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Wynberg and Bishops put unbeaten Western Cape records on the line

By Avuyile Sawula , in Hockey | Featured Hockey | News , at 2024-04-24 Tags: ,

Photo: Ziyaad Solomons
Photo: Ziyaad Solomons

It promises to be a frenetic atmosphere, with the crowd buzzing, and war cries at full voice, when Wynberg Boys’ High takes a short trip to face Bishops Diocesan College at the Woodlands Astroturf on Friday night.

The southern suburbs’ meeting will be the first between the sides this year and both will be eager and highly motivated to grab the early season bragging rights.

To make matters even more interesting, both enter the clash with their unbeaten records in Western Cape competition on the line.

Bishops has been in fine form this season, winning all of their matches at the Bishops 175 Festival and following up with two one-sided victories in their opening leagues matches, outplaying DF Malan 8-0 and Reddam House Constantia 7-1.

Wynberg has been in good form, too, but were they tripped up by Maritzburg College and Jeppe at the Nomads Festival, in March.

During their in-season fixtures, they thumped Paarl Boys High 5-1 and Curro Durbanville by the same margin in their first two matches, before playing to a 2-2 draw against Gqeberha’s high-flying Grey High School at home last weekend.

“We are very happy with the start to the season. It has been a team manta so far that we are always looking to be growing as a team, on and off the field,” Wynberg head coach, Ben Wiley told SuperSport Schools ahead of the clash.

“Our pre-season was decent preparation for the Nomads tour, where we looked to refine our playing style, which has led us into a very confident start to our season.

“We are still looking to improve as we keep playing together, never the finished article, but a work in progress.”

Wynberg is one of the few sides in the province to have retained the bulk of its senior players from 2023. The infusion of junior players into the lineup, though, has left the team with a good balance between experience and youth, and coach Wiley believes that will serve the side well as the season progresses.

“We are playing a variant of the 4-4-2 this year,” he said. “It’s a bit new for the boys that stayed in the team from last year, but we only lost five matrics at the end of last year.

“We have a good group of experienced senior players to rely on, as well as a good group of juniors to learn, as the season goes on.”

In their previous two meetings, Wynberg and Bishops split the season’s series, with Wynberg winning 3-2 at home and Bishops scoring a 1-0 victory at Woodlands.

To get one over their opponents, Wiley believes Wynberg will have to be disciplined in their structures and clinical in front of goal. A complete team effort will be needed, and his leadership group will need to set a strong example.

Photo: Ziyaad Solomons
Photo: Ziyaad Solomons

“The belief that we can take the win away from home is real in our squad,” he said.

“We have a great leadership group of Jordan Paulsen, Ethan Lee, and Dayle Gertsen that has stepped up this year.

“Each one is showing great quality on the field and leading the team by example.

“But to just single out individuals also feels like a disservice to the team effort we are putting into every match.”

A confident Bishops team, which has performed well at home, will be a tough challenge for Wynberg.

Coach Ryan Julius has his side playing an attractive and winning brand of hockey, which they will hope to showcase on Friday evening. The action gets underway at 18:15.

TEAMS

Wynberg Boys High: Zach Raizenberg, Dayle Gertson, Daniel Rightford, Liam Kleintjies, Caleb Schilder, Jonty Albrecht, Jordan Paulsen, Ethan Lee, Seth Trantraal, James Burger, Dayyaan Brown, Ethan Daniels, Zach Alexander, Beni Hansen.

Bishops Diocesan College: Mu’aath Ganief, Robert Veldtman (c), Carl Van Wyngaarden, Tom Ludlam, Adam Diggle, James Grieve (vc), Joshua Mettler, Andrew Betty, Andrew Raubenheimer (vc), Christopher Gray, Bryn Parry, David Handley, Harry Morgan, Luc Dicey, Albert Steyn.

Avuyile Sawula
error: Sorry ol' chap, those shenanigans are not permissible.