FNB Player of the Week - Adrian Kritzinger of Bishops
Player :Profile
Adrian Kritzinger is the playmaker in a potent Diocesan College (Bishops) outfit this season. Playing at outside centre he models himself on the great Irish assassin Brian O'Driscoll. He will be hoping to create the same sort of magic as his hero did on the 2001 Lions Tour as Bishops face another uncompromising Cape season.
Adrian Kritzinger was born in Cape Town on 22 May 1988. He attended Western Province Preparatory School (Wetpups), a small but competitive rugby school who currently have Jake White’s boys as pupils. Wetpups is a traditional feeder school for Bishops and regularly boost Bishops rugby resources.
Adrian spent most of early days playing flyhalf, a position that one of the greatest schoolboy coaches of the modern era, Basil Bey, still feels he is best suited for. Adrian moved to centre two years ago and prefers the extra running and space the wider position accords him. Adrian sees his strength as his ability to create gaps and space for his fellow players.
Adrian has excelled at Bishops and is a school and house prefect. He is a very talented sportsman and is the key batsman in the 1st XI, having played for the Western Province Schools team last year.
He missed the 2005 Western Province Craven Week trials due to injury but is hoping to do the double this year and, like Old Diocesan Herschelle Gibbs, represent Western Province Schools at rugby and cricket. Interestingly Gibbs, like most of the other members of the national cricket team who played top rugby, was a flyhalf.
He has yet to decide which sport to pursue after school but would like to study at the University of Cape Town or Maties next year.
Adrian played for the 1st XV last season, which ended inside the Top 20 in the country, but sees this year’s team as potentially brilliant. Bishops are renowned for their brilliant backs and attacking style of play but this season have a sizeable pack to boot and are confident of matching the Paarl schools up front. Adrian is also really excited about the pace of his back three and their ability to finish the chances he creates.
Adrian picked up an ankle injury in the first match of the Grey 150 festival (a win over St Andrew’s) and was forced to watch his teammates in their final two fixtures, a creditable loss to Grey College and a good win against DHS, who had upset Grey (PE) earlier in the week.
Bishops have chosen not to attend any of the Easter Festivals in Gauteng as their focus is firmly on their first league game against Paarl Boishaai.
When we spoke to Adrian he had his feet up in Plettenberg Bay and was enjoying some well-earned time off from his arduous sporting commitments. Adrian is confident his ankle will be ready as his team’s first league game as they get an immediate opportunity to prove his prediction correct – that Bishops can match the big guns in 2006!
