All roads lead to Diamantveld this weekend

THE GWK Griquas will play their first home game of the season on Saturday, against the lowly Griffons, but they may well find themselves faced with a rather empty GWK Park, with the highlight of Kimberley’s rugby weekend being the mouthwatering double header featuring the city’s schools rugby giants.

The game between the first teams of Northern Cape High and Upington High as well as Diamantveld’s outing against Landboudal, will pull the crowds to the DHS Sports Day on Saturday, but what this event will also offer is an opportunity for almost forgotten rugby giants of the past to show that the sport is still alive and kicking at these schools.

It has been many years since Kimberley Boys’ High were truly seen as a formidable opponent at the highest schools level, and while they have managed to produce the likes of Thabang Molefe, a centre who now finds himself at Griquas after a respectable decadelong career, top players have been few and far between.

The Noir de Blanc will be looking to change all this. While their first team will take on the Diamantveld Under-19C team and the KHS Under-16 team will tackle Diamantveld’s second-string equivalent on Friday afternoon, Boy’s High will still have a point to prove.

Saturday’s rugby will see the AField at Diamantveld teeming with spectators, with the host school enjoying the full range of agegroup matches.

The action kicks off at 8am with the DHS Under-14A team in action against Duineveld followed by the Under-15A and Under-16A teams taking on their Landboudal counterparts.

At 12.15pm Northern’s second team will take on Duineveld, while the match between the Upington school’s first team and Helpmekaar should set the tone for the big outing between the Northern Cape High and Upington High first XVs.

Diamantveld will wrap up proceedings on the A-Field with their first and second teams both looking to claim crucial home victories.

On Friday, the “minnows” of schools rugby will be in action on the Diamantveld B-Field as well as Technical High School’s A-Field.

At DHS, the cream of Adamantia rugby take on Koffiefontein followed by Northerns Under-14As against Upington and Douglas Under-19 versus Duineveld Under19C. Once again, Duineveld will spend plenty of time on the field with their Under-15As and Under16As taking on Northerns, while their Under-16Bs take on Addies Under-16As.

Douglas High School’s Under-15 and Under-14 teams will then wrap up the day in time for the main match between Douglas’ first team Diamantveld’s second team.

It will only be a half day of rugby at HTS, with the home school only fielding an Under-15 side for the weekend. They will take on a Duineveld Under-15B team, while the Homevale’s Under-16A, 14A and 19A teams will face the Upington Under-16A, Duineveld Under-14B and NJ Heyns Under-19A teams respectively. At 12.20pm, Hopetown Under-19A take on Duineveld Under-19D.