Rugby success makes almost forgotten school in Pretoria sought after again
The Blue Bulls development program at Pretoria Technical High School in Arcadia did not only improved the performance of their rugby teams, but also benefited other sports codes at the school.
Nowadays, talk about transformation in sport is sometimes easier than action. The results of such programmes are often keenly criticised by those seeking to get involved for suspicious agendas.
A shining example of success amid such dubious motives is the Blue Bulls Rugby Union’s programme at the Pretoria Technical High School (PTHS).
Adriaan Scheepers, development manager for the inner city cluster at the union, got involved at this school in Park Street about four years ago.
Though only a stone throw away from Loftus Versfeld, rugby was at the time not a big priority at the school. How things have changed.
In 2017, the school’s first team played in the final of the City Cup in the Medium Schools section.
Though they only just lost against Die Wilgers in this game, they also qualified to move on and play for a place in the Northern Vaal VirSeker Cup finals, where they once again narrowly lost to Stofberg from Brakpan after a tough battle.
The u.16 team at PTHS did even better, which is an indication of a bright rugby future at the school.
This team was the Medium Schools City Cup champions. Then they reached the quarter-finals of the Northern Vaal VirSeker Cup, where they lost against Piet Potgieter of Mokopane.
In the National Schools Championships the PTHS u.15 team was named Gauteng champion, while the school was named South Africa’s sixth-best medium school after the tournament.
Four boys of PTHS received provincial colours this year – two played for the Blue Bulls in the u.16 Grand Khomo Week and the other two were selected for the u.19 Academy Week team.
As part of the Blue Bulls programme, Francois van Tonder was appointed sport director at the school.
After he established the Zayo Sports Academy at the school, things started to happen quickly in the development of various sports at PTHS.
As part of the academy, a body lab gym was developed. This gym was then opened to the public to raise funds for the academy.
Today, learners at PTHS have access to all the facilities, including a fully-equipped gym with a cardio division, boxing and mix martial arts training and Coss Fit facilities.
Although the school’s athletics and football teams have also improved drastically, PTHS’s rugby teams have become the pride of the school.
According to Scheepers, they started with two teams in the league for small schools three or four years ago. Nowadays, they are competing with four teams in the league for medium schools and plans are afoot to enter B-teams in the league next year.
Scheepers told Rekord the school’s rugby achievements were already so widely known that the headmaster and his personnel were struggling to keep up with all applications from interested young boys who want to enrol at PTHS.
“In 2016, the school received about 250 new grade eight applications. So far this year there were more than 800 children from all over South Africa who want to enrol at the school as grade eights for next year,” he said. Scheepers.
So keep watching the rugby teams of Pretoria Technical High School in the next few seasons. Nobody will be surprised if the school wins many more trophies very soon.
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