Rugby news from KwaZulu-Natal:
LIVING UP TO OUR COMMUNITY VALUES:
The Cell C Sharks have demonstrated our community spirit to assist a young rugby player, Lifa Hlongwa, who sustained a serious injury in a club rugby match in late June.
23 year old Lifa Hlongwa suffered a potentially life-altering injury while playing flank for the Northwood Crusaders 2nd XV against Amanzimtoti in June when he was knocked over in the process of making a tackle and afterwards found himself numb from his shoulders to his toes and unable to move.
He was rushed to hospital, where it was determined that he had spinal cord damage, which not only drastically reduced his chances of playing again, but more importantly could impact on his ability to walk again in the future.
His future looked bleak and he has a challenging road ahead of him, which required intensive specialised inpatient rehabilitation to improve his functional independence.
In response to this, an urgent meeting was set up with Gary Teichmann, Siseko Jafta and Dr Glen Hagermann from The Sharks, as well as John Smit and Gail Baerecke from the Chris Burger Petro Jackson Players’ Fund. The aim was to plan the best way forward for Lifa, by assisting him and his family to come to terms with the journey ahead.
Dr Glen Hagemann was instrumental in facilitating the partnership with Life Health Care. Life Entabeni Hospital has a world-class Rehabilitation Centre and they have pledged to provide up to 12 weeks of private rehabilitation for Lifa, free of charge.
Lifa is not covered by medical aid, so the generous sponsorship, worth in the region of R300 000, will be of enormous assistance in providing him with the best possible chance of becoming functionally independent before returning home to his family.
The Players Fund, in consultation with The Sharks, have committed to providing Lifa with all his mobility needs following his rehab, and the KZNRU Cunningham Kemp Trust Fund will assist with additional ongoing support. This Fund was established in 2001 following catastrophic neck injuries to these two players from money raised by their families.
The Sharks CEO Gary Teichmann admitted that, “No injury is ever welcomed, particularly when it is a catastrophic neck injury, but the commitment from all parties involved shows just how important the livelihood of our players is, and how seriously we take the health and welfare of our players.”
“Lifa has such a passion for club rugby and it is unfortunate that he got injured whilst playing the game he loves. Despite this setback he has showed great character and strength. I would like to extend our thanks and appreciation to the Crusaders Rugby Club and the entire club fraternity in KZN for rallying around Lifa and his family during this testing time, added the KZNRU General Manager, Siseko Jafta.
Gail Baerecke from the Player’s Fund, who also holds the position of serious injury case manager (SICM) for SA Rugby’s BokSmart – national rugby safety programme had this to say: “This unfortunate incident and the player involved have the right ingredients to make it a success story. Together as a team, I am confident we can achieve this.”
The overwhelming support from the Northwood Crusaders is another example of family spirit evident within our sport. Within days of the accident, the club activated a fundraising campaign and streams of messages have filled the Northwood Crusaders social media pages.
All three parties are committed to assisting Lifa and his family during this difficult time and we at The Sharks wish him the very best with his rehabilitation at Life Entabeni Hospital.
The post LIVING UP TO OUR COMMUNITY VALUES appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
Wednesday Column Club Rugby:
Go Nutz College Rovers winners of the Fidelity Security Premier Division and the priceless Moor Cup together with the Murray Cup sponsored by HiTech Ink, Cell C, Castle Lager and Flya this season will now go on to participate in the National Club Championship for the prized Gold Cup. Rovers first appearance in the National Club Champs was back in 1994 the Year Wild Cards in that memorable tournament Bidvest Insurance Crusaders became the first KZNRU club side to take the title.
It was however SA Home Loans Durban Collegians that were the first KZN club side to play in the competition and made it to that inaugural final back in 1975, 42 years ago narrowly going down 26-22 to Stellenbosch University. The tournament was played over the Easter Weekend in those days and was originally known as the Olympic Toyota National Club Rugby Championship in the opening year before Toyota South Africa took over the sponsorship.
Rovers have added six of the local pieces of silverware to their collection but will be hard pressed to bring home the biggest prize of all, the Gold Cup. The two time National Club Champions who first won the competition in 2010 and followed up again in 2012 have been in five finals namely 2006,2008,2010, 2012 and 2013 will once again go out to compete in the hope of reclaiming the title, which is going to be an incredibly hard ask for the KZNRU club champions.
This year the KZNRU champions have been placed in Pool D and like Durban Collegians who found themselves in what was termed The Pool of Death in last years competition, could very well find themselves in this years so called Pool of Death as well.
Last year Collegians had to travel to Harare to play an unknown quantity and were hosted by Old Georgians and lost against a side that they would normally beat on any other given day. This year Rovers will open their campaign in Namibia where they will face the Windhoek based outfit FNB Western Suburbs, also an unknown quantity. Founded in 1979 the club has a huge community based support structure so it’s never an easy task playing against a side with that kind of support, and especially whilst being far away from home.
Their Pool also sees them having to travel to play against the iron men of the IMT Sishen Rugby Club, which was founded in 1953. The club who will be representing Griquas for the fourth consecutive year have since moved a little up the road to the mining town of Kathu and the only good thing about this is the fact that Rovers have been there before so they will know what to expect.
The two remaining sides in their Pool are last years finalists Direct Axis False Bay founded in 1929 who Rovers entertained in Durban a few years back when former Natal Prop Gareth Jones was their then Chairman and Roses United founded in 1911 representing Western Province and Boland respectively.
Fortunately for Rovers False Bay and Roses United will be their home games and certainly the Western Province champion club will be a completely different kettle of fish when they meet this time around while Roses United will also be a tough encounter with that unknown factor about them.
The other Pools are as follows Pool ‘A’: Rustenburg Impala (Defending Champions), Bloemfontein Police (Cheetahs), Welkom RFC (Griffons), Sasol (Pumas) and Vereeniging (Valke); Pool ‘B’: QBR (Blue Bulls), Raiders (Lions), Vaal Reefs (Leopards), Northam Platinum Rhinos (Limpopo Blue Bulls) and Old Georgians (Zimbabwe); Pool C: Old Selbornians (Border) Swallows (Border Wild Card), Progress Uitenhague (EP Kings), Tygerburg (WP Wild Card) and Progress George (SWD Eagles).
Locally up in Newcastle the Durban Rugby Sub-Union side beat the Northern KZN Rugby Union outfit 50-31 in a wonderful running rugby match in the regional Inter Sub-Union Ebbo Bastard Trophy competition.
The post Wednesday Column Club Rugby appeared first on Sharks Rugby.
WPRFU denounces club violence
