September, 2009

Taking a mid morning coffee break on a beautiful Spring day in Greenpoint, a stones throw away from our impressive new Stadium, is a colourful experience in it’s own right. Add Jonathan Kaplan to the scene, and things just get so much more colourful.

I was luck enough to grab JK for an interview for SACSRUGBY between his hectic schedule of Tri-nations, Currie Cup and Test match duties. As the most capped Test Referee of all time (with 53 Tests), I was in seriously good company. I was later to discover, this was actually “GREAT” company.

I had prepared a number of questions for JK, but realised a minute or so into the interview, that he was in a talking mood, and questions to some extent became less relevant than simply listening to the perspectives, experiences, and general wisdom of this man. For the record, JK started refereeing at the age of 17 in the Northern Transvaal. He has represented Transvaal, KZN and of course WP in the years since, but is now officially a professional referee contracted to SA Rugby. While studying at UCT, he served on the executive of the UCTRFC, where I met him for the first time some 20 years ago.

In those days, JK also applied his talents to coaching and in fact led the UCT 19B’s to a league title. He is qualified in Level 1 and 2 coaching, and still holds some aspirations for coaching perhaps after retirement from refereeing. In a career spanning 26 years, he has been in charge of 894 matches!!! And believe me, he is keeping score. JK is not a man who leaves much to chance. He is well organised and approaches life with purpose. There are still some very challenging goals ahead of him, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he were aiming serioulsy at the magical 1000 games before retirement.

The part I really liked was how quickly he recalled the times he had reffed SACS firstXV. 9 times in total, with SACS winning on 4 occasions, with a best result being the 2004 win against Bishops 32-31. In truth, JK is not compelled to ref schoolboy games. He does it for the love of the sport. And to give back to the schools that helped propel him to almost 900 games so far.

It was clear in this interview, that JK is a scholar of personal leadership. He operates with a vision and believes life doesn’t just unfold in front of you. It is a series of events that can provide clues and signals to what we need to do and learn. Applying his leadership to rugby and refereeing, JK believes you will move from being “good to great” if you can nurture and demonstrate the following qualities:

• Flair
• Judgement
• Nerve

Next time you watch him in action, look out for how he applies these in the game. From a future aspiration point of view, JK would love to do more Currie Cup games as he believes this is one of the best competitions in the world. He would relish the opportunity to do some European Cup games, and of course there is the matter of doing a RWC Final. But of course we know that for him to fulfill that dream, it means the Boks would have to be knocked out!!

His message to youngsters is simple. Be patient, hardworking and believe in yourself. And have no fear! For a guy whose greatest sporting achievement at school was making the Chess team, these are very, very valuable words. I left the inteview understanding more about JK the man and how he has developed into a great referee. He has always believed in himself and I am sure we’re still going to see great things from him.

ACHIEVEMENTS :

·         MOST CAPPED INTERNATIONAL TEST REFEREE OF ALL TIME ( 53 CAPS )

·         ATTENDED 3 WORLD CUPS 1999/2003/2007 ( REFEREED A TOTAL OF 9 MATCHES – SA RECORD )

·         REFEREED QUARTER FINAL IN 2003 AND SEMI FINAL IN 2007

·         324 FIRST CLASS MATCHES ( RECORD )

·         66 SUPER 14 CAPS ( SA RECORD ) INCLUDING 3 FINALS AND 4 SEMIFINALS

·         131 CURRIE CUP MATCHES ( RECORD ) INCLUDING 4 FINALS AND 4 SEMIFINALS

·         MOST CAPPED 6 NATIONS REFEREE OF ALL TIME ( 14 TESTS )

·         MOST CAPPED TRINATIONS REFEREE OF ALL TIME ( 7 TESTS )

·         MOST CAPPED BLEDISLOE CUP REFEREE OF ALL TIME ( 7 TESTS )

·         ONLY REFEREE TO HAVE REFEREED BRITISH AND IRISH LIONS IN SA, AUS , NZ and SA AGAIN ( FREE STATE 30 LIONS 52 / AUSTRALIA 35 LIONS 14 / NZ 38 LIONS 19 / SHARKS 3 LIONS 39)

·         SOUTH AFRICAN REFEREE OF THE YEAR 4 YEARS RUNNING 2003-2007

The U15C team were voted SACS RUGBY Team of the Year for 2009.

The year in general started with lots of enthusiasm, but lack of matches hampered prepartion at the beginning of the season. The general standard of performance was lower, in my opinion, than previous years, but towarsds the end of the seson, teamwork overcame lack of individual ability, and results and moral improved. The usual huge turnover of players led to many inevitable disruptions. Thanks to Richard Found of the 4ths, these were dealt with as best we could. Continue

SACS  3^RD  XV  Rugby  Report  2009

Coach:  Simon  Perkin

Assistants:  Adam  Normann  and  Paul  Delport

Manager and Linesman:  Chad  Thompson

Captain:  Garron  Adlard

Vice-Captain:  Jonas  Viljoen

Results:

P11    W3   L8    Points  for  -  157    Points  against  -  265

“Not a great season,” I hear you say, dear reader.  WRONG!

While results were poor, as expected from a weak Matric year group, there were many positives!

Garron Adlard led the side with distinction and was ably supported by Jonas Viljoen.  That those involved enjoyed themselves was evident and Springbok 7s star, Old Boy, Paul Delport ‘loved’ working with the team because … “they always listened and obviously wanted to learn …” Continue

The U15A&B teams held an afternoon end of year function at the Brodie room and braai area.

The U15C’s were voted team of the year at SACS for 2009 due to their impressive win rate. The team was coached successfully by Hugo De Villiers and assisted by Aaron and Adon. The statistics for the season are as follows: Continue

SACS had another good year in terms of participation and spirit. There is a real love for the game amongst the boys at SACS but the challenge for everyone, players, coaches, old boys and parents, is to turn this into results on the field.

Overall the statistics do not look good:

    P       W       L           D        PF         PA         Diff     % Wins

165     52      113     16      1861   3806   -1945     32%

This compares with: 2006 – 39%, 2007 – 34%, 2008 – 33%,

We expected the 1stXV to struggle this year given that they were a young team. We took some heat early on against Rondebosch and Paarl Gim especially, but once the younger players found their feet in the open division the results were admirable. Better SACS 1stXV’s have lost by more to Paarl Boishaai (23-16), Paul Roos (12-8) and Boland Landbou (6-0). The team showed great determination in defence this year and in the final game against Wynberg, when at times we had eleven Grade 11’s on the field, they showed enough skills on attack to believe that they can have a good season next year.

In the open division we continued to put out a record number of teams, eight when at full strength, but we lacked the quality in depth of the last two years. That is to be expected though as all schools go in cycles.

In the Under-16 division the A-team struggled but the B and C-teams scored some pleasing results. Numbers were tight down in the D-team but the spirit was good and when the boys got a chance to play they really relished it. The A-team, who really need to be at full strength to compete with top schools, were ravaged by injury and never put the same team on the field two weeks in a row. The pack worked hard under the guidance of Paul Gilomee, Dugald Robertson and Mr. Rico Lupini and they took the game to their opponents. Out wide though they struggled as long-term injuries to flyhalf Dylan Riviere and top centre Storm Winter meant they lacked incisiveness.

The Under-15 division had a good year with the C-team producing the best results in the school, only two defeats the entire season. The A-team lost only three of their sixteen games played, with notable wins against Paarl Gim and all our local Southern Suburb rivals (Rondebosch 26-15, Bishops 27-13 and Wynberg 7-5). The B-team trained hard and played good rugby but came up one or two points short on at least five occasions over the course of the season. The D-team also put their hand up and took the game to all their opponents. Even more pleasing though is the great depth we have in this age-group where we could field an E-team if required.

The Under-14 division took time to adapt to the rigours of high school rugby. The boys are keen as ever but the step up, especially against the big boys schools, proved tough. The A-team pack has size and there are skills in the backs. The coaches have worked hard on developing all aspects of the boys play and we are hopeful that as they continue to grow and mature these skills will come through and they will develop into a formidable outfit.

The A-team struggled but produced some promising results in the last two games especially where they were level going into the last ten minutes against both Bishops and Wynberg, only to see the opponents steal a last gasp win. The B-team produced some great performances. They almost snuck a win away against Paarl Gim and hammered Wynberg by 30-points in both the home and away fixtures. The C and D-team enjoyed their rugby but again need to shake off the “puppy fat” in the off-season and come back determined to do some damage in 2010!

The undoubted highlight of the year was our hosting of the Cape Schools Week. This proved to be a massive success and a great marketing exercise for the school. To cap a great week our 1stXV won two of their three games played. This included putting fifty points on Muir College and securing an exciting last minute win against Dale College.

Credit for the tournament and for the smooth running of rugby at SACS must go to the Master-in-Charge Mr. Barry van Selm, who works tirelessly for the cause. Mr. Ball is always a great support and he, along with Mr Finlayson, will plot the course for SACS Rugby to improve and perform better in the years to come.

 Graeme Wepener.

More SACS Team Reports to Follow.

Thanks to Mr. Ian February for this footage of the War Cry. It’s quick, it’s powerful, and it stirs up the emotions.