New 1st XV coaches in charge for Kearsney and Clifton
Kearsney College put together an extremely interesting season in 2024. They came out of the blocks well, winning their first three matches, including a 16-14 upset of Maritzburg College, but subsequently lost seven in succession. They, then, won three on the trot, including reversing an earlier loss to Michaelhouse, to finish off the season on an upward trajectory.
Add to that, three more wins at the Independent Schools Rugby Festival by the Kearsney Stayers XV, which took it to six in a row, and there is reason for optimism in the ranks of the One-Stripe in 2025.
Kearsney has also made a significant coaching change, bringing Grant Bashford on board as coach of the 1st XV.
“Bash” has a seriously impressive CV from working with The Sharks and in the school environment, including three stints with Northwood. Most recently, he served as the Director of Sport at Clifton College but has opted to return to his first love of coaching the game.
It’s a first for Kearsney to bring in a full-time dedicated 1st XV coach, and that signals their intent and that of the Director of Rugby, Keegan Daniel, to challenge the traditional KZN rugby powers.
Bashford takes over from Neil van Heerden, who has taken up a job in the private sector. However, he will still be coaching at Durban High School.
Kearsney hosts Clifton College on Saturday on Stott Field and the Durban school, too, has new leadership of their rugby programme. Jose dos Santos, who formerly headed up rugby at St Charles College and Glenwood High, replaces Grant Bell (who has returned to his alma mater, Westville Boys’ High) as the Director of Rugby. One senses that Dos Santos is a good fit at Clifton.
The Durban school has been grinding away in recent seasons, making incremental progress in its goal to not only take on but beat the top sides in KZN. There have been one or two noteworthy achievements, including a 24-17 win over Kearsney in 2022, but the One-Stripe charged to a 48-0 victory late last season.
Dos Santos has been joined at Clifton by another former Glenwood member of staff, Heinke van der Merwe. A Springbok front-ranker, Van der Merwe enjoyed successful stints with Leinster and Stade Francaise during his playing career and previously served as an assistant coach to Derek Heiberg with Glenwood’s Green Machine.
There is no tougher sport in which to take a step up to the top tier of competition than rugby. Clifton School celebrated its centenary last year, but the College (high school) is barely over two decades old, and it has been pushing hard to become a regular challenger against the established KZN powers.
Clifton is one of the smaller traditional all-boys’ schools in the province, which results in some of their multi-talented sportsmen taking on big workloads, but, with Dos Santos and Van der Merwe leading the way, they’ll keep improving.
Director of Sport Jaco Coetzer, also has an outstanding track record in sports management, especially in rugby development, so Clifton appears to have the right people in place to help them get to where they want to be.
Perhaps, the mist and rain of Botha’s Hill will work to Clifton’s advantage because a running game is unlikely given the forecast of temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees Celcius and rain throughout the day.
Stott Field was dug up and replanted after the 2024 rugby season. The surface is going to be well and truly tested on Saturday.
One other note of interest: Take a look through the Kearsney 1st XV and you’ll see three members of their outstanding 1st water polo team – Thomas Aylward, Oliver Ludwig, and Thomas Francke. Rugby and water polo have proven to be a good combination in the past, so it will be interesting to see how the water polo trio goes this season.
TEAMS
Kearsney College vs Clifton College, Stott Field at 15:15
Clifton College
15 Athabe Mathabela, 14 Troy Young, 13 Bradley Beeslaar, 12 Devan Schwartz, 11 Akhile Dube, 10 Adam Selikow, 9 Kyle Akal, 8 Andisa Mtembu, 7 Liam Stocks, 6 Chad Harris, 5 Lukhanyiso Nala, 4 Cole Nienhuser, 3 Trent Bam, 2 Asabonga Jiyane, 1 Jack Woollatt.
Kearsney College
15 Bukho Hlwatika (vc), 14 Thembelani Nzama, 13 Doan Nel (vc), 12 Keanu Williamson, 11 Lwandile Mkhize, 10, Thomas Aylward, 9 Fynn Verbaan, 8 Nhlanhla Ndlovu, 7 Oliver Ludwig, 6 Simanye Mlakalaka (c), 5 Joseph Royance, 4 Thomas Francke, 3 Azania Thela, 2 Micah van Wyk, 1 Luke Fauré.
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