Oakdale Rugby Week still going strong after 42 years
The annual Oakdale Rugby Week kicks off this weekend just outside Riversdale with 33 first teams from around South Africa that will be showcasing their talent.
The annual tournament, which stands out as one of the oldest and largest high school rugby tournaments in South Africa, has gone from strength to strength in recent years, expanding the pool of matches played and the quality of teams invited to the rugby week.
Unfortunately, Oakdale Landbou‘s First XV will miss the tournament due to participation in the NMI Toyota Menlyn Noord-Suid tournament.
However, despite the rugby week coming at a busy time with many schools taking part in festivals all over the country, viewers can still expect exciting matchups.
The pick of the fixtures for day one is undeniably Duineveld taking on Hoërskool Middelburg from Mpumalanga at 16:20. The Velties are usually an outfit who are very physical in their approach while the Middies like to run the ball at every opportunity that presents itself.
Duineveld suffered a humiliating 59-0 defeat against Wynberg Boys’ High two weeks ago, they’ll surely want to beat their Middelburg counterparts.
Brackenfell, who are coming off a 27-0 victory against Hoërskool Belville in their sports day last week, will also look to dominate when they face Merensky from Limpopo.
The Eastern Cape is also represented with Pearson, Die Brandwag from Uitenhage, Graaff Reinet Volkskool, Westering, and Port Rex THS set to take the field.
Die Brandwag has been struggling so far this season and suffered defeats against Worcester Gimnasium (12-39), Hilton College (3-48) and Queen’s College (0-22) thus far.
The match against Worcester Gimnasium was during the Outeniqua Centenary Festival, while the two defeats against Hilton and Queen’s came during the Graeme College Festival in celebration of their 150th anniversary.
The team from Uitenhage was one of the top team’s during last year’s Oakdale Rugby Week and the Rusties won’t underestimate them.
In the main match on the opening day Oakdale’s second team without their touring members sitting on the bench for the firsts in Pretoria will take on Augsburg Gimnasium of Clanwilliam.
The fixtures for the rest of the festival will be selected based on performances using a strength versus strength method.
Fixtures – Day 1:
A FIELD
08:45 – Upington vs Die Anker
09:55 – Strand vs Potchefstroom Gimnasium
11:05 – Hugenote vs Merensky
12:15 – Brackenfell vs Transvalia
14:00 – Pearson vs Oos Moot
15:10 – Hermanus vs Lichtenburg
16:20 – Duineveld vs Hoërskool Middelburg
18:00 – Die Brandwag (Uitenhage) vs Hoërskool Rustenburg
19:10 – Oakdale XV vs Augsburg Gimnasium
B FIELD
08:45 – Overberg vs Port Rex THS
09:55 – Montagu vs Parel Vallei
11:05 – Bredasdorp vs Westering
12:15 – Swartland vs Vryburg
14:00 – Robertson vs Graaff Reinet Volkskool
15:10 – Langenhoven Gimnasium vs Sentraal
16:20 – Jim Fouche vs Kemptonpark
C FIELD
09:55 – Labori vs Oosterlig
