The squads entering the 2025 arena - hosted at Monument High School in Krugersdorp.
Blue Bulls, Sharks, Lions, Valke and for the first time this year, the Pumas! Albeit only with an under 13 squad. But it is brilliant and hopefully in 2026 we will see a larger Pumas squad. Growth!
September 2025 will go down as one to always remember for master Liam. First he got chosen by the selectors of the BBYRA - Blue Bulls Youth Rugby Association - as one of 120 boys from all the Pretoria clubs to go to the Bulls selection.
It got whittled down to 60, then 40, finally 30 - and from them the 26 were chosen to represent the Blue Bulls during the annual interprovincial tournament. 2025 is the 20th year for this tournament. So between 5 and 11 October provincial teams from Sharks, Lions, Falcons and the Blue Bulls will be battling it out for the championship.
And Master Liam will be there!
On Saturday 27 September the dudes got capped as Blue Bulls. An amazing day, and just rewards for his passion for the game, ever improving skills, and his laser focused committment. Grampa and Granny Turner attended, Mom Glenda, Dad Henk and big brother Dylan. And Spikes. And it was a very, very proud moment.
The familia (Mom, Dad, Dylan, Liam) went for a brunch to kick off the celebrations before the planned birthday dinner of the evening. Master Liam, true to style, was in charge of the entertainment. He started giving his ouboet crap 16 years ago and it is an ongoing project.
But this time, a week later, the game was at St Albans school. For a bunch of the Zayo boys this was their final game of schoolboy rugby. It was also the end of season 15 aside game as the school rugby season differs.
The game started on a high note as Zayo scored a beautiful try from an intercept inside their own half. In the end they won 34 to Pta Boys High's 32.
Master Liam plans to participate in 7's rugby for the rest of the year until next season. It will keep him game fit and keep building his skills.
Liam was invited to a rugby practice at really short notice on Thursday morning, 15 May. For that same afternoon!
His buddy Frosty has been playing for Zayo Rugby Academy for a while and suggested that Liam contact the coach about possibly playing for them.
He went, he conquered, and on Saturday 17 May he played his first game for Zayo Academy's senior rugby team. Just. Like. That.
They played against Pretoria Boys High at the PBHS rugby fields. Generally considered a school with a rich and strong rugby history with a string of notable achievements, the game was highly entertaining from a spectator's point of view. The Zayo boys had a decent outing, and the game ended in a 15 all draw. Mom, Dad, Dylan, Grandpa, Kyla and Spikey were there to support The Dude.
After a very slow start to the year with the Tuks development team, he finally played his first game of 2025. Good experience, and now his season is underway.
Make the best of it Dude - you've got this.
Memories:
