Historic Overview – Affies vs Maritzburg College

Maritzburg College vs Afrikaans Höer Seunskool (Affies) 

Saturday 29^th July sees the 8^th edition of Premier Interschools for 2017 move up to Pretoria where Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool (Affies) hosts Maritzburg College for their annual derby.

The yearly fixture started in 1996 and since then they have played twenty two games of which Affies has won nineteen and only three wins by College. The visitors will have to dig deep again this year if they want to overcome the Affies juggernaut as the local team is packed with provincial players with eight players representing the Blue Bulls at Craven Week and another five players at the Academy week.

College themselves had three players representing the KZN Sharks at the final of the Craven Week in 2017.

Scores through the Years:

Affies started the season well, beating Diamantveld and a very strong Helpmekaar team. They then travelled down to Paarl for the first Premier Interschools match for 2017 where they narrowly lost in the dying seconds of the match to Paarl Gymnasium. From there, their season had some ups and downs winning another five games, but losing four.

Affies season so far: 

College is also not having one of their best seasons, but good wins against Michaelhouse, Hilton and Westville Boys will set them up in good stead for the Affies match. 

College Season so Far:

Rugby at Affies 

Affies is famed and regarded as one of the best rugby schools in South Africa. It has delivered many Springbok players in the past and continues to supply loads of talent in the SA Schools and SA Academy sides. Affies also has many players’ at all provincial levels of rugby. 

Affies have a huge talent pool in the school and one that is rich in depth. There are more than ten senior teams each year, and teams as far as G-teams are filled at each age group.

Each year Affies challenge the country’s leading rugby schools such as Grey College (Bloemfontein), Maritzburg College, Glenwood High School, King Edward VII and many more.

At these derby matches each and every team gets a chance to take the field for the Rooi, Geel and Groen. In the last few decades Affies has produced top quality players such as Louis Schmidt, Wynand Olivier, Fourie du Preez and former Blue Bulls captain Pierre Spies (also an Affies choir boy) to name, but a few.

Perhaps Affies’ most unknown star was Francois Swart who played flyhalf for Die Witbulle (the school’s first team) alongside scrum-half Fourie du Preez. The formidable duo played for the Blue Bulls and was fast becoming the next Springbok halfback pairing.

Tragically Francois Swart died in 2004 and since then Affies hosts an under-15 rugby tournament in the Easter Holidays bearing the name of Francois Swart. The long standing legacy of Affies rugby builds each year and upcoming stars are still being produced.

List of Affies Springboks

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, 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

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).

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Hannes Nienaber

Hannes Nienaber covered schools' rugby in South Africa for Volksblad, Beeld, and Rapport for 11 years. He also created the biggest school rugby website in South Africa - School of Rugby - back in 2007. It eventually morphed into Supersport Schools Plus. He still occasionally milks cows.

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