Varsity are the champs!!!

Did you see the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics? WOW does England have an opening to prepare for! An opening to surpass! Well at the moment the talk is all about Michael Phelps will he get 8 gold medals, only time will tell? South Africa have been very disappointing with the ladies hockey side going down 6-0 to Holland. The swimmers have yet to score a medal and the fencers all got knocked out in the first round of the Saber event. Hopefully the Athletes will get us gold in the long jump and the 800m for men.

Although the Proteas lost by 6 wickets today they did secure the series win last week. Our batsmen just did not score enough runs at the Oval. The bowlers where wayward and Dale Steyn was sorely missed as the attack was very toothless at times. Interestingly enough AB De Villiers holds the world record for the most test innings never to be dismissed for a duck, 77 in total. James Anderson is on 44 innings. Sri-Lanke beat India by 8 wickets today in the 3rd and final test to take the series 2-1. A record was also set by the young Sri-Lankan spinner, who looks set to do great things on the sub continent. Ajentha Mendis took 26 wickets in his first test series a new world record.

Serbian, Jelena Jankovic became the world’s top ladies player from Anna Ivanovic who had to pull out of Beijing with a thumb injury. It looks like Roger Federer will lose his top spot next week to Rafael Nadal. We are in the throws of a revolution in the world of tennis. I just hope that my Anna gets well soon. If she requires R and R we have plenty of room here for her.

The Currie Cup had some great results this weekend for Lions and Sharks supporters. How wonderful was it to see the Sharks taking off where they stopped the week before against Western Problems (WP). Oh and they are struggling because of all the Springbok players they have lost. Sorry cry babies but what players? There are only two, Schalk and Jean. The Sharks on the other hand are missing much more players. The only team that may have an excuse is the Bulls as they don’t have great players and for some reason is lacking in depth of youngsters coming through. Ruan Pienaar showed that he is the best scrumhalf in South Africa with his man of the match performance on Friday. Even Freddy looked like a French international that has played over fifty test matches. But 32-10 was a great result and 5 points to take home will always go down well from Newlands. The Lions almost snatched defeat from the jaws of victory by winning 30-27 at Loftus on Friday. The Cheetahs beat Griquas 22-3 and Boland sorted out the Valke 31-29.

Although the Springboks thumped the Argies 63-9, it came at great cost. Bakkies the enforcer will miss the rest of the Tri-Nations with a knee injury. This will affect the Bok scrum and tight play very badly. Jaques Fourie broke his cheek bone and will miss the next 6 weeks while recovering. Frans Steyn and Dannie Rossouw having been called up to the squad. Let’s just hope that we give it to the Blacks at Newlands on Saturday.

Onto the worst and best games of rugby played on Saturday in the Knock Finals for the 1st Division. In the Top 5 finals Toti 2nd XV side beat Vryheid 2nd XV to take the reserve cup. Vryheid 1st XV were just to strong for Toti that made a fighting comeback, to get within two points of Vryheid before the visitors from up north ran away with the game 42-25.

In the bottom 5 First Division finals PMB Waratahs beat Durban University 32-7 in the 2nd team finals. The 2nd got out played in the first half playing into a gale force wind that had us on the back foot all half. However in the second half the troops rallied to try and win for the 10th game in a row but went down. I would just like to say to them well done on a great season and you did your self proud.

Onto the game that made me lose hair, not that I can afford to, but again as a coach and if anybody has ever had the privilege of coaching a sport, you will know, once your charges run onto the field everything that you have trained for goes out the window. The game started with an exchange of penalties and at 6-6 all the game was a typical tight final. With 25 minutes gone in the first half a Varsity backline move went pear shape and ended in an intercept try for the Waratha’s. Varsity added another penalty to turn 13-9 down at the half. After half time Waratahs with the wind in their backs kept the Varsity Hornets pinned down in their own 22 and attack and drive after drive kept being repelled, with a strong and well co-coordinated defense. However after 15 minutes of sustained pressure our defense were left short with a very well worked try.

This put Varsity 20-9 down with 25 minutes left and at no time did they look like scoring. I thought it was game over. However our forwards woke up with Big AJ seeming to spark something in the pack and drive after drive with an incredible line brake got us into a position to score. After the inside center Deon Viljoen having a try disallowed for being scored on the line Varsity seemed to be spurred into action. Our Kenyan international Moses opened the Red Sea with a great run around try with 7 minutes remaining, leaving an easy conversion for Brad Bayman to put Varsity within 4 points. At this stage I went and sat down and lit a camel and said to myself, well this is out of my hands and they have destiny in their own hands. With a loose ball coming out on the blind side because of hands in our find of the season in the fetch flank roll Ross Bedford and no nothing like the truck, swooped on the ball and ran in a 40 meter try to take the lead 21-20. Brad kicked a shocker and missed the conversion. The Waratahs immediately replied with a drop goal attempt that was just short. With less than a minute to go and reset scrum after reset scrum, we took our first tight head of the game and kicked the ball to touch. Games Set and Match. Durban Varsity’s first trophy in 13 years in the senior side.

OK it was the bottom 5 knock out trophy but, now I know what it feels like to win a trophy, to see what my players went through and to celebrate as if we had won the world cup. There is nothing like the camaraderie of a team sport and win or lose and weather it is rugby, soccer, hockey whatever. “Just do it” To my Varsity club side and my assistant coach Rooiers “Red” for the English people and my dad our Chairman, I would just like to say thank you for the great season. Training starts 2nd week in January.

PS: To Padraig Harrington, congratulations on winning your third major out of the last five by winning the PGA Championship on Sunday. He becomes the first European to win the Wanamaker Trophy since Tommy Amour in 1930.

Oh and one more thing, to all those Glenwood Old Boys who thought The Green Machine was going to take down Grey College, sorry for you. Grey won 22-14.

Until next time, take care, stay fit and stay active.

Cheers

ONETIME