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1st home games for many, and the crowds showed up

 

Hudson Park vs Eldoraigne at KES 2018


Next week is Easter rugby festival time, starting on Thursday, so some schools never played this Saturday, and the only action next Saturday will be at the Standard Bank festivals at Kearsney KES, St Stithians or St John’s.

For the Joburg schools, and most of the others, I guess, Saturday saw the first proper full school fixtures for almost three years. And from the social media posts I’ve seen, the schools and their communities (pupils, parents, old boys) jumped right in and squeezed every bit of enjoyment out of them.

I was at Jeppe vs St John’s and they tell me that’s the biggest crowd they’ve had outside of a Jeppe vs KES derby game. And that was on a chilly morning during which the weather forecasters were telling us to expect a Noah-style flood! And, remember, were are entering an era in which your chosen school game can probably be seen on the SuperSport Schools live stream (And, some technical glitches aside, hasn’t that experience improved since it was launched?)

The pictures I’ve seen on Facebook seem to show there were big crowds at the other games too.

Results-wise, the big one has to be Garsfontein’s one point, 20-19, win over Affies. They haven’t played each other in the last 10 years and I don’t think Affies have ever lost to them before. Garsfontein are expecting big things of this team.

Grey College were leading Outeniqua 21-3 when their game was called off due to lightning and they would probably have gone on to win, confirming that they are going to be the side to beat again this year. Paul Roos Gimnasium bounced back from two losses at the Noord-Suid festival to beat Grey High 31-14, while there were good wins for the other Boland Western Province schools too: Paarl Gim 33-14 vs Wynberg and Paarl Boys’ 22-15 vs Oakdale.

In Joburg, KES beat Stithians 59-12 in their 1st home game since 2019 – their 2020 festival games were rained out. Jeppe were well beaten, 45-13, by Monument last Wednesday and then scraped home 29-28 against St John’s in thriller on Saturday. The Jeppe vs St John’s derby (the school’s are just 5.3km apart, according to Google Maps) has become very closely contested in recent years. In 2017 St John’s won it, and in 2019 Jeppe also won by a single point.

Maritzburg College beat Pretoria Boys’ High 28-5. A sizeable fleet of busses took Boys’ High down to Pietermaritzburg for the weekend. There were 25 rugby games and 18 hockey games, and also squash, table tennis, mountain biking and chess contests between the two schools.

Most of the top rugby schools will be at a festival this week. Quite a few of them will be in Joburg. A quick look at the programmes shows that, among others, Affies, Helpmekaar, Paarl Boy’s High, Paul Roos Gimnasium, Hilton and Boland Landbou will be at St John’s; St Andrew’s, Maritzburg College, Bishops and Grey High are at St Stithians and KES, Jeppe, Dale and Queens will be among those at the King Edward festival.

Monument, Selborne and Glenwood are going to Kearsney.

Festival Fixtures

King Edward

Thursday April 14 - 8.10am Trinityhouse vs Dale College, 9.20am Nico Malan vs Durbanville, 10.30am Ben Vorster vs Centurion, 11.40am Jeppe High School for Boys vs Eldoraigne, 12.50pm King Edward VII School vs Queens College, 2pm Northwood Boys’ High vs Hudson Park.

Saturday April 16 - 8.10am Centurion vs Durbanville, 9.20m Trinityhouse vs Nico Malan, 10.30am Ben Vorster vs Eldoraigne, 11.40 am Northwood vs Queens, 12.50pm Jeppe vs Hudson Park, 2pm KES vs Dale.

Monday April 18 - 8am Northwood vs Centurion, 9.10am Queens vs Durbanville
10.20am Jeppe vs Dale, 11.30am Ben Vorster vs Nico Malan, 12.40pm Hudson Park vs Trinityhouse, 1.50pm KES vs Eldoraigne.

St Stithians

Thursday April 14 - 9.15am St Andrew’s vs St Alban’s, 10.30am Maritzburg College vs Michaelhouse, 11.45am St Stithians vs Clifton, 1pm Parktown vs Wynberg, 2.15pm Bishops vs Grey High.

Saturday April 16 - 9.15am St Alban’s vs Grey High, 10.30am St Andrew’s vs Wynberg, 11.45am Parktown vs Clifton, 1pm Maritzburg College vs Bishops, 2.45pm St Stithians vs Michaelhouse.

Monday April 18 - 9.15am Wynberg vs Clifton, 10.30am Bishops vs Parktown, 11.45am Grey High vs Maritzburg College, 1pm St Alban’s vs Michaelhouse, 2.15pm St Stithians vs St Andrew’s.

St John’s

Thursday 14 April - 12.40 pm Helpmekaar Kollege vs Graeme College, 1.50pm Paarl Boys High vs Golden Lions Invitation, 3pm Hilton College vs St Benedict’s College, 4.10pm Hoër Landbouskool Boland vs Hoërskool Noordheuwel, 6.10pm St Charles College vs St David’s Marist Inanda, 7.20pm Paul Roos Gimnasium vs Welkom Gimnasium, 8.30pm St John’s College vs Hoërskool Nelspruit.

Saturday 16 April - 8.15am Noordheuwel vs St David’s,  9.25am Boland Landbou vs St Charles, 10.35am Lions vs St Benedict’s,  11.45 am St John’s vs Graeme College, 2pm Hilton vs Welkom Gimnasium, 3.10pm Paul Roos Gimnasium vs  Nelspruit, 4.20pm Helpmekaar vs Paarl Boys High.

Monday 18 April - 8.30am St Benedict’s vs St Charles, 9.40am St David’s vs Lions, 10.50am Graeme College vs Welkom Gimnasium, 12pm Helpmekaar vs Nelspruit, 2pm Noordheuwel vs St John’s, 3.10pm Affies vs Boland Landbou, 4.20pm Hilton vs Paarl Boys High.

Kearsney

Thursday 14 April – 8am Umhlali Prep vs KZN Ibutho under-13, 9.30am - Kearsney vs Marlow, 10.45am DHS vs Waterkloof, 12pm Westville vs Monument. 1.15pm Noord-Kaap vs Selborne, 2.30pm Glenwood vs Pretoria Boys, 3.45pm Framesby vs EG Jansen,

Saturday 16 April – 7am Hillcrest Primary vs KZN Ibutho, 8am Noord-Kaap vs Westville, 9.30am Monument vs Marlow, 10.45am Kearsney vs Waterkloof, 12pm EG. Jansen vs DHS, 1.15pm Pretoria vs Framesby, 2.30pm Glenwood vs Selborne.

Monday 18 April - 8am Highbury vs KZN Ibutho, 9.30am Glenwood vs EG Jansen. 10.45am Westville vs Selborne, 12pm Monument vs DHS, 1.15pm Marlow vs Pretoria, 2.30pm Waterkloof vs Noord-Kaap, 3.45pm Kearsney vs Framesby.

 

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 11, 2022 at 3:00 AM

    The Jeppe vs Hudson Park fixture should be excellent. At Kearsney, three very tough games for Boys High - I can't see them winning of those fixtures.

    ReplyDelete

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