Rivals Oranje and Rhenish to square off in All Girls’ Festival final
The script couldn’t have been written any better for the All Girls’ Festival after rivals, Rhenish Girls High and Oranje Meisieskool, secured their places in the final of the showpiece.
Rhenish defeated Eunice High School 2-0 in the semi-finals on Wednesday on their home turf in Stellenbosch, while a second-half masterclass by Oranje saw them seal a memorable come-from-behind 3-1 victory over the defending champions, Collegiate Girls’ High.
The last round of matches, including the final, will be played on Thursday morning.
Catch the action LIVE on SuperSport Schools.
Oranje was drawn in Pool A. Their journey to the title-deciding match was tricky, to say the least.
They recorded a dominant 8-0 victory over Wynberg Girls’ High and followed that with a 10-0 hammering of Pretoria High School for Girls, but they then succumbed to a 1-2 loss against Collegiate.
That result meant coach Morné Odendaal‘s side finished second in their group, resulting in a quarter-finals clash with HMS Bloemhof, which Oranje won 2-1 over the Stellenbosch locals to set up a rematch with Collegiate for a place in the final.
The Bloemfontein girls started slowly and, despite creating several goal-scoring opportunities, they trailed 0-1 at the break.
In the second half, they upped the ante. They were clinical inside the circle and punished Collegiate, with goals from Camilyn Parkin, Carmen van Wyk, and Marichelle Crous sealing the win.
“I tried some new stuff in the first game we played [against Collegiate] because I feel that we are playing so many games and tournaments, and it’s easy for teams to analyse us,” Odendaal told SuperSport Schools Plus.
“We tried a different style, and we were caught out, and credit to Collegiate; they played well.
“Losing that game wasn’t the worst thing in the world, and it put things back into perspective.”
Oranje went into their semifinal well aware that Rhenish was favoured to win their last four clash against Eunice.
In front of their home supporters, coach Chris Gerber‘s side got the job done, winning 2-0 to reach the final for a fourth year running.
They’ll be eager to take the final step after going down in the title game on the previous three occasions, including 2023, when Oranje beat them 3-1.
Thursday’s showdown will be the fourth meeting of the sides this season, and there has been little to separate them in their previous matches.
In their first clash, they played to an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Greg Beling Festival.
They met again at the St Mary’s Waverley Hockey Festival, where Oranje sneaked past Rhenish after a penalty shootout in the semifinals. Just over a week ago, the schools shared a goalless draw.
“This battle between ourselves and Rhenish is an interesting one,” Odendaal said.
“We’ve now had three incredible games against each other, and our road to the final was tough, so I’ll have to think about how we will approach it.
“The game against Collegiate was demanding, and we played one extra game. It’s just thinking about what we can do to give ourselves a chance.”
The final starts at 11:00, while Collegiate will take on Eunice for the bronze medal at 09:40.
RESULTS
Pool A
Collegiate 8-0 Pretoria Girls
Oranje 8-0 Wynberg Girls’
Collegiate 2-1 Oranje
Wynberg Girls’ 1-0 Pretoria Girls
Oranje 10-0 Pretoria Girls
Collegiate 6-0 Wynberg Girls’
Pool B
Rhenish 7-0 Clarendon
Rustenburg 5-0 Danville
Rhenish 8-1 Eunice
Eunice 3-2 Clarendon
Pool C
HMS Bloemhof 8-0 Parktown Girls
Rustenburg Girls 2-2 HMS Bloemhof
Danville 3-0 Parktown Girls
HMS Bloemhof 4-1 Danville
Rustenburg 4-0 Parktown Girls
Pool D
Paarl Girls’ High 5-1 La Rochelle
Affies Meisies 1-0 Paarl Girls’ High
Affies Meisies 3-0 La Rochelle
Cup Quarterfinals
Collegiate 4-0 Rustenburg
Oranje 2-1 HMS Bloemhof
Eunice 2-1 Affies Meisies
Rhenish 5-0 Paarl Girls’ High
Plate Playoffs
Clarendon 3-2 Parktown Girls’ High
Pretoria Girls 1-0 La Rochelle
Plate Semi-finals
Clarendon 3-0 Wynberg Girls (Plate semifinal 2)
Danville 3-1 Pretoria Girls (Plate semifinal 2)
Cup Playoffs
Rustenburg 2-0 HMS Bloemhof (5th-8th playoff)
Affies (3) 1-1 (5) Affies Meisies (5th-8th playoff)
Cup Semifinals
Rhenish 2-0 Eunice
Oranje 3-1 Collegiate
FIXTURES
Thursday, 30 April
@Rhenish
07:15 – HMS Bloemhof vs Paarl Girls’ High (7th/8th)
08:30 – Rustenburg vs Affies Meisies (5th/6th)
08:40 – Collegiate vs Eunice (3rd/4th)
11:10 – Rhenish vs Oranje (1st/2nd)
@Bloemhof
09:20 – La Rochelle vs Parktown Girls (13th/14th)
10:10 – Wynberg vs Pretoria Girls (11th/12th)
11:00 – Clarendon vs Danville (9th/10th)
