Global Schools Challenge 2024 – humble beginnings…

…with the promise of bigger and better things to come.

The inaugural Global Schools Challenge held at Grey College during December 2024 was a success story. Next year’s tournament in Spain is already building up to be something else with some of the best that the UK and Ireland have to offer expected to join the party that will likely include Grey College, Grey High and Oakdale. On the wishlist is another high profile name SA school as well as one or two big names from New Zealand of whom Auckland Grammar would be first prize given their connection to both Grey’s of SA.

Games were live streamed on Supersport Schools for local audiences and Rugbypass app for international audiences.

Initial Report in November 2024
Organising a school rugby festival is no small feat, and launching a new event is an especially daunting challenge. Credit must go to the fledgling Global Rugby Challenge festival for getting this December’s event at Grey College off the ground despite numerous obstacles. Earlier in the year, verbal and signed commitments had been secured from several schools in New Zealand, the UK, and Ireland. However each fell out for their own reasons.The festival will feature a draft system where players from smaller schools, as well as lower-ranked teams from larger schools, will get the chance to compete and gain exposure. Players will only find out which team they’ve been selected for on 12 December when they will be called up on stage to receive their jerseys, much like the American draft system.The competition will be a knockout format, with both Cup and Plate trophies up for grabs.The Premier Schools Division was initially intended to feature three local teams against three international teams. However, after the late withdrawal of Kings College and St John’s from Harare, organisers managed to secure Denstone (Eng), the defending champions of the St Joseph’s Festival, and Hamilton U18, a local team, to fill the spots. Although Hamilton is a local team, they bring strong players and will provide high-level competition for the other teams.Strathallan from Scotland, an emerging rugby programme, will also be part of the competition, alongside Grey College, Grey High, and Oakdale from South Africa. From the perspective of the local schools, the festival is seen as an important development programme, with a focus on testing team combinations ahead of the upcoming season. No trophies will be awarded for this division, but a team of the tournament and player of the tournament will be named at the end of the competition.