Werner Nortje - captain of Marlow
We profile Werner Nortje as his side prepare for their FNB Classic Clash with Cradock High School on Saturday.
It's cold in Cradock at present as winter bites but that is the least of considerations at the little Agricultural school outside the town as Werner Nortjé and his team prepare for their FNB Classic Clash with Cradock, the older school in the town.
Marlow has only some 230 boys but they are all boarders and rugby is at the core of the school's culture. They travel thousands and thousands of kilometres each year in search of matches for their 12 teams. This year they have played 17 matches, winning 13.
Their biggest win was over fellow agriculturalists, Oakdale of Riversdale whom they beat 15-14.
If you were forced to be, you would bet on Marlow, a team with a much better record than Cradock's.
Things between the two schools were pretty even till 1997 but since then Marlow have won six on the trot.
Werner says of the season: "We started off well, dipped in mid-season but are again doing well."
Then he has a warning. "We have a better record than Cradock but Interschools is different.
"We play on the town field which will be packed to overflowing and they always give us a tough time.
"It won't be the toughest game of the year but it is the biggest, the most important, because of all the tradition involved."
From Wednesday on we'll have Old Boys braai-ing. The school will be holding its reunions on the day of the match. The singing has started. It is a powerful build-up to the match.
Marlow are not a big team but they have lots of speed amongst the backs with a star fullback in Johan van Niekerk who played for Eastern Province at Craven Week, a boy from Prieska. Their pack is not big but mobile with two fine loose forwards Werner Cronjé and Lowrence Lombaard, also an Eastern Province player, in the van.
His Springbok hero? Schalk Burger.
Werner Willem Nortjé was born in Cradock on 21 April 1986 into a farming family – sheep and go pats. He did his primary schooling at Cradock Laerskool and then moved on to Marlow where he is now the head boy.
He started playing rugby in Sub A (Grade 1) and has missed out only one year since – last year when he was recovering from a broken elbow and muscle torn from the bone. It was a bad year.
Cradock used to be a part of North Eastern Cape, a union founded in 1903 but dispensed with when the unions were cut from 22 to 14 in 1996. When the Craven Week sides were also pruned from 32 to 20 in 2001 and 18 in 2003. More players + fewer teams fewer opportunities.
Werner went to the Under-13 Craven week and to the Under-16 Craven Week in East London but he missed out this year when there were four players from the old North Eastern Cape.
He plays golf and cricket and won provincial colours for the 400 metres but gave up athletics when he had hamstring problems.
But Werner wants to keep on playing rugby. He – and inside centre Ken Prinsloo – would very much like to play in France next year though they are finding making contacts hard. Then he would like to go to the University of the Free State before going farming, the path his older brothers, also first team players at Marlow, are taking..
Not only is he the captain of the 1st XV but he is also the head boy. He has been captain of every team he has played in at Marlow and enjoys it "though sometimes people get upset with the decision you have made".
Probably leadership is Werner's strongest attribute as a player but he also plays his heart out in every match he plays. He gives his school his very best.
