Morné’s valuable Irish rugby lessons

Sarel Cilliers High School teacher, Morné Jansen van Rensburg, has described his experience of a lifetime when he flew to Ireland as manager of the ITEC South African Rugby Country and Districts Invitational XV.
Morné’s management ability and his affinity with the young men who he was put in charge of, became evident during the Reitz Rugby Week with the NKZN U19 team in the June/July holidays.
Morné managed that team and the selectors were keen for him to lead the South African boys overseas, which he did.
“Being in Ireland was an awesome experience. Their rugby is a force to be reckoned with and one can see that they are busy trying to build up a culture of a rugby brotherhood, similar to the one that we have here,” Morné told the Courier.
“Hurling is their national sport contrary to the belief that it is rugby, and they do not compete internationally only nationally which is unreal because in Dublin alone there are 93 clubs each with its own field!”

However, Morné has no regrets and is just grateful for an experience that he will never forget.

The SA Country Districts team played three games – first against Leinster Metro which they won 48-38.
“We won against expectations considering Leinster have been unbeaten so far in their season.” The South Africans went down 22-50 to Crescent College, a top private school in Limerick.
“This was very tough, they had a backline that ran holes in our defence. Three of their players are from South Africa (Immigrants) so they played a similar style of rugby against us,” said Morné.
The boys bounced back in their third match, beating Dolphins RFC 24-12. He described this an ‘interesting game’ as the ref had a massive influence on the game with a 38-3 penalty count against the visitors. “According to Activities Ireland, this is their best High School and Junior Club ref in the country…..although we have seen worse in SA!”
However, Morné has no regrets and is just grateful for an experience that he will never forget.