Preview – Jeppe High School for Boys’ vs. Ben Vorster
The Emirates Airline Park (formerly Ellis Park) faithful are in for a treat of exciting running rugby this Saturday. And we are not talking about the mouthwatering SuperRugby clash between the Emirates Lions and the DHL Stormers which kicks off at 19:15 in Johannesburg.
We are referring to the curtain raiser for this clash between Jeppe High School for Boys and Ben Vorster from Tzaneen. Jeppe is one of the top school boy rugby teams in South Africa this year with two South African Schools’ stars, Wandisile Simelane and Hacjivah Dayimane, in their squad. The school from Johannesburg’s first XV is ranked sixth on School of Rugby‘s latest rankings.
Ben Vorster has been the top school team from Limpopo for quite some time. The school from Tzaneen’s first XV has been crowned champions of the Beeld Trophy four times. Twice in the Big Schools section (2008 and 2010) and twice in the Medium Schools section (2006 and 2013).
Jeppe High School for Boys has recorded some impressive victories over Kempton Park (29-0), Waterkloof (12-7), Eldoraigne (33-18), Queen’s College (41-20) and Pretoria Boys’ High (59-18) thus far in the 2016 season. Ben Vorster are also featured in School of Rugby latest rankings in the 27th position.
The battle between the two teams’ fullbacks, Tyrone Green (Jeppe) and Danny Mokhoabane (Ben Vorster), will likely be responsible for most of the exciting rugby during the match. Mokhoabane represented the Limpopo Blue Bulls at the Coca-Cola Craven Week in Stellenbosch last year, while Green would’ve made the Golden Lions squad for the tournament if it wasn’t for an injury.
Every time Green touches the ball something is about to happen. He is never caught by the first or second defender when he decides to launch a counter attack. Which happens most of the time as Green prefers to run the ball back at the opposition rather than kicking for territory.
Ben Vorster’s eightman, Stefan Engelbrecht, winger Pule Molokomme en scrumhalf, Eduan Smit, also represented Limpopo at last year’s edition of the Craven Week.
The teams:
Jeppe Boys’ High: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Moemisie Mosheledi, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Cameron Burke, 11 Mangaliso Ntimba, 10 Nathan Grove, 9 Dylan Wadeley, 8 Hacjivah Dayimane, 7 Duncan Tverdon, 6 Tebogo Ramodibe, 5 Gary Edwards, 4 Travis Cameron, 3 Douglas Cutter, 2 Nolo Naka, 1 Marc Harmieson. Replacements: 16 Joshua Harrison, 17 Francois Meyer, 18 Kegan Litchfield, 19 Mpho Tjamela, 20 Tumi Nameka, 21 Thorne O’Connell, 22 Kyle Grundling.
Ben Vorster: 15 Danny Mokhoabane, 14 Pule Molokomme, 13 Heini Ferreira, 12 Muzi Nyakane, 11 Rueben Ragolane, 10 Jonathan Viljoen, 9 Eduan Smit, 8 JJ Anker, 7 Stefan Engelbrecht, 6 Reuben Koekemoer, 5 Welmar Pieterse, 4 Shama Manzini, 3 Barend Lombard, 2 Bernard Vermaak, 1 Jannie Jordaan. Replacements: 16 Frans Pohl, 17 Tumi Mononyane, 18 Ruben Jordaan, 19 Franco Oberholzer, 20 Pieter Haasbroek, 21 Johan Buitendag, 22 Shima Mphahlele.
Kick Off:
