TOP 20 Ranked u15 Rugby teams from the North

Jun 14 • School, School Rugby Rankings • 4609 Views • Comments Off on TOP 20 Ranked u15 Rugby teams from the North

09/06/2011
BEELD TROPHY
(VALKE, BLUE BULLS, LIMPOPO, MPAMALANGA;LEOPARDS, LIONS)
TOP 20 ranked under 15 Rugby teams from the North.

1. Monument
2. Transvalia
3. Waterkloof
4. Menlopark
5. Pretoria Boys High
6. AFFIES Pretoria
7. EG Jansen
8. HTS Middelburg
9. Helpmekaar
10. Marais Viljoen
11. Florida
12. Centurion
13. Nelspruit
14. Ben Vorster
15. Lichtenburg
16. Brandwag
17. Brits
18. Eldoraigne
19. Garsfontein
20. Pretoria Tuine

Teams pushing the top 20 with good performances. HTS John Vorster, Jeppe, HTS Vereeniging, Zwartkop, Pietersburg, Rustenburg, Kempton Park, Ligbron but results are not always freely available for calculation.

The ranking has been based on performance of teams against each other top rank teams. Monument who are the NU power Super 16 winners have deserved their place as the Nr 1 ranked under 15 team.

Surprises in the ranking is that 2 Large schools feature in the top 10 among the Macro schools. Hoerskool Transvalia who surprised all the Macro schools to play in the finals of the NuPower Super 16 loosing narrowly to Monument 8-5 after still being ahead 5 -3 till the last 5 minutes of the match. On their way to the final they beat a tough competition in the form of HTS Middelburg, Waterkloof, Nelspruit, Rustenburg and Marais Viljoen. This team may pose many surprises in the future and has the big match temperament to perform will against top schools. They struggle to perform well against smaller schools and seem to be in 2nd gear and do not put on great victories against them but against macro schools they go into 5th gear. They have not been baptized the “Giant killers” for nothing and their results prove it.

Helpmekaar last year’s Large School Beeld trophy winners have been walking over opposition and only lost narrowly to Menlopark Any person can say they have had easier competition but they are not Last year’s Large school’s champion for nothing and have continued their winning ways and any Macro School would be weary of this school’s well drilled pack of forwards.

Ben Vorster is the silent school from the North who quietly march on to beating teams one by one including HTS John Vorster. Ben Vorster sit with some of the fastest backline players in the country and any team would be foolish to allow these guys a bit of space to run at them.

Waterkloof last year Marcro School winners are not experiencing a good season with numerous close losses and close victories. This team is full of talent and can easily move to the top of the rankings but an early season loss against Transvalia and Monument has not done the teams confidence well but never count them out they always come back with a bang and this was seen with their 60 – 0 victory over Marais Viljoen. A narrow loss to Grey College puts them up with the best in the country. They have a strong centre pairing backed with a good pack of forwards. A revenge win in the Classic Clash against Monument has elevated them just under Transvalia who if to loose a game soon will be knocked out of number 2 position by Waterkloof. After beating Monument one would ask why are they on the Top at Number 1 but they have experienced a few losses and losses in critical matches like a Semi final against Monument is what really cost them a top ranking.

EG JANSEN who have on of the most deadliest backlines are a team on the move and were unfortunate not to make a the semi finals of the NuPower Super 16 due to a suspension issue and ended 9th but would have give all the top teams a go. On the day they can beat any team in the country as they showed by beating Transvalia in a friendly, although this match was shorted due to injury this team has the ability to score quickly if you loose focus for a few minutes.

AFFIES Pretoria does not play against many matches against the Top 30 schools in the area and there narrow win against John Vorster and Florida and a good win against Nelspruit move them into the Top 10 below Pretoria Boys High School who they lost to. Affies usually take on Top schools outside the province with great success and can easily be higher up the ranking if they where to compete more against the local schools. A School who dominated the NuPower series in the past should consider moving back into this series.

Menlopark deserves its top 4 position with victories against Helpmekaar, John Vorster, Brits. Victory against two of SA top school’s Paul Roos and Paarl Gimasium makes them competitive against any of the Top 30 schools from the North.

BRANDWAG have proven themselves to be one of the outstanding performers in the TOP 20 with only one loss and then a victory against the same team in the Finals. Yes they have had weaker competition but a good victory against John Vorster and Ligbron proves they can take on any competition, they are also not last year’s Valke champions for nothing. It is a pity they are not part of the Nupower series so that their talents can be tested against 16 of the Top 30 schools.

HTS Middelburg had a bad draw in the NuPower series coming up against a strong Transvalia and Waterkloof team knocking them out of the top 4, but pushed Waterkloof to the ropes in the second half of there quarterfinal and almost came back into the match with a few quick tries. This team is well balanced and strike with its heavy forwards or backline.

Florida also had a bad draw in the NuPower series coming up against the eventual 2nd and 3rd place in there pool games knocking them out to the bottom 8. If there is one team that have the WP flair in their backline to score out of any situation then it is Florida and score numerous tries out of broken play.

One of the biggest movers who are on a roll are Kempton Park who has started off with a very poor performance in the Nupower series but have had good impressive wins and are on a 6 in a row winning streak which includes a win against 4th place EG Jansen. A win against Ben Vorster and a good performance against Transvalia in their upcoming friendlies could cement them a spot in the TOP 20

How ranking was determined.

Schools at ranked according to the TOP 30 Macro and Large Schools in the Beeld Trophy schools ZONE they play against. Victories against smaller schools teams does not count.

A victory against a Top 30 team will usually put you above that team but a loss against a team lower than you can knock a team down the ranking a few points.

All results are added per school are added to worksheets in Excel and then evaluated against each other using a “Defence against / for scoring system” For example if Waterkloof is ranked above EG Jansen then EG Jansen Stats are looked to determine how they have performed against Waterkloof and the other Top Schools to see if they have defence stating why they should be above Waterkloof.
If there is a win for both teams against each other then the team who won in an important tournament will be higher ranked.

Victories against schools outside the region does not count.

Monument undefeated against 16 top schools and are the Nu Power Super 16 champions putting them above 15 schools in the Top 30. A loss against Waterkloof in the classic clash has made their Nr 1 spot very unstable and 1 more loss can move them out of the nr 1 spot.

Transvalia 2nd in Nu Power putting them above all of the other 14 schools plus victories against Hugenote and HTS Vereeniging.

Waterkloof 3rd in Nupower therefore putting them above 13 of the other schools but lost to Monument and Transvalia.

Note that these rankings will always be subjective but not many individuals will be able to put up a justifiable case why their team is to be higher ranked than another team.

By R Hodgkinson