Top guns return to turf action in the Eastern Cape
After the mid-year break, the Easterns Cape’s top guns, Selborne College, Grey High School, and St Andrew’s College, all return to action this weekend, determined to continue their strong seasons.
Selborne hosts their city neighbours, Hudson Park, in East London, while Grey High welcomes George’s York High, and St Andrew’s hosts a showdown with Woodridge College in Makhanda.
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Selborne and Grey High have been the standout teams in the province this year, compiling prolific records, with St Andrew’s a half-step behind them.
This season, Grey High, coached by Andrew Beynon, has only lost three times against arguably the top two teams in the country, South African College High School (SACS), who twice beat the Gqeberha school, and Paul Roos Gimnasium.
Apart from those defeats, Grey, under the captaincy of Kian Cambier, has played some exceptional hockey, which also saw them capture the bronze medal in a very competitive Hibbert Shield.
They head into their showdown against coach Jason Slater’s side having scored four good wins before the school holidays.
Those victories came against Queen’s College (6-0), Woodridge College (6-1), Pearson High School (7-1), and St Andrew’s (2-1).
Beynon’s lineup includes nine players who represented the Eastern Province u18A side at the SASHOC National Week last month. Grey’s skipper, Cambier, was outstanding for EP in a very tough pool and earned himself selection for the SA u18A squad.
Goalkeeper Kiano Broadhurst also earned the approval of the national selectors and was included in the SA u17 squad.
Against York, Beynon will look to his national players, along with the likes of Ben Ristow, the dangerous Luke Tait, Blake Muller, and Xander Elkington, to drive Grey’s challenge.
For Selborne College, their encounter against Hudson Park will be good preparation for their final three matches of the season.
Coach KJ Friend’s team, despite a disappointing run at the Hibbert Shield in May, have enjoyed a very good season and have dominated in the Border region.
Their last outing resulted in a 6-2 win over Stirling High School.
They will be boosted by the return of their skipper, Tre Gilbert, who did duty for Border at the SASHOC National Week and earned selection for the SA Schools B team.
He’ll be joined in the black and white by Waeden Plaatjies, Daniel Conroy, Daniel Sirgel, Shane Stagg, Gray van Heerden, and Nathan Amon-Brown, all of whom represented Border in Bloemfontein. A win against coach Sipe Matafeni’s side would provide a welcome boost of confidence.
In Makhanda, coach Dean Ferreira’s St Andrew’s College boys tackle Woodridge College. They’ll have two matches remaining on their schedule after Friday’s match, against Dale College and Pearson High.
Speaking of Dale, they’ll be keen to get their season back on track when they host Stirling High in Qonce on Friday afternoon.
In their last outing, Dale went down 0-1 against Kingswood College. The week before that, they beat Graeme College 2-0 away from home.
The side, led by coach Junior Mqingwana, has shown massive improvement this season, and closing off with a bang will be a key point on their agenda.
FIXTURES
Friday, 12 July
16:00 – Dale College vs Stirling High School
17:30 – St Andrew’s College vs Woodridge College
18:30 – Selborne College vs Hudson Park
19:20 – Grey High vs York High
Saturday, 13 July 2024:
11:00 – Merrifield College vs Cambridge High School
