Clarendon raring to kick off 2024 derby season on home turf
Being more clinical, solid at the back, and accurate in front of goal will be the main items on the agenda for Clarendon High School for Girls this coming weekend when they host Queenstown Girls’ High School (QGHS) in East London on Saturday.
Clarendon enters the clash on the back of playing a gruelling schedule at the St Mary’s Waverley Festival in Johannesburg over the past weekend.
Coach Luaan Sedras‘s side was drawn in a tough Pool A, alongside Herschel Girls, Pretoria High School for Girls (PHSG), Bloemhof, Roedean School, Affies, DF Malan, and Eunice.
During the pool stages, they played seven matches and picked up wins against Roedean School (1-0), and PHSG (1-0).
They went on to win another two matches later in the tournament, against The Wykeham Collegiate (1-0) and Somerset College, whom they beat 3-2 in a penalty shootout, before going down 0-2 to Collegiate in the 21st/22nd play-off match.
“We played 12 matches over four days, which was a real test for our girls, as we do not play so many competitive games in our region,” Sedras told SuperSport Schools, when reflecting on his team’s experiences at the St Mary’s Festival.
“From the 12 matches we played, our performances consistently improved game by game.
“We defeated the lower ranked teams, and had close results against the higher rank teams,” he said.
Before departing for St Mary’s, Clarendon flexed their muscles at the annual Grens and Greg Beling Festivals on home soil.
At Grens, they were dominant and, despite going down to Stirling High (0-1), ended up winning three of their four matches, against King Williams Town’s Kingsridge High School for Girls (3-0), Hudson Park (1-0), and Merrifield College (4-0)
However, they were unable to replicate that form a week later at the Greg Beling Festival. There, they drew 0-0 against Union High School, before going down to some of the country’s better teams, including Rhenish (1-4), St Anne’s DSG (0-4), Oranje (0-6), and Woodridge College (0-1).
Coach Sedras believes the game is about more than results alone, and having played against those schools has prepared Clarendon well for the season that lies ahead.
“Those games are so valuable to our team,” he said. “They allowed us to build match fitness, assess our playing structures and tactics, assess our player capabilities, and have some fun.”
As the East London school heads into the league season, they’ll have plenty of experience on their side. This year’s lineup includes seven players who ran out for the first team in 2023. It features eight grade 12 learners, four in grade 11, and two in grade 10.
Sedras said he was impressed by how hard his team fought at St Mary’s, but they need to focus on goal scoring to take a step forward in their game.
“We created, on average, between three and five goal-scoring opportunities per game, but just could not convert them,” he explained.
“This is where the other teams were more clinical. They scored from their chances.”
“I am extremely satisfied with how our team performed against Eunice and Bloemhof. In these two games, I could see the progress we have achieved since Greg Beling.
“But one weakness we need to address is, for sure, scoring goals,” he concluded.
Clarendon is led by Demi Knott, who received the player of the match award four times at St Mary’s. She has also received more than 100 caps for the first team.
Other players to keep an eye out for in the team are Cara Knott, Demi’s sister, who reached 50 caps at St Mary’s, alongside Juliana Saffy. Alison Woodin, Claren Lugo Fernandez, and Jenna Frachet also have more than 50 caps for the first team.
They face QGHS at 13:45 on the Clarendon Astroturf.
Other matches
A number of other derbies will be played across the Eastern Cape on Saturday.
In Gqeberha, Pearson High School welcomes a Stirling side high in confidence after they defeated Queenstown Girls’ High 2-1 at home last weekend.
Coach Michael Dettmer’s side has hit the ground running in 2024 and their results include the previously mentioned 1-0 win over Clarendon at the Grens Festival. They finished in 18th place out of 40 teams at the Belgotex Easter Sport Hockey Tournament.
Stirling will be brimming with confidence and hoping to cause an upset against a Pearson side which finished 15th out of 32 teams at the St Mary’s Festival.
Another fixture to keep an eye out for in the Windy City is that between Collegiate Girls’ High and Outeniqua High School.
Westering High, who are playing some of their best hockey this season, will welcome Hoër Volkskool Graaff-Reinet.
Despatch hosts Nico Malan, while Cambridge takes on Victoria Girls’ High in Makhanda, and Hudson Park faces Cape Town’s Milnerton at the Oakhill Co-Ed Festival in Knysna.
Fixtures
Thursday, 11 April
16:30 – Pearson High vs Westering High
Friday, 12 April
13:00 – Cambridge High vs Victoria Girls High School
Saturday, 13 April
10:00 – Westering High vs Volkskool
11:00 – Pearson High vs Stirling High School
11:00 – Despatch vs Nico Malan
12:30 – Collegiate vs Outeniqua
13:45 – Clarendon vs Queenstown Girls’ High
16:50 – Hudson Park vs Milnerton
