It’s perhaps a little overdue. Two St Andrew’s College pupils deserve well-earned praise for their enthusiastic and insightful commentary during their school’s clash against Michaelhouse in early April 2025. Thomas Lake and Andrew Turby, who themselves represent the school in lower rugby teams, brought energy and knowledge to the broadcast and have been described as “great characters”. Their refreshing, unbiased approach gave viewers a balanced perspective — and their vivid description of each and every body check offered a brilliant glimpse into the importance of such collisions to teenager supporters of the wonderful game.
Eastern Cape Fixtures: Derby Drama and High-Stakes Clashes for 10 May 2025
After five consecutive festival matches on the road, an unbeaten St Andrew’s side, coached to play their entertaining brand by old boy Jonny Mallett, returns to Makhanda this weekend to take on neighbours Graeme College in an away fixture on Somerset Field. Well coached by the experienced Jonty van Meulen, Graeme are enjoying a strong season of their own, which adds plenty of spice to what is already a highly anticipated inter-schools derby.
St Andrew’s highlights so far include two memorable comebacks on their iconic Lower Field — a 34–31 win over Bishops and a dramatic 22–22 draw with Michaelhouse just days later.
Graeme’s 1st XV have tasted defeat only once this year — a 17–27 loss to Hilton College at the Grey Festival — and boast seven victories, including a convincing 25–10 win over Pretoria Boys’ High.
Over in Gqeberha, Grey High, another Eastern Cape top honours contender, are preparing for a blockbuster showdown with a more than decent Wynberg Boys’ High side from Cape Town. With both teams gaining in form, this fixture promises to be one of the weekend’s standout encounters.
Also in Gqeberha, the rising rugby programme at Pearson (coached by experienced Christiaan van Schalkwyk) take on one of this season’s national surprise packages, Nico Malan from Humansdorp — who under the guidance of passionate coach Jaco Nepgen are fresh off a thrilling win over Glenwood (41-39) at the prestigious Absa Wildeklawer tournament. Nico Malan head into the match as favourites but cannot take anything for granted on the field named after late Springbok Hannes Strydom.
In Kariega, Brandwag — coached by Heine “Rassie” Erasmus — have enjoyed a solid season with nine wins from twelve full-length matches. However, they face a stern test against a talented but inconsistent Kingswood side. Kingswood recently notched up a convincing 41–10 victory over St David’s of Inanda and will look to build on that momentum to improve their current 50% win rate.
Meanwhile, in the Border region, few rivalries match the tradition, intensity and vocal crowd support of Dale vs Queen’s — the first of their annual derbies. Dale are a gritty, hard-fighting unit, but given the strength of this year’s Queen’s College Kudus side, the likely outcome may be a bitter one for the Tickbirds from Qonce (King William’s Town).
In another Border fixture, Selborne College are expected to have too much firepower for Port Rex Technical High School. Under the guidance of Allan Miles — a coach with an exceptional resumé and consideration for the values that schoolboy rugby should uphold — Selborne will be eager to halt a frustrating losing streak in what has been another challenging season. On the other side, Port Rex continue to earn respect for their determined efforts to raise their rugby standards.
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