Super 12 participants are locked in
Twelve of the country’s top hockey-playing girls’ schools are primed to contest the 10th edition of the Fairtree Super 12 Tournament at Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje from 7-9 August.
The lineup features teams from five provinces.
The Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provide half the field, contributing three teams each. The Eastern Cape, Gauteng, and the Free State will have two representatives each.
Rhenish Girls’ High, Paarl Gimnasium, and Hoër Meisieskool Bloemhof will carry the hopes of the Western Cape, while the trio of Our Lady of Fatima Dominican Convent School, St Anne’s Diocesan College, and St Mary’s DSG (Kloof) will fly the flag for KZN.
Die Hoërskool Menlopark and Hoërskool Waterkloof, both from Pretoria, are the Gauteng reps, while Collegiate Girls’ High and Diocesan School for Girls (DSG) Makhanda will present a strong challenge from the Eastern Cape.
Local fans will cheer on Eunice High School and Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje.
Our Lady of Fatima, which qualified for the elite event for the first time, is the 25th school to earn a place in the tournament.
DSG Makhanda, which has produced an outstanding season, returns to the showpiece for the first time since in 2018. Collegiate, meanwhile, missed out on last year’s Super 12.
Three sides that featured in 2024 – Durban Girls’ College, St Stithians College and Hoërskool Garsfontein – miss out this year. St Stithians’ absence means that for the first time in its 10-year history the lineup does not include a school from Johannesburg.
The teams have been split into two groups, Pools A and B. Pool A, has the look of the “pool of death”.
It features three previous winners: the reigning champions, Rhenish; 2023 winners, Eunice; and Oranje, who last lifted the trophy in 2022. Last year’s runner-up, St Mary’s DSG, Kloof, is also in the pool, along with Bloemhof and Waterkloof.
Newcomers Our Lady of Fatima will battle for Pool B supremacy with DSG Makhanda, Paarl Gim, Collegiate, Menlopark, and St Anne’s.
The tournament is scheduled to start with a bang, with Rhenish taking on St Mary’s Kloof in a repeat of last year’s final.
