The Wembley College 7’s Rugby season was concluded with our u15 and u18 boys making their way down to the Natal-South Coast for a 7’s Rugby Tournament. The schools participating included: Qhakaza development side, Voortrekker PMB, Kingsway High, Kuswag, Hillcrest High, Ferrum High, as well as the host school Suid-Natal, and two Sharks’ teams.

Due to the nature of the tournament, and the distance to travel, it was decided to turn it into a mini tour which would be a positive experience for the scholars

We arrived on the Friday and hit the ground running with both the u15 and u18 boys having a single fixture to play. The first day produced a mixed bag as the u15 boys started off like a house on fire to beat Kingsway 33-0 in their opening fixture. The u18 boys were not so lucky, and went down to 31-0 to the same opposition

The u15 boys took on Voortrekker. Unfortunately, the previous performance could not be repeated, and the boys went down 19-0. The u18 boys started the day a man. They faced an energised Ferrum side and the match started off quite close as both teams were getting a feel for one another. The end result of the fixture was to the opponent’s favour, 24-5. The score line did not tell the full story and our boys played some attritional rugby, which was encouraging to see

The next fixture would see the u15 boys go down 14-5 to the Suid-Natal A side. The u18 boys faced the task of lining up against the Sharks A side. The Sharks side throughout the tournament posted scores in the 60s against some teams as they were clearly superiorly conditioned and trained as professionals. Our boys went down 51-0 to a clinical Sharks side but we were immensely proud of the boy’s attitude. They still persevered with determination. The positive outcome of the game was that we disrupted their ball at scrum time and also didn’t shy away from any tackles

The u15 boys would return to their winning ways with a 14-5 victory against the Qhakaza development side. Our boys were looking good for a play-off spot

The u18 boys would face the host school, Suid-Natal A and were up for the challenge. The score at half-time was 14-0 to Suid-Natal. A stern talk at half time, and some strong encouragement saw the boys come out firing to pull a try back and trail by 7 points. The game was on a knife’s edge, as Wembley kept piling on the pressure and wouldn’t allow Suid-Natal to gain momentum. The final score was 19-7

The u15 boys found themselves in the Bowl Semi-final, and the game was a closely contested affair. In the second half, scrumhalf Michael Silk seized an opportunity to quick tap and caught the defence napping and calmly dotted the ball over the try line. The score ended 5-0 in our favor

The u18 boys were faced with playing Voortrekker in the Shield Semi-final. The game was close throughout as both sides were throwing everything at one another. The first half break saw the teams deadlocked at 0-0. The nature of the game of 7’s would come to the fore as to lapses in concentration saw the opposition run in two unanswered tries for a final score of 10-0

The u15 boys were pumped up for their Bowl final and the opponent would be Hillcrest High. The game was closely contested as both teams were evenly matched. The end score read Hillcrest 19, Wembley 10. The same can be said of the U18 boys’ final against Qhakaza Development side. The boys came back to level the score after being 14-0 down with 4 minutes to go in the second half. The opposition would go ahead 19-14 with 2 minutes to play

Both sets of players were bitterly disappointed but it is encouraging to see the immense amount of growth in these young men and the potential for growth is exciting

We would like to give our sincere thanks and appreciation to Mr Fergus Buchan, Mr Siya Nogabe and Mr William Silk for the support, efforts and the way that they have positively influenced the culture within this group