Super 12 Tournament is on the horizon
Twelve of the country’s elite hockey-playing schools will converge on C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje, in Bloemfontein, to contest the annual Fairtree Super 12 Tournament from 8-10 August.
The lineup features two teams from Bloemfontein – Oranje and Eunice; three from the Western Cape – Rhenish Girls’ High, Paarl Gimnasium, and Hoër Meisieskool Bloemhof; three schools from KwaZulu Natal – Durban Girls’ College, St Mary’s DSG (Kloof), and St Anne’s Diocesan College; and four from Gauteng – St Stithians College, Hoërskool Garsfontein, Hoërskool Menlopark, and Hoërskool Waterkloof.
Oranje is the most dominant school in the history of the annual tournament. They rattled off four wins in succession, from 2014 to 2017, then added a further victory in 2019. Another run of titles appeared likely before the Covid-19 pandemic stopped them in their tracks.
The hosts last claimed the honours in 2022 and they will be aiming to bolster their sterling record of six wins in eight appearances.
Their neighbours, Eunice, are one of only two other schools to have won the prestigious Fairtree Super 12 title, which they achieved last year. In the semi-finals, they halted another Oranje title bid, on their way to lifting the winner’s trophy.
Coach Nika Coertzen’s charges have endured mixed results in 2024. However, they have played some very good hockey along the way, and they finished as the runners-up at the St Mary’s Waverley Festival.
Menlopark, who are making their sixth appearance at the tournament, is the third team that has previously been crowned the champions. They achieved the feat in 2018.
For a first time, Gauteng will have four teams at the showpiece, but they don’t include St Mary’s Waverley, who, along with Oranje, had been the only sides to qualify for the previous eight editions of the event.
None of the 2024 highveld representatives have been as successful as Menlopark, however. Waterkloof returns to the tournament after an eight-year absence, following their only previous appearance in 2016. St Stithians College, on the other hand, is back after a six-year hiatus. They were a regular participant in the competition, participating in its first five editions, before falling off the radar.
KZN has three representatives for a first time. Their best achievement previously was a runner-up finish, achieved by St Mary’s DSG in 2019, when they lost 2-4 to Oranje in the final.
This season, coach Carla Ann Mackay‘s side looks like a serious contender. They’ll head to Bloemfontein as the recent winners of the SPAR KZN Schoolgirls Hockey Challenge. In May, they were also crowned the champions of the inaugural St Anne’s Cup, which featured a number of schools who will be in action at the Fairtree Top 12, including Durban Girls’ College, Menlopark, Waterkloof, Eunice and the hosts, St Anne’s.
Durban Girls’ College, as the winners of the St Mary’s Waverley Tournament, will be another strong challenger. They’re loaded with talent and had four players invited to the SA u21 camp this past weekend.
The Western Cape contingent is still on the hunt for a first title at the Super 12. Their best results were recorded in 2017 and 2023, when Herschel and Paarl Gim reached the final, respectively.
This year, they are represented by a strong trio, which includes the recent winners of the Cape Town International Hockey Tournament, Paarl Gim.
The Super 12 has regularly showcased some of the best talents in South African schoolgirls’ hockey. Eight players who were part of the tournament will represent the South African women’s hockey team at the Paris Olympics: Antonet Louw (Oranje, 2014), Hannah Pearce (St Mary’s Waverley, 2014-2016), Stephanie Botha (Paarl Gimnasium, 2015-2016), Ongeziwe Mali (Pearson, 2015-2017), Kayla de Waal (Herschel, 2017-2018), Ntsopa Mokoena (Voortrekker, 2022), Paris-Gail Isaacs (Beaulieu College, 2022), and Taheera Augousti, (Eunice, 2022-2023).
Three of those players were named the Super 12 Player of the Tournament: Louw, in 2014; Pearce, in 2016, and De Waal, in 2017 and 2018.
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