Here is the HHH Derby 2012 Programme.

She met with the squad of 52 athletes in Johannesburg for a brief training camp before departing for Belgium on the 30^th April. The squad spent some time training at the race course in Ghent before the regatta. This regatta attracted entries from all over Europe, the United Kingdom, Israel and Cyprus.

On Saturday, Nora competed in the U18 single sculls event and finished 9^th out of a field of 43 athletes.

On Sunday, she raced in the U16 single sculls event and finished 7^th in what was a very competitive field of 33 athletes.

Later she competed in the U16 double sculls event with her partner Siobhan van Rooyen from St. Georges Rowing Club in Johannesburg. Together they finished in first place in a field of 25 crews. They were followed in close second by the U16 ‘B’ double scull from South Africa.

We are very proud of Nora’s fine achievements and really look forward to a most promising future in rowing for her!

As a school we congratulate Mr Ben Whitfield for his achievements as coach of the u16 Girls South African team that achieved much in Ghent. We can certainly say that rowing at Somerset College is in great hands and we look forward to the growth and progress of the club under his guidance!

Windhoek High School brought a few of their hockey teams down to the Cape on tour last week and played us on Tuesday in Stellenbosch. Our boys enjoyed a comfortable 7 – 0 victory on the astro, however, both our 1^st and 2^nd girls teams, playing on grass, ended their matches in draws, 0 – 0 and 1 – 1 respectively.

Reddam Derby

Our hockey on Saturday against Reddam proved to be most successful, winning all six of the matches played!

The U14A girls team put in another top performance, beating Reddam 7 – 0.

The U16A girls won 2 – 0! It was a good result for the team as more shots were taken, so shooting confidence has grown. There is lots the girls can take from this game and build on for this Saturday!

The Girls’ 1^st Team beat Reddam 6 – 0 with another great team effort that again resulted in our opposition not having a single shot on goal!

Our u14A boys won their match 3 – 1 and the u16A team won 3 – 0. Both teams put in the hard work to secure good victories!

The first team boys went 1 – 0 up against Reddam with a goal from James Churchman. Reddam then scored with 5 minutes left in the game after which Sven Kirchner in goals made a great save with 2 minutes left. With about 15 seconds left in the game David Clifford-Holmes scored the winning goal after a goalmouth scrap! We won 2 – 1; great result and the boys are only getting better.

Helderview BMW Player of the Week: Captain of the boys’ 1^st XI, Josh Reuter for leading his team to victory twice last week and his assists in setting up many of the goals scored by the team.

U14 vs Reddam (l 13-17)

Our fly-half Jaymie van der Merwe converted a penalty on the half-time whistle, leaving College trailing 3 – 5 at half time.

College started the second period as they had finished the first, enjoying several strong spells of possession, making Reddam feel the pressure that the hosts had been exerting throughout the first half. College however were able to make their advantage pay sooner, as Simon Stockley scored the first try of the half after several minutes camping in the Reddam 22. With the time on the clock all used up, College were desperately unlucky as Reddam at last crashed over the line to steal the game at the death 17 – 13.

The entire team can be proud of the way they played, as they were found far from wanting as far as passion and commitment were concerned. The U14’s also displayed a skill level they have never before exhibited, demonstrating that their game is certainly progressing quickly. With a marked improvement being shown week upon week, the team can look forward to a good second half of the season.

U15 vs Reddam (w 9-3)

This match was very closely contested and both teams’ defence was excellent. Our boys managed to play the majority of the match in Reddam’s half. We continued to put them under pressure resulting in penalties that we converted. The final score was 9 – 3 for Somerset College.

2^nd & U16 combined vs Reddam (w 22-15)

The 2^nd & u16 teams combined to play a combined team from Reddam. We started the match very positively and managed to go into a 15 – 5 lead with 10 minutes left on the clock. We unfortunately relaxed in our attack and through poor options and defence allowed Reddam back in the match and eventually Reddam scored in extra time winning 22 – 15.

1^st XV vs Reddam (w 36-5)

The 1^st XV produced a superb display of total rugby, both in defence and in attack, to defeat Reddam by 36 – 5 on Saturday. The full array of attacking options was utilized with aggression and precision as tries were scored off mauls, scrums, multi-phase attacks, long-range line breaks and clever tactical kicks. These were scored by Joe Gebers, Rowan Swanepoel, Jelle van den Bogaert, Forbes Danckwerts and David Ribbans.

In addition to scoring, David Ribbans put on an all-round display worthy of a second, consecutive, man-of-the-match award.  Flyhalf Damien de Speville put in a commanding all-round performance and contributed significantly with some excellent conversions. Captain John Roelofse delivered, by all accounts, his most rousing speech yet to set the tone for a fully-committed and clinical performance. His leadership was ably supported by his Vice-Captain Cameron Biggs and, indeed, by ever other player on the field who took full responsibility for his own discipline and accuracy of execution.

Finally, the squad is indebted to the ceaseless encouragement that bellowed out from the Somerset College supporters’ stands.

The results of fixtures played on Friday 11 May are:
U19A Girls vs Paarl Gym:      lost       3 – 9
U15A Boys vs Paul Roos:      lost       0 – 12
1^st Boys vs Hermanus:           won     12 – 1

CRICKET UMPIRING

Eight of our cricketers attended a Cricket Umpires Course on the Laws of Cricket at Paarl Boys’ High last term. All did very well, passing the examination and receiving their ‘Level C’ Certificate. Well done to you all!

Jonathan Mostert, Dylan de Haas, Alex Tough, William Kingwill, Courtney Yon, Brad Poole, Dominic Haussamer & Luc Degenaar

DOWNHILL RACING

Jens Rubow took part in the Western Province Downhill Championships this past weekend. He came first out of the seven contestants in his category and received a gold medal. Well done Jens!

SWIMMING

Cayla Saaiman took part in the Olympic Swimming Trials between 15 – 23 April in Durban. Prelims were swum in the morning and the Semi-finals (if you make top 16 out of about a 100women) took place in the evening with finals taking place the following day (which is top 8). Cayla made two semi-finals (all ages) in 100 and 200 Breaststroke where she was one of the youngest. She also swam her personal best times in 200 I.M., 100 fly and 50 breast.

We are really proud of Cayla’s performances and are looking forward for her next season!

GOLF

The golfers below will be participating in an inter-schools golf tournament in George from 17 – 19 May. They left after school yesterday, play a warm-up round in Mossel Bay today and then move on to George for the tournament on Thursday 17, Friday 18 May and Saturday 19 May before they return home on Sunday morning. We wish the team well!

Devon Haantjes (Capt.), Jordan Haantjes, Alex Runge, Robert Lombard, Alex Badelt, Caitlin du Plessis, Pierre du Plessis, Eduard du Plessis (V-Capt.)

On Wednesday 9 May, 1^st team played a league fixture against Luckhoff and won 29 – 11.

On Friday 11 May, both the 1^st and 2^nd teams played against Windhoek High School from Namibia. Considering that Windhoek is the number one ranked school’s netball team in Namibia, Somerset College played well but unfortunately both of our teams lost:
1^st team           lost       18 – 30
2^nd team          lost       10 – 17

On Saturday 12 May at the annual Derby against Reddam the games were very competitive and of a high standard, as usual. Unfortunately we narrowly lost both games:
1st team          lost       16 – 20
2^nd team          lost       17 – 19

Our netball teams played with gusto and never accepted defeat until the final whistle blew. I would like to acknowledge the senior’s coach, Miss Leone Watkins for her time and dedication to the 1^st and 2^nd netball teams. Her rigour at practise is certainly paying dividends.

The results of our junior teams against Reddam were as follows:
U14A   lost       2 – 22
U14B   lost       0 – 20|
U16A   lost       14 – 22
U16B   won     11 – 9
U16C   won     12 – 7

Report by: Mrs Mandy Gibson

During the first term the tournament fell on 10 March. We had enrolled one senior team; however, one of the team members fell ill and the remaining two formed a composite team with Hottentots-Holland High. Demi Rawstorne and Konstandino Kappatos were the debaters that kept the College flag flying.

On the same day the ATKV Debatfees (which forms part of the Stellenbosch Woordfees) took place. Nicolai Haussamer, Tessa du Toit and Andrew Laurie formed this year’s team. They had all participated in previous years, with Tessa and Andrew (with John Lategan) winning the New Brooms category last year. This year we were promoted to the Old Hands category, where we met with stiff opposition; we did not break to semi-finals (in debating, breaking is a good thing!). As I adjudicated myself, I could not hear them in action, but I’m sure they put up a strong fight.

The second term tournament of the Boland league was held on 12 May at La Rochelle in Paarl. As this clashed with the Reddam Derby day, many debaters were not available. However, three juniors (Nicholas Carroll, Timon de Freitas and Richard Masson) were prepared to throw themselves into the fray and take on three topics from the field of terrorism.

In the first debate we proposed the motion “This House believes it is necessary for the City of London to acquire roof top air defence systems in preparation for the 2012 Olympics”. Our opponents were Bloemhof, who managed to poke sufficient holes in our arguments to win the debate.

The second debate was against Rhenish. Once again we were the proposition and the motion was “This House supports the assassination of Osama bin Laden.” Again, we were trumped by the opposition.

For the third debate we were placed in the opposition seats against Paarl Girls’ High; they had to propose the motion “This House supports the war on terrorism”. We managed to clinch this debate by putting forward the strongest case.

It was clear how much the team members developed during the course of the day: nothing beats practical experience! If they could only remember to end their speeches correctly every time…

I look forward to seeing further development from these young debaters and I hope that the next tournament will not clash with any major sports event, to allow more of our debaters to test their mettle.

Mr C Walters
Debating