FLIPPING BOOK CHRONICLE 2024

RUGBY SEVENS

Master in Charge: Mr James Fleming

of Garth Finnemore and his parents in a motor vehicle accident on their return from the final tournament. A season highlight was the visit from Siviwe “Shakes” Soyizwapi, who shared insights during a practice session and spoke to all the sevens players about his journey, including his recent Olympic bronze medal win with the Blitzbokke. The Michaelhouse First VII had a successful season overall, which saw remarkable growth across the five tournaments played. Although the season did not see the team win a tournament, they played exciting sevens while showing a vast improvement in their communication, game reading and skills. The team kicked off the season at the Clifton tournament with a strong performance, winning four out of five pool games and drawing one. This secured a place in the final, which was unfortunately lost against Westville. Next, at the St Charles tournament, the team put on an impressive display to win all their pool games. A 73-0 win over the Hilton College Second VII was the biggest winning margin of the season. The team lost the semi-final against Westville in a close game that ended 5-10. At Glenwood, the First VII continued to show resilience by winning all three of their pool games. A close 7-5 win against Maritzburg College was especially memorable. However, they fell short against DHS in the semi-fina l. The DHS tournament, also serving as provincial trials, was marked by some disruptions, as several players departed early for a school dance after the first game. Despite this, the team secured two pool victories on the Friday. The final pool game on the Saturday resulted in a 15-17 loss to College. This resulted in a quarter-final match against Westville, who managed an early 21-0 lead. The team showed a massive effort to fight back but ultimately ran out of time, with a final score of 14-21. The team played a play-off game against College and clinched a well-deserved 22-7 win. In the final tournament of the season at College, the team lost the first pool game against St Charles before beating a strong DHS 19-17. The final match of the season resulted in a 38-21 victory over College. Congratulations to Stefan Moolman, Rourke O’Sullivan and William Ridl, who were selected to represent the Sharks U17 sevens team at the interprovincial tournament in Bethlehem, where they won a silver medal.

First VII Coach: Mr David Pachonick Second VII Coach: Mr Luyanda Zondi Third VII Coach: Mr Graeme Lucas-Bull Fourth VII Coach: Mr JP Olivier Senior Manager: Ms Marcel Cornelius U15A VII Coach: Mr Ryan Strudwick U15B VII Coach: Mr Grant Ball

U14 VII: Ms Emsone Fourie Trainer: Mr Mthunzi Mdunge

First VII Captain: Lwandle Nzama

AWARDS

Honours: Stefan Moolman, Rourke O’Sullivan, William Ridl Colours: David Moodie Half Colours: Daniel Aissing, Noah Bates, Oliver Bruyns, Oliver Guy, Laird Hamilton-Brown, Alex Jankowitz, James Mallett, Lwandle Nzama, Dominic Sesink Clee

SPECIAL AWARDS

MARK RICHARDS MOST VALUABLE SEVENS PLAYER : Rourke O’Sullivan

RED CAP For playing First VII for three seasons: Jack Hughes

T

he sevens season takes place during the third quarter, with the First VII and U15A teams participating in tournaments over five weekends. The sport has grown so much in popularity that we could field at least four open age group teams and three juniors. The open age group consists of U16, U17 and U18 boys, whereas the juniors is a combined age group of U14 and U15. The emphasis in our sevens programme is very much enjoyment and skills development, with less focus on preparing teams for their tournaments each weekend. This, perhaps, adversely affects the results, but it does have long-term benefits, with the boys’ basics coming on in leaps and bounds. We did earn some silverware during the season, with the Second VII winning the Glenwood Sevens Plate, beating Hilton’s First VII in the final, and the U14s winning the Ashton Junior tournament by overcoming Clifton.

SEASON RECORD 2024

PLAYED

WON

LOST

DREW

The season unfortunately ended on a tragic note with the loss

22

15

6

1

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