Kingswood in provincial finals
KINGSWOOD became the first team to qualify for the SPAR Eastern Cape Schoolgirls Hockey Challenge provincial finals when they won the PE North tournament in Grahamstown on Saturday.
Playing on their home astro, the Kingswoodians defeated Brandwag 1-0 in a well-contested decider to earn the right to attend the provincial finals at Woodridge, outside Port Elizabeth, in August.
The Schoolgirls Hockey Challenge is played throughout the Eastern Cape and Southern Cape, with schools meeting in five regional tournaments to decide the finalists.
The next tournament takes place at Westering in Port Elizabeth tomorrow when the PE Coastal edition is held.
Under new coach Bevan Bennett, it turned out to be a satisfactory day for the host school.
“We are just at the start of our season, but this was a really good exercise for us as we set out to work on our strengths and to find a pattern for our game this season,” Bennett said.
“There was also spirited opposition from all the sides so it was definitely worthwhile competing in this challenge.”
He said Kingswood had to work hard in the final against Uitenhage side Brandwag, with Megan du Preez scoring the winner.
“Brandwag play a very direct and physical game so we knew it would be a real test in the final.
“We faced a number of challenges but managed to produce a performance that was enough to get us through.”
He felt it also set up Kingswood nicely for the season ahead.
“It was a very good starting point in terms of getting some sort of game-plan sorted for the season. For us to get together and to connect with each other in a team environment was really valuable.”
Kingswood showed their intent from the beginning when they defeated Cradock High 4-0 in their opening encounter.
They went through their six matches unbeaten to qualify comfortably for the final.
Brandwag had a rather tougher route. They lost to Kingswood and Cradock, but had two draws and two wins to finish on 11 points, taking second place.
The top two sides in the league phase of the tournament contested the final.
RUGBY
KINGSWOOD started their season on a high note on Saturday with a good 67-3 win over Muir College in windy conditions.
The biggest positive from the game was the introduction of new players, who wore the first XV jersey for the first time.
On Friday, former Springbok captain John Smit visited the school to hand over the team’s jerseys.
Kingswood will be sponsored by Xerox for the next three years.