23 March 2024
Kearsney College made a confident start to the Founders Hockey Festival on Saturday, outplaying Dale College 5-0 before recording a tough 2-1 victory over Affies on The Mason Astro.
Captained by SA Schools’ star, Matt De Oliveira, Kearsney delivered an assured performance in their opener, but were pushed much harder by Affies in their early afternoon showdown.
Now under the guidance of the school’s new Director of Hockey, Keegan Pearce, the hosts maintained a good structure and moved the ball well, utilising both the width and the depth of the field.
SACS, number one in South Africa in 2023, played a flowing game to defeat Affies 5-1 in the festival’s opening match. Later, they overwhelmed Parktown Boys’ High 7-1. They’re blessed with talented players on the ball, who work hard off of it, too.
It was a difficult day for Parktown, who were crushed 5-0 by Paul Roos in their first game. The Stellenbosch boys also overran Queen’s College 6-0, with SA u21 star, Reuben Sendzel, excelling at penalty corner time.
They’re now under the leadership of Michael Baker, who took up the position of Director of Hockey at the Stellenbosch school at the beginning of the year after a very successful run in the same position at DHS.
Incredibly, Parktown were awarded more penalty corners than Paul Roos in that first clash, but PRG had a well-oiled PC routine and Parktown did not.
Northwood neither won nor lost, drawing 0-0 with Rondebosch first time out and then playing to a 1-1 draw with Dale College. ‘Bosch had the better of the first game, and the Knights will need to raise their level considerably for an early Sunday morning clash with SACS.
St Stithians beat Rondebosch 2-1 in the early evening. Saints, who won the Aitken Trophy in 2023, the biggest hockey title in Johannesburg schools’ hockey, had cantered to a 5-0 win over Queen’s College in their opener.
They controlled the game from the first whistle to the last, and while their penalty corners weren’t as effective as they might have been – too many shots were directly at the goalkeeper – they found some good finishes when in the Queen’s circle.
RESULTS
Affies 1-5 SACS
Kearsney 5-0 Dale
Northwood 0-0 Rondebosch
Parktown 0-5 Paul Roos
Queen’s 0-5 St Stithians
Kearsney 2-1 Affies
Northwood 1-1 Dale
Parktown 1-7 SACS
Queen’s 0-6 Paul Roos
St Stithians 2-1 Rondebosch
FIXTURES
Sunday, 24 March
07:30 – Queen’s vs Parktown; 08:35 – Northwood vs SACS; 09:40 – St Stithians vs Paul Roos; 10:45 – Affies vs Dale; 11:50 – Kearsney vs Rondebosch; 12:55 – Queen’s vs SACS; 14:00 – Northwood vs St Stithians; 15:05 – Affies vs Paul Roos; 16:10 – Dale vs Rondebosch; 17:15 – Kearsney vs Parktown
Monday, 25 March
07:30 – Affies vs Rondebosch; 08:35 – Dale vs Parktown; 09:40 – Northwood vs Queen’s; 10:45 – SACS vs St Stithians; 11:50 – Kearsney vs Paul Roos
Leave a Reply