From Behind the Posts: The 2013 rugby season has quietly snuck up on us without too much pomp and ceremony; almost like the

opening scene in the Pearl Harbour movie where the Japanese surprised the Americans.

We hosted the inaugural Auric Auto Bosch 10’s Tournament this past weekend, where the boys had their first real opportunity to put pay to all the effort that they have put in during the off-season. The tournament was played in honour of Prof “Tinkie” Heyns, a legend in the Rondebosch community - with 12 teams from around the Western Cape competing for the Tinkie Heyns Shield.

This format of the game is a wonderful way for all teams to start their seasons: ensuring that early season rust gets the much needed oil before the season kicks off. It also affords the coaches an opportunity to look at players in and on the fringes of their respective squads.

In our first game against Brackenfell, the boys played some really good rugby. Their handling skills stood out in the early morning conditions, which were still pretty wet after some rain; maybe it can be accredited to a combination of all the tennis ball drills in the off season and some handgrip technology from Griptec? The guys built on this early confidence with another good win against Hamiltons Rugby Club in the second round. It was wonderful to see the colours of Hammies on the fields of Bosch with all the good work that they do in the development of rugby in our region.

We had a tough quarter final against Bishops B, where we made life difficult for ourselves by allowing them to go ahead in the match through some sloppy defence. The boys dug deep and pulled it through by sheer determination, which this group of players seem to have in abundance. In a very tough semi-final against the SACS Warriors, the team played some of their best rugby of the day and seemed well in control against a team who looked difficult to beat throughout the day.

20 March 2013, 1st Edition

I couldn’t have written a better script for the day which ended in a Bosch and Bishops Final. The stage was set for a mouth-watering climax as both teams were desperate to draw the first blood of the season. The final lived up to expectations, with both teams playing a high standard of tens rugby by displaying good skills and commitment. The lead changed hands a couple of times with Bishops showing off the rugby that has made them famous over the years. Our boys again dug deep into their mental reserves at the end of a long day to find that something special which allowed us to come back with two good tries at the death and secure the Tinkie Heyns Shield for the school.

Auric Auto Bosch 10’s Tournament winners with the Tinkie Heyns shield Back L-R: Graham Geldenhuys, Robert Jankielsohn, Francois Swart, Alan Eaby, Jay Stevens, and Stef de Gouveia Front L-R: Brett Paulse, Ronnie Melck, Philip Jankielsohn, Tyren Lee and Devon van Rensburg

The rugby throughout the day was of a very good standard, with the Western Cape Sport School playing some scintillating rugby, which had their boisterous crowd on their feet every time one of their speedsters started to dance towards the tryline. The boys from Paarl Gym were full value with the physicality they brought to their games and were deserving winners of the Plate by beating our Bosch Bulls who got sucked into tight exchanges of the Paarl side.

The success of the tournament is testament to the strong team work of the School community who pulled together in a very short space of time to make the day possible. I acknowledge the contribution of Eric Scoble from Auric Auto, our title sponsor who was committed from the inception of this Tournament. Murray Stone and the entire Bosch Rugby Supporters’ Club were great in supporting the day, special thanks to Scott Macleod-Smith for organising the school names on the score board. Thank you to Caroline Perren and the many dedicated parents for the catering throughout the day and the Estates team, and in particular Shaun Ovenstone for ensuring the fields and surrounds were in good condition. Thank you to Caroline Fowler and Pam Ogilvie for their assistance with the general organization of the tournament.

A huge thank you to the many school boys who gave of their time to help with those important little duties that no one sees; special mention to Taylor who kept the day ticking by with his role as announcer/DJ. To all the referees who participated for the “love of the game” - thank you, without you rugby is not possible. As always I rely on Gustaf Pienaar to help with the administrative part of planning such a tournament: a big thank you to him.

It feels good to have the shield in our possession after all the effort that everyone has put in, on and off the field. It was an enjoyable day and a great start to the 2013 season. Long may this Tournament be a permanent fixture on the school calendar.

See you behind the poles.

Photos courtesy of Andrew Louwrens www.sarugbystats.co.za/gallery

Clinton van Rensburg

Auric Auto Bosch 10’s Tournament: School sport is no longer a case of playing a summer sport until it is finished, and then playing a winter sport until it is finished. Easter Festivals in Johannesburg used to be a nice pre-season warm-up where coaches could test their new team, as well as try a few combinations that they were not too sure about for the up-coming season. Today, these pre-season festivals are high performance pressure pots where you are expected to start your season against top opposition and win from day one. We are now starting to see pre-pre-season festivals to prepare for the pre-season festivals! This trend has affected summer sport as well. A few years ago summer sport would start preparation at the end of winter sport season for their pre-season festivals in the September holidays. For the last year or two they start preparing a week or two into term three to prepare for their pre-pre-season festivals that takes place still during term 3 to be ready for their pre-season festivals after term three in the September holidays.

This is where Clinton van Rensburg’s brilliant idea of a Rondebosch 10’s comes into play and makes so much sense. Other teams are already involved in full 15 men festivals to get ready for the Easter Festivals. With this comes all the risks of 15 men contact so early in the pre-season: injuries, pressure to perform, fear of ranking points, press reports on your strengths/weaknesses etc. The Auric Auto Bosch 10’s concept was probably best summed up by Mr Shaun Simpson’s message in the tournament program:

“It does offer a slightly kinder start to the season than the full-blown madness of fifteen men. With this in

mind, the ‘Bosch Tens’ presents an opportunity to brush off the cobwebs of summer, stretch the muscles and

reactivate the rugby part of the brain without the fear of early season injury. It offers a temperature test for

coaches to see if those ‘perhaps’ and ‘maybe’ selections will pay off, and it hopefully works to aid

preparation for the gruelling festival games of Easter.”

A concept that started off as an experiment to test the waters in a low key event, proved to be so popular that even at short notice, it very quickly grew into the event that we saw this weekend with all the signs of a potential “hit” for Rondebosch. A huge thank you must go to our very loyal supporter, Eric Scoble and his Auric Auto team for sponsoring the event. It also gave Rondebosch rugby the opportunity to honour the great memory of Professor I. de V. Heyns, better known to many as just Prof, by offering the Tinkie Heyns Shield as a trophy to the winners.

Judging by the number of people in the stands all day, the quality of rugby on display, the enjoyment of the players and initial feedback from coaches, the event was a huge success. What made it an even bigger success for Rondebosch was the fact that we had teams in each of the finals, with our A team taking the honours to ensure that the inaugural Tinkie Heyns Shield stays in the Rondebosch trophy cabinet for the next year.

The hard work by the boys and coaches for this season is now done, and the anticipation of an exciting rugby season for Bosch is in the air. Let the games begin.......

Gustaf Pienaar

MIC Rugby & 1st XV Manager

Sponsor of the Auric Auto Bosch 10’s Tournament - 2013

Gum Guards and Concussion management:

The decision to take part in any prevention programme is entirely up to you as a parent, but it is

strongly recommended that you do whatever you can to help prevent concussion by doing the following:

1. Have your son complete a baseline test. This becomes very useful in the management of the

injury after an incident. 2. Do not let your son play any contact sport without a proper gum guard - preferably one that has

been fitted by a dentist.

Gum guards If you did not make use of the pre-season offer for a fitted gum guard from MAX Mouthguards, please make an effort to get one for your son. For information on MAX Mouthguards please contact Amanda Walker tel: 078 116 3313 or amanda@maxmouthguards.co.za or www.maxmouthguards.co.za

Concussion management For a number of years now, Rondebosch has supported a concussion testing program provided by ImPACT Applications South Africa in conjunction with Dr. Victoria Alexander (Ph.D.). From 2013 Dr Jason Suter, a sports physician from Constantiaberg Mediclinic will provide support regarding the safe return to sport.

Parents have been forwarded this information on a regular basis as it is of interest to everyone, not just rugby players’ parents. This is another reminder of what the ImPACT programme includes:

1. The cost of the ImPACT programme is R400 VAT inclusive/boy for the academic year. 2. This includes, the baseline testing, unlimited post-injury testing, all test interpretation by

credentialed neuropsychologist, report writing and liaison with doctor/parent and coaches. 3. The ImPACT clinician provides supplementary information in the overall medical management of

the case, and the final return-to-play decision rests with the doctor in charge. 4. This doctor may be your general practitioner or Dr Jason Suter, who has extensive experience in

sports concussion, and return-to-play decisions.

To make use of this programme, one would ideally start with a baseline test. Rondebosch has agreed to facilitate the actual testing in our Centenary Computer Centre. In order for this to be done, a payment must be made to ImPACT:

EOH Health Standard Bank Business cheque account Branch number: 004105 Norwood Account Number 001821806 Reference: ImPACT 602 + surname

Once payment has been made and with a copy of the proof of payment, your son can make an appointment with Mr Ryan Busby at the Centenary Computer Centre. He will then set up the necessary computer software and supervise the test, after which he will forward the test to Dr Suter.

Should you not have taken an early option to have a baseline test done and your son gets concussed, you can still subscribe to the program in the same way as above. The only difference would be that ImPACT’s recommendations would then be comparing your son’s test data with a national norm, instead of his own personal baseline. Follow-ups after a concussion must also be done in conjunction with a medical doctor, experienced in concussion management.

2013 Coaching team and channels of communications:

Here is the coaching team for the 2013 season. Please support your son and his coaches. Should you have a matter you want to discuss, please follow this procedure:

Encourage your son to discuss issues directly with his coach. If you have a serious issue, do not work through your son, make an appointment to see your son’s coach through his manager.

Please do not approach coaches on match days.

U19A Clinton van Rensburg Rod Labuschagne Gustaf Pienaar (m) gustaf.pienaar@rondebosch.com

U16 A/B Mark Lindenberg Neil Teubes Matthew Foster Johann Gerber (m) johann@gerberfin.com

U15 A/B Jonathan Raphael Egon Seconds Josh Carew Grant Paarman (m) grant.paarman@rondebosch.com

U14A/B Charlie Post Adam Rundle Wayne Jackson Trevor Edwards (m) trevor.edwards@rondebosch.com

U19 B Johan Snijmann Tom Dawson-Squibb Rowan Harmuth (m) rowan.harmuth@rondebosch.com

U19 C/D Divvie Maritz Brett Matheson Andrew Cowley Russell Walker (m) russell.walker@rondebosch.com

U16 C/D Mikey van Niekerk Pieter Prinsloo Gareth Heüer Dave Watt (m) dave.watt@rondebosch.com

U15 C/D Gerrit Cilliers (m/c) Jonny Sweetnam Matthew Marais gerrit.cilliers@rondebosch.com

U14 C/D Gareth Vlotman (m/c) Conor Ray Justin Vorster gareth.vlotman@rondebosch.com

U19 E/F Gareth Muller Yusri Williams Bassier Halday (m) bassier.halday@rondebosch.com

U19 G/H Jason Williams Nabeel Allie-Ebrahiem André Fransman (m) andre.fransman@rondebosch.com

Follow Rondebosch rugby on Twitter for fixtures and results: @BoschRugby

Date Opponents/Venue

21 - 23 Mar Nowan Cornelius Rugby Festival: Hermanus

High School Festival

Thu 21 Mar Hoërskool Bellville (U16) - 11:00

Bredasdorp (U14) - 11:00 16A & 14A

Sat 23 Mar Match 2 16A & 14A

March/April

Holiday

30 Mar - 3 Apr Maritzburg College 150th Festival Festival

Sat 30 Mar Durban High School (DHS) - 11:30 19A

Mon 1 Apr Hoërskool Monument (Monnas) - 10:10 19A

Wed 3 Apr Jeppe High School for Boys - 11:40 19A

4 - 6 Apr Grey High School Junior Rugby Festival Festival

Thu 4 Apr Selborne College - 14:00 16A

Sat 6 Apr Grey High School - 11:00 16A

Term 2

Sat 13 Apr Wynberg Boys' High School (A) All teams

Sat 20 Apr Primrose Rugby Football Club (A) All teams

Sat 27 Apr Hoërskool Stellenberg (H) All teams

Sat 4 May Hoërskool Tygerberg (A) All teams

Sat 11 May BYE All teams

Sat 18 May SACS (H) All teams

Sat 25 May Paarl Gimnasium (A) All teams

Sat 1 Jun Paul Roos Gymnasium (H) All teams

Sat 8 Jun Bishops (A) All teams

Sat 15 Jun BYE (long weekend and WP Unions weekend) All teams

June/July Holiday 22 - 26 Jun Cape Schools' Festival - Paarl Gim Festival

Sat 22 Jun Match 1 19A

Mon 24 Jun Match 2 19A

Wed 26 Jun Match 3 19A

30 Jun - 4 Jul U18 Academy Week KZN

30 Jun - 4 Jul U16 Grant Khomo Week Falcons

7 - 13 Jul U18 Craven Week Polokwane

Term 3

Tue 16 Jul Touring team (tbc) 19A

Sat 20 Jul Hoër Landbouskool Boland (H) All teams

Sat 27 Jul Paarl Boys' High School (H) All teams

Sat 3 Aug Wynberg Boys' High School (H) All teams

Sat 10 Aug BYE All teams

Sat 17 Aug SACS (A) All teams

Sat 24 Aug Bishops (H) All teams

Old Boys (tbc)

Fri 30 Aug Villagers 7's (tbc) 19A

Sat 31 Aug U14 7's - Hoërskool Durbanville (tbc) 14A

Sat 31 Aug U15 7's - Hoërskool Monument Park (tbc) 15A

Sat 31 Aug U16 7's - Hoërskool Brackenfell (tbc) 16A

2013 FIXTURES

www.rondebosch.com