Rector’s eNews 09: 12 March 2025
/ Uncategorized“Traditions” are quick to establish themselves at Michaelhouse and one of these is the baptism of boys by full immersion. The Chaplain, Reverend Chris Meyer, has become adept at stepping into the training pool at the swimming pool complex and conducting baptisms when waist-high in water.
Young children are often baptised in their home churches, but a number of boys have not been baptised when they come to Michaelhouse and this is mandatory before Confirmation which, this year, will only take place in the third quarter when the Chapel renovation has been completed.
On Sunday evening, the 37 boys who were ready to be baptised or to renew their baptismal vows came down in running shorts and t-shirts to a rather murky training pool where problems with the filtration made it resemble the River Jordan. The Chaplain, having blessed the water, and helped by James Kiln, then “dunked” each boy and imprinted on his forehead the sign of the Cross. This was a moving ceremony attended by the whole school and a number of parents, relatives and godparents, all of whom applauded each boy in turn as he came up from the depths of the pool and made his way via prayers with several of the interns to the other side.
We look forward to the confirmation of these and other boys by the Bishop, the Right Reverend Nkosinathi Ndwandwe, later in the year.
With the advent of the winter sports season last week, I commented in the eNews on some of the developments related to Michaelhouse rugby from its infancy until the mid-1960s. This week, I will pick up from there, again relying extensively on the research of Murray Witherspoon, Head of Marketing and Admissions, who has scrutinised the Chronicles of many years.
A feature of Michaelhouse Rugby from the 1960s right up until the 21st Century was the number of boys who were selected for Natal Schools/Craven Week sides without going on to become Springboks. Old Boys represented many other countries including Rhodesia, Scotland, Tanzania, Wales, Italy, Denmark, Hong Kong, Swaziland, Zambia, Botswana and Ireland before the first Michaelhouse Old Boy, Patrick Lambie, pulled the green and gold over his head. This is despite the fact that Michaelhouse supplied four Natal Schools players in 1983, five in 1986, a year in which the 1st XV accumulated more than 400 points in a season, five in 1991, 1996 and 1998 and six in each of 2007, 2008, 2012 and 2015. One suspects that many potential Springboks went on to university and, as the need to focus exclusively on the sport to achieve the green and gold increased, their talent was lost in the race to get ahead in the world of business.
Perhaps there were two coaches, one in the 1980s and one in the 1990s, who proved to be iconic and encouraged flair and the enjoyment of the game, which has long been a feature of Michaelhouse rugby: the first was Gordon “Floyd” Patterson who, in the 1980s, upgraded the teaching of physical education to human kinetics and enhanced the game in the eyes of his teams through a commitment to making every practice constructive.
And the second was Gavin Ross who, in the 1990s and 2000s, emphasised and coached a free-flowing brand of rugby which allowed the boys to express their skills with confidence. Other notable coaches who had a profound influence on the game at Michaelhouse and, thus, on the boys were Garth Giles and Mike Schwartz. The current Master-in-Charge and 1st XV coach, James Fleming, has placed great emphasis on strength and conditioning in the HPC and a current feature of Michaelhouse rugby is our strength in depth: often the 5th XV is the most successful team on a Saturday.
In 1998, the 1st XV averaged 42 points per game and, ten years later, in 2008, the team scored more than 700 points in the season with six of those players going on to play Super Rugby and two to represent South Africa in due course. In 2015, the team had a magical season and was unbeaten.
From the establishment of the school in Balgowan until the 1950s, rugby was played on Baileys, but the number of spectators by that stage became too great to accommodate and a grandstand abutting the railway line was mooted.
However, this was rejected on the grounds of costs and the hub of rugby was shifted to Meadows. To the best of my knowledge, no plans for a pavilion on Meadows have ever been seriously considered; it would not be part of the Michaelhouse way. But painted gum tree poles have, over recent years, given way to metal uprights and an electronic scoreboard has been installed to replace one that was, for many years, manually operated.
There are a couple of firsts which could be of interest: Tebello Chabane was the first black boy to be selected for the 1st XV in 1988 and he was the first black boy to captain the team in 1990. In 1991, Ngcebo Zungu became the first black Craven Week captain. Whilst it had seemed that Robbie Diack might be the first Michaelhouse Springbok, he was first selected for Ireland and Patrick Lambie became the first Michaelhouse Old Boy to pull a Springbok jersey over his shoulders in 2010. He went on to earn 56 Test Caps and to represent South Africa in two World Cups. Others such as the prop forward Patrick Cilliers, Ruan Combrink and Ross Cronje followed him.
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