glory. Every side made mistakes but some held on, to retain the passage into the final.

The games kicked off punctually at 20h00. Last night was not a night of frivolous excuses like usual, guys were there to play and play they did.

The two epic encounters at 8 were between the 2nd and 3rd placed sides in either league. They were always going to be the closer matched games, although the results proved they all were.

The Cobras after dominating the league in their inaugural season hosted the Barbarians in the first A league semi. The slap slap hiss purple cobras have been to the UCT RFC internal league what Isaia Toeava was to Graham Henry’s sleepless nights. Young, talented, enthusiastic and spirited the team has shown up many sides to claim the 2nd spot on the log but they were faced by the mighty Barbarians side that arrives and plays the way their names suggests.

The Baabaa’s outfit changes its line-up more often than Dick Muir on a Thursday and they brought in the big guns for the semi. Their early dominance proved successful and they scored an impressive try out wide through Adrian Rheeder although the whole team gets lauded for the result. 5 zip down the Cobras fought back when Brad Milne crossed over to make the large support base erupt with noise and the score 5-5.

The score remained 5-5 at full time and initiated the new ‘draw procedure’ that has been brought into align with IRB standards. They sides played a further 7 mins each way of extra time and although opportunities came, no tries did.

The sides then had to battle it out over a goal- kicking shoot out. Much sympathy should be extended to the crowd (and players and other brainless rugby I-think-I-know-it-alls) who criticised this options saying ‘this has no place in rugby’! Well you should familiarise yourself with the IRB procedures then buddies before July next year, and in future please remain your side of the wors curtain.

The shoot out was nail-biting with the Baabaas shanking the first 2 attempts but then hitting the next 3 whilst the Cobras missed the crucial 2nd, 4th and 5th attempts to lose 2-3. Sure it’s a tough way to end a season but it’s the lesser of two evils.

The first semi of the B-League was a much hyped up grudge match between the Pulse Panthers and the Shebeen Boys. Playing in the same colour strip is about the only thing these two sides share and the animosity off and on the field retarded the game from turning into a spectators dream. The pre-match antics of the Shebeen Boys with online taunts and a ‘flyers on campus’ attempt to build support raised the game from been one about rugby to one about off the ball scuffles.

Scuffle would be the correct word here because despite all the time spent away from the ball not one real punch was thrown. The game could have been decided over Tekken 3 since that’s how close any physical confrontations came.

The little rugby that was played was very tight. SB spent the entire first half in the opposition half of the field but failed to turn pressure, possession and territory into points. Actually on the stroke of halftime the Panthers managed to get just out of their half for the first time but conceded a penalty that the SB kicker nailed, despite fluffing an earlier one from right in front.

The second half saw much of the same antagonistic play from both sides; which was only broken by the only score of the match. SB were attempting the outside up-and-in rush defence (although I doubt they practiced it, let alone knew they were doing it) off a scrum in their own half. The outside backs went up quickly to close down the outside space but the insides backs didn’t close the seam and Panther flyhalf (and Tiger cult hero) Greg Bastard scythed through, showed pace (which must be new) and stormed up field to draw both the cover and the fullback in contact to release a sneaky offload that supporting fullback Bruce Johnson glided onto to finish in the corner. Greg the General then middled the conversion from the touchline amongst heckling SB support to take the lead to 7-3 and the man-of-the-match title.

SB had plenty of time and possession to strike back but were denied the success due to strong Panthers defence and the inexplicable insistence of trying to goal every penalty instead of keeping the pressure on. They took 5 shots at goal and only got 1.

The second B-League game was another close thriller but played in a much better spirit. Smuts pulled together another awesome effort but weren’t able to breach the Wildboys defence or prevent them scoring twice through Jonty Rhodes-Harrison and Mike Davies.

Wildboys always played the subsidiary role to the Panthers last year but have emphatically proven that this year was to be different. They topped the log and have really progressed into the later stages as a side that has the balance to kick ass in defence and offence. The final is set to be a cracker.

The second semi in the A league saw the minnows Soco Thoco up against the ‘can anyone stop them’ Nadoes. ST are the second new comers this year that have made the semis on their first attempt (like the Cobras) and refused to let the result reflect their underdog status.

Looking at full strength the Nadoes came out firing dominating all the phases of the game. It was one of those dam-bursting games where you expect floodgates any second but the ST wall held time and time again.

The big Nadoes pack had gained immensely from their week live scrumming against the Bulls and were in usual impressive form. They reversed the ST pack back into their 22 like a little red mini and out came hooker and party liaison Renzo Puccini careering toward the line, he was held up virtually over the line but Nadoes recycled fast enough to send the ball out wide for fullback Pietie Olivier to cross for another try this season.

However the score line didn’t advance from 5-0 up for the Nadoes and the second half lost much impetus when the game was forced into uncontested scrums. Besides some good interplay and some stellar line running from Nadoes Neil Quayle the Nadoes didn’t score again. Soco Thoco were awesome on defence putting in hit after hit after hit and despite the odd go wide effort never looked like putting together a score.

However the meagre result stands and begs the question whether the Nadoes can in fact be beaten and whether the Barbarians (or the side that arrives) can do it?

It has been a tough route getting to the finals but the four sides contesting the cup (read beer and cane) certainly deserve to be there!

Try of the week: Only 6 were scored so lets give it to all 6.
Kick of the week: Too many to call.
Miss of the week: Even more, to call
So lets do, Quotes of the week:

5.) “Sorry do you know if Nic Fenton-Wells playing here?” – Fat blonde girl to just about everyone.
4.) “That’s why you don’t go for polls in internal league you moron” – Panthers centre to forlorn SB kicker after missing the sitter.
3.) “God the cane is going to taste good after this” – Renzo after a leg drive.
2.) “Walk it off!!!” – Spectator to a player that had badly twisted his ankle
1.) “It was a try, it wasn’t given but it was a try!” – Unmentioned semi-final loser. (surely it has to be given to be a try?)

After the holidays, see you on the mile.

Finals 23rd September!!!!

Half finals, whole party...

Forget the bus been full, the train is now full...

Usually good things happen in threes but this is certainly not the case tomorrow evening, because we have 5 good things happening:

20h00 Cobras v Barbarians.
20h00 Panthers v Shebeen Boys.
21h00 Nadoes v Soco Thoco.
21h00 Wildboys v Smuts.

That's four right? Well try this out for number 5!

The kind people from the Opium Group through their famous party and event organiser Renzo have guestlisted ALL 8 semi-final teams at HQ for wednesday night!

So what does that mean for those rugger buggers that haven't ever left the Mont to travel via de waal to the 'other' side of the mountain? Well if you knew Renzo's reputation as a party organiser it is very simply this:

Loads of hot chicks, loads of cold beer, loads of good music!

So you're thinking apart from the load of hot chicks it is no different from where you usually drink? Well here is the kicker!


HQ on a wednesday is 'all you can drink cane night', you pay 20ZAR entrance and cane is FREE. (yes they do have cream soda) And since Renzo guestlisted all your ugly ass that makes it fully gratis... In addition to this it is the first night they have started such a promo, so they have generously allowed players to bring a date. (she only has to pay R10) Please make sure its a girl, and one that you won't be too bleak at if she comes right with another player. Seems fair.

Let the games begin.