After a COVID enforced absence, the St Stithians College Rugby festival is back this Easter weekend. The Saints festival is the oldest of the Easter festivals, and probably the most prestigious. The festival was first hosted in 1984 and has gone from strength to strength ever since. It is now a multi-code sports festival, featuring hockey, netball, tennis and soccer with more than a 1000 participants.
My focus will be squarely on the rugby fixtures on Baytopp Field for the long weekend, with a particular interest in how my alma mater, Grey High School, will do. They have an interesting set of fixtures which sees them face Bishops, St. Alban’s College and Maritzburg College.
They are coming off a hammering at the hands of Paul Roos (sadly shown live on Supersport) and will need to be at their very best to stand a chance against the formidable Bishops side in their first match. Next up is St Alban’s College, who I cannot remember Grey having played before, certainly not in the recent past. A few of my old Res mates went to St Alban’s so some bragging rights are up for grabs here. The final game of the weekend for the men in blue is against Maritzburg College, a classic festival encounter which often takes place at Saints. Despite the prohibitive distance, I have always thought that these two schools should play each other in a derby day. I will be watching this game with a College old boy so that will make it that much more tense!
From what I have seen so far this season, Grey rely on a cohesive forward pack, especially at lineout time, where the two locks are fairly secure on their own ball, although were disrupted a bit by KES at the Grey Festival. Grey’s No. 8 Jake Barnard is a roving player who impresses in each game. I have also been impressed by Grey’s captain and hooker, Ivan Ingram, who has scored a number of tries from the back of a dominant lineout maul. The Baker twins are massive and add real bulk to the scrum and around the field but need to be less upright in the carry to have more of an impact.
Zukisani Tom, a highly rated No. 8 from 2021, has moved to the right wing. Owing to Grey’s flyhalf Mihle Matinise’s penchant for kicking at what seems like every opportunity, it is bewildering that Tom has been moved to the wing where he hardly ever gets his hands on the ball. He scored from a good backline move, coming off the blindside wing against SACS a few weeks back, where it was perhaps fortunate no defenders were in his way. Matinise’s charged down kicks against KES led to heart palpitations and almost cost Grey the game. He needs to be deeper in the pocket if he is going to be ponderous on the ball. I would love to see the ball get some air and bring the outside backs in, but he seems to prefer to kick possession away.
Grant Ball, my best schoolmate, is in his first year in charge of the Michaelhouse First XV, and it will be great to catch up with him and see how his team perform in the flesh. They have had some good performances, even if the results haven’t always gone their way. They beat Kingswood comfortably and then lost a nailbiter to St Andrews at the Grey Festival. They picked up the scalp of Selborne at a wet King’s Park earlier in the season and ran Glenwood and Helpmekaar close when they were still finding their feet. They have a big and exciting loose trio and I think they will go unbeaten.
Bishops were the standout performers at the Grey Festival two weeks ago. They seem to have carried the promise of the 2021 abbreviated season into 2022. Their talisman is the captain and inside centre, Bruce Sherwood, a tank of a schoolboy, who has all the skills and already looks destined to be a professional rugby player. Bishops have a big, abrasive and hardworking pack and their backs are skilful as always! What was so impressive in their game against St Andrew’s was how Sherwood was on the periphery for the first half and they still dominated, his centre partner Allison scoring a great team try set up by Sherwood. I hope they have an off day against Grey, but they could annihilate Parktown in their last fixture.
I have another personal connection with the St Andrew’s College team. They have struggled so far this season, and as our arch-rivals in the Eastern Cape this gives me optimism that Grey can end the recent run of defeats to the team from Makhanda. I used to live with Jonny Mallett who is involved in the First XV coaching setup and I hope for his sake that they get a few wins against Gauteng opposition to show what Eastern Cape schoolboy rugby is all about! Their 12, Lane, is a decent prospect and I am looking forward to watching him first hand to see if he can dictate play.
As always, there are some great matchups and I am sure that the stands will be packed each day, which is what these schoolboys deserve after the last few years of sitting on the sidelines.
My predicted winners are highlighted in bold below. Let’s see how these unfold over the weekend when your humble correspondent will return his review and team of the week.
Thursday 14 April
St Andrew’s College vs St Alban’s College
Maritzburg College vs Michaelhouse
St Stithians vs Clifton
Parktown vs Wynberg
Bishops v Grey High
Saturday 16 April
St Alban’s vs Grey High
St Andrew’s vs Wynberg
Parktown vs Clifton
Maritzburg College vs Bishops
St Stithians vs Michaelhouse
Monday 18 April
Wynberg vs Clifton
Bishops vs Parktown
Grey High v Maritzburg College
St Alban’s vs Michaelhouse
St Stithians vs St Andrew’s
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