21 November 2023
It’s only when you fill in all the pieces of a puzzle that you see the full picture. Westville Boys’ High‘s full picture came into focus at the school’s annual Sports Awards, held on Friday evening. Pieced together, they revealed yet another outstanding year of achievement for the school.
Westville old boy Ronnie Rutland was the guest of honour and shared his incredible life story, which has included him riding a bicycle to three successive Rugby World Cups, with the first journey, to the 2015 Rugby World Cup, covering 27 months, 42 000 kilometres and all but four of Africa’s countries, which were not accessible at the time.
He subsequently delivered the whistle to the referees in charge of the 2019 and 2023 RWC openers and, as he pointed out tongue-in-cheek, South Africa won both.
154 KZN representatives in 23 sporting codes
During the course of the year, 154 Westville boys were selected to represent KZN in 23 different sporting codes, with 14 boys receiving their national colours: Romashan Pillay (cricket); Dian Wilmot (golf); Siyabonga Ndlozi (rugby sevens); Senthen Reddy, Connor Doig and Guy Vorwerk (tennis); Caleb Wandsworth, Jason Humphreys, Quintus Jordaan (softball); Luke Cuthbert (angling); Daniel Byrnes and Jake Scholtz (touch rugby); Kai Williams and Trent Williams (wave ski).
In addition, 21 Westville coaches represented KwaZulu-Natal, while Cameron Mackay (indoor hockey coach) and Matthew Stringer (water polo umpire) represented South Africa.
Football and softball both produced 22 provincial reps, and Westville’s football teams had a year for the record books, with the school’s u14A, u15A, and u16A teams all winning the KZN KO Cup.
And the 1st XI, with only two matric boys and three boys in grade 11, is set to make plenty of noise in 2024, not that they didn’t in 2023. They were one of the most consistent and outstanding teams in the country and recorded a number of eye-opening victories, including 9-1 against Kearsney and 5-1 against both Hilton College and DHS.
The Griffin enjoyed a superior win-loss record against every school they faced and ended the season with a superb record of 188 games played, 127 won, 21 drawn and 40 lost.
That exceptional record throughout the age groups secured Director of Football Dan Haswell and his staff the Sports Code of the Year Award, and Ryan Liberty, the 1st team coach, was named the 1st team Coach of the Year.
South Africa’s best
The 1st Team of the Year, however, went to Westville’s all-conquering tennis team. Up against the best tennis sides from around South Africa, they captured the Spar Kearsney Tennis Festival title for the first time. It was also a first win for a KZN school since 1997.
Westville Boys’ High are South Africa’s best! | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
It wasn’t unexpected, however, with Guy Vorwerk, Connor Doig and Senthen Reddy, who all won national colours, giving Westville a daunting 1-2-3 in their rankings. Behind them, the standard remained superb, with the entire first team and half of the second team earning provincial colours.
Westville has a very rich tennis history, but the current crop of players, and their depth of achievement, is matching up to and, arguably, bettering, what has been achieved in the past.
The Griffin will again fly the South African flag at the All Africa High School Badminton Championships, which take place in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 16 to 20 December, after finishing as runners-up at the South African High Schools’ Championships.
They dominated the KZN schools’ scene, with the Westville 1st team winning the A League and the 2nd team finishing fourth, while the 3rd team won the B League and the 4th team tied for third.
Sportsman of the Year
The Errol Stewart Matric Sportsman of the Year Award was presented to Warwick Field for an exceptional list of achievements.
These included playing in the 1st hockey team since he was in grade 10 and being selected for KZN u18 C this year. He has represented the 1st football team since 2022, and won KZN u19 colours that year, too. He played for the 1st softball team in 2022, also, and was selected for the KZN u17 team.
Furthermore, he received his honours for swimming after turning out for the Griffin for five years and excelling in his specialist event, the 50m backstroke. In water polo, he has represented KZN at u16, u19 and men’s level, and he was selected as a non-travelling reserve for the SA u17 and SA u20 teams.
The Mickey Arthur Trophy for Sporting Excellence was shared by SA under-19 cricket star Romashan Pillay, who represented South Africa on their tour of Bangladesh in July, and Siya Ndlozi, who was part of the bronze medal-winning SA Sevens team at the Junior Commonwealth Games in Trinbago in August.
Outgoing Head Boy James Dent‘s contributions to the first cricket and hockey teams, and the second football side, were recognised when the Governing Body’s Chairman’s Award, presented by Richard Payne, was awarded to him. The award, the Head of High Performance for Cricket, Christo Esau, said, goes to “a first team sportsman, who has embodied the Griffin values. He is a true team player and epitomises sportsmanship to the highest degree.”
The Sports Administrator of the Year was shared by Thomas Jackson and Michael de Beer.
Mbuso Mgobozi, who coached the 1st hockey team to the Durban Indoor League title and led the Griffin to the Kearsney Fives‘ honours, while also taking charge of the under-14A hockey and 2nd cricket teams, was the recipient of the Learnership Coach of the Year.
Westville lift 2023 Kearsney Hockey Fives title | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
The Coaches’ Coach of the Year went the way of Zander Erasmus, who led Westville’s under-16 rugby team to an unbeaten season in KZN, and then took charge of the Westville Sevens rugby sides. The 1st team won the Saints Sevens title and was consistently in the running for silverware, while the u15s took the win at the Glenwood Sevens.
Concluding, Christo Esau said: “As a collective, I am sure I speak on behalf of the men [in the Sports Department], we acknowledge [Director of Sport] Pam Hayward for the work and the leadership that she has shown.”
Aceing it with Westville’s Director of Sport | Pinnacle Schools (pinnacle-schools.com)
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