Rivonia and Bryandale crowned champions of the 2026 Montrose Night Challenge
After four weeks of fierce competition and unforgettable matches, Rivonia and Bryandale primary schools stood tall as champions of the 2026 Alfeco Montrose Dream Big Night Challenge.
The much-anticipated semi-finals and finals of Alfeco Montrose Dream Big Night Challenge at Montrose Primary School brought the tournament’s 25th edition to a thrilling climax.
Rivonia Primary School emerged as the U13 cricket champions, while Bryandale Primary School claimed victory in the open netball U13 competition, capping off an intense and exhilarating series of matches.
In cricket, Rivonia Primary School overcame tight competition from Montrose and KPT Lions in the semi-finals, ultimately defeating Dainfern in the final.
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Rivonia’s coach, Noel Makhanya, expressed his pride. “We just won the Night Challenge Cricket. I’m very proud of my boys. It’s been a good journey. It’s been hours and hours and hours of training, early mornings. It’s good to see that we’ve got over the line.”
Makhanya expressed his gratitude to Dainfern for giving them a hard time in the final.
“We had good competitors like Dainfern…They really did put us under pressure at some points. But I just want to say I’m very proud of my boys. They really stuck together. It was a great team effort from everybody.
“I want to also thank my support staff behind the scenes because there’s a lot of preparation that goes into this. So it’s been a tremendous team effort from everybody. Not only just me, but I’m very proud of the boys.”
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Meanwhile, the netball courts witnessed a dramatic showdown as Bryandale Primary School clinched the title, finishing first over Redhill School, Dainfern, and Bryneven Primary.
Bryandale U13 netball open team coach Duduzile Gumbi said, “It’s been quite a beautiful experience with these ladies. We’ve been with them since last year. And we’ve been on a winning streak since then.
“Obviously, as winners, we are quite happy. We had beautiful and quite intense matches, which we appreciated, you know, just to challenge us and just to keep us outside of our comfort zone. “
For Gumbi, the Night Challenge was not only about winning, but also learning netball styles from the other players.
“We’ve learnt a lot from this, and we are taking a lot, actually going into our upcoming matches in the next term. Montrose has been great, we were quite sad when it was raining at first because we couldn’t play, but now we’re back and back with the bang.”
Cricket results
- Rivonia Primary School- Winner
- Dainfern College- Second place
- Montrose Primary School- Semi 1
- KPT Lions-Semi 2
Open Netball results
- Bryandale Primary School- Winner
- Redhill School- Second place
- Dainfern College- Third place
- Bryneven Primary School- Fourth place
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