Players revel in annual festival

GRAAFF-REINET NEWS - The annual Senior Rugby and Hockey Festival hosted by Union High School was a huge success this past weekend. The festival, now in its 35th year, took place from Thursday 21 March to Sunday 24 March on Union Schools' sport grounds. The festival started with a cocktail party at the Tony Burrell Union, where the school's headmaster, William Pringle, expressed gratitude to the official sponsors, Botha's Garage and Astron Energy, for their support.

This year, 16 u.18 rugby teams and 17 u.18 hockey teams from schools across the country participated in the festival. The boarding houses of Union and Volkskool did an excellent job accommodating about 600 children for the entire weekend.

The local teams did exceptionally well, with Union High School's first XV winning their matches against Hoërskool Dirkie Uys and Elspark High School, with scores of, 24–3 and 17–10, respectively.

The hockey tournament which, for the first time ever, had adopted a tournament format, saw Union's first hockey team showing remarkable skill and determination throughout, securing impressive victories against their opponents and ultimately winning the finals against Westering High School.

The team's standout players included Katelyn Trollip, Leigh-Ann Murray, Sadé May and Caytah-Leigh Koeberg. Union's Invitation side also achieved commendable results, with notable performances against Dirkie Uys' first team and Clarendon High School. Goalkeeper Zanana Speelman demonstrated exceptional skills during an intense shoot-out.

Hoër Volkskool's hockey team also excelled, winning matches against Burgersdorp, Riebeek Girls, Hoërskool Langenhoven and Victoria Girls High.

The results are as follows:

Rugby - Day 1