Grey High & Pretoria Boys’ High test the interschools waters

A potential new interschools rugby rivalry is taking shape as Grey High School and Pretoria Boys High School look to establish a fixture between two of South Africa’s most respected English-medium boys’ schools. Both institutions are giants in their respective regions, with large rugby programmes that often make it difficult to find suitable opponents capable of matching their depth across multiple age groups.

For 2025, the schools will ease into the potential derby with an economical trip to Pretoria, limited to just the A-teams and 2nd XV rugby action. It’s being treated as a trial run — one that both schools hope could grow into a full interschools event in future, potentially including hockey and perhaps other sports.

As it stands, however, Grey’s hockey sides won’t be making the journey, as they are currently hosting the prestigious Hibbert Shield, featuring the top 16 schoolboy teams in the country. While Grey’s rugby programme remains fairly well-catered for in terms of fixtures, their hockey teams have long struggled to secure a strong Eastern Cape calendar — something a broader interschools agreement with Pretoria Boys could help resolve. Grey already has Grey College, Paul Roos and Wynberg as long-distance annual interschools events.

If all goes well, this could be the start of a valuable and high-quality annual derby between two proud institutions.