Tough Rhenish steals the spotlight at St Mary’s Hockey Festival

Rhenish Girls’ High School sparkled on Friday at the St Mary’s Hockey Festival in Waverley, winning all four of their matches without conceding a goal against strong opposition.

The Western Cape team, for whom Ruby Celliers earned her 100th cap, began their day with a 2-0 triumph over the recently crowned Belgotex Sport Easter Hockey Tournament winners, Somerset College.

They followed that up with a tight 1-0 win over St Andrew’s School for Girls and then handed Oranje their first loss of 2024.

The Stellenbosch girls exhibited rock-solid defence against Oranje, who had scored many lop-sided victories earlier in the season, holding them scoreless, and a goal from Kaitlyn van Binsbergen broke the deadlock to secure the win.

In their last Pool C encounter, Rhenish saw off Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School 4-0.
Captain Leah du Plessis opened the scoring and then doubled the Rhenish lead 17 minutes before the end of the game. Lily Newton struck from a penalty corner and Pippa Viljoen netted with seconds remaining to complete a big victory.

It was not an easy day for the team from the KZN capital. They also lost 0-1 to both Somerset College and St Andrew’s, but played to a 1-1 draw with Hoërskool Garsfontein.

In Pool B’s first game, Hoërskool Menlopark defeated Windhoek High School 2-0, and St Anne’s Diocesan College repeated that scoreline in a win over St Mary’s DSG (Pretoria).

The Wykeham Collegiate also beat St Mary’s DSG (Pretoria), winning 1-0, and defeated Paarl Girls’ High School 2-1. They were held to a goalless draw by Windhoek.

Those results marked a strong turnaround for the Pietermaritzburg school, who suffered three losses on the opening day.

The hosts, St Mary’s Waverley, endured a difficult day, losing 0-1 to Menlopark and drawing goalless with Paarl Girls’ High before going down 0-3 to Durban Girls’ College, who have quietly asserted themselves and dominated Pool B.

They won all three of their matches, netting nine times while keeping a clean sheet for the day.

RESULTS

Friday, 5 April

Pool B: Windhoek 0-0 Menlopark; St Anne’s 2-0 St Mary’s DSG (Pretoria); The Wykeham Collegiate 2-1 Paarl Girls’ High; Windhoek HS 0-5 Durban Girls’ College; St Mary’s Waverley 1st 0-1 Menlopark; The Wykeham Collegiate 0-0 Windhoek HS; Menlopark 0-1 Durban Girls’ College; The Wykeham Collegiate 1-0 St Mary’s DSG (Pretoria); St Mary’s Waverley 1st 0-0 Paarl Girls’ High; Windhoek HS 0-2 St Anne’s; Paarl Girls’ High 0-0 St Mary’s DSG (Pretoria); Menlopark 0-0 St Anne’s; St Mary’s Waverley 1^st 0-3 Durban Girls’ College

Pool C: Somerset 1-0 Pietermaritzburg GHS; Oranje 3-1 St Andrew’s; Waterkloof 0-0 St John’s; Somerset 0-2 Rhenish; Pietermaritzburg GHS 1-1 Garsfontein; Oranje 1-0 St John’s; Rhenish 1-0 St Andrew’s; Waterkloof 1-1 Garsfontein; St Andrew’s 1-0 Pietermaritzburg GHS; Waterkloof 0-0 Somerset; Oranje 0-1 Rhenish; St John’s 0-0 Garsfontein; Oranje 3-1 Garsfontein; St John’s 1-2 Somerset; St Andrew’s 0-1 Waterkloof; Rhenish 4-0 Pietermaritzburg GHS

POOLS

Pool A: Eunice High School; Herschel Girls School; Clarendon High School; Pretoria High School for Girls; Hoër Meisieskool Bloemhof; Roedean School (SA); Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool, Pretoria; DF Malan

Pool B: St Mary’s Waverley 1^st XI; Durban Girls’ College; Paarl Girls’ High School; Die Hoërskool Menlopark; The Wykeham Collegiate; Windhoek High School; St Anne’s Diocesan College; St Mary’s DSG (Pretoria)

Pool C: C&N Sekondêre Meisieskool Oranje; Hoërskool Garsfontein; Rhenish Girls’ High School; St John’s DSG; St Andrew’s School for Girls; Hoërskool Waterkloof; Somerset College; Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School

Pool D: Collegiate Girls’ High School; Paarl Gimnasium; St Stithians Girls College; St Mary’s DSG (Kloof); St Cyprian’s School; Pearson High School; St Mary’s Waverley Festival XI; Our Lady of Fatima DCS

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Vuyo Ndudane

Vuyo Ndudane is a Sport Management and Journalism graduate from the Vaal University of Technology and the University of South Africa. She has experience as a content producer for Mhlobo Wenene FM sport show, currently working as a Sport Multimedia Controller, Researcher and multiple sport freelance writer under the wings of Sport Journalist. She admires Kyle Walker and Vinicius Jnr. She's just a lover of sport and trying to change the perception of Women's Sport in South Africa - one article a time.

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