The annual u-16 rugby festival hosted by Jeppe High School for Boys has enjoyed massive success over the years.
For the first time, this tournament, held from April 18 to 22, saw new title sponsors – On Target.
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The tournament has grown to include more high school rugby-playing teams every year since its launch in 2013.
The 16 battle-ready u-16A sides from schools in Gauteng, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, among others, descended on the grounds of the University of the Witwatersrand in Braamfontein for the first evening fixtures.
The attention then moved to Jeppe Boys’ Collard and Jake White fields for the remainder of fixtures on April 20 and 22.
Tournament director Riaan van Blerk spoke at length about the growth of the tournament, more intently, the five of the seven for which he has been overseer.
While the tournament does not see an outright winner being crowned, van Blerk said match adjudicators draw up the three games per team pairings as closely as possible, to promote a more competitive brand of rugby.
“This year we had 16 teams drawn as part of the tournament. Apart from Helpmekaar, which is the only Afrikaans-medium school, all the other schools are traditional boys English schools. Each school had the opportunity to play three matches.
“The panel that creates the fixtures attempt to avoid any run away games by looking at the pros and cons of each fixture. This is in line with keeping scores as close as possible because competition in this format is very important,” said van Blerk.
CEO of On Target Jimmy Kleinhans said he looks forward to his organisation’s continued involvement with the exciting flagship school rugby event.
“We hope players’ experience at this amazing event will leave a lasting impression on them and that we contributed to their growth going into one of the most important periods of their lives,” said Kleinhans.
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