E/Cape

Since the problems being experienced by the Border Rugby Football Union have been put forward as a good reason for top school rugby players kids from schools in the region wanting to jump ship (with consent of their parents / guardians off course), I wanted to explore this. Can the problems at the Rugby Union rightfully be blamed for any sort of exodus or is this just a convenient excuse being used?…

By Jon Leiper (Kingswood)

Kingswood and St Andrews once again served up a thriller on City Lords in their annual derby match. Both sides committed themselves to playing positive, attacking rugby, and this resulted in a match that was full of thrilling moments. In a game very much of two halves, ultimately it was College who won the match, 42-28. However this score line did not truly reflect the events on the field.…

Two of the finest private schools in South Africa go head to head on Saturday 14 June 2014 in Grahamstown. Kingswood College (founded in 1894) takes on St Andrew’s College (founded in 1855) in one of the biggest and the oldest derbies in schoolboy rugby in South Africa. The event is known as K-Day…

Dale College will make a 250km trip from King Williams Town to Grey High in Port Elizabeth for this weekend’s big Eastern Cape clash. As things stand Selborne, Dale and Grey  are the three teams battling it out for Eastern Cape top honours this year.…

When the Eastern Province Craven Week team was announced earlier this month, it came as a huge surprise to see that not a single St Andrew’s College player had been selected. St Andrew’s has been a force to be reckoned with in their region and this year again, just like in many of the past few seasons they are aiming to finished first in EPCD. The clash with examinations is the reason for their boys being withdrawn from the EPCD trials. …

Dale and Queen’s met at the graveyard in King on Saturday in the first of their two annual derbies. Both schools had come off good wins in previous games but Queen’s had certainly made the bigger impression by beating a good Grey High. It was however Dale who had shown the better and more consistent form this season and were therefore labelled as favourites.…

Eastern Province has named 3 under-18 teams to face Eastern Province Country Districts in the annual Meyer Sauerman to be held in Graaff Reinet on Saturday, 17 May 2014.…

The Queen’s College 1st XV Rugby team dished up one of the surprises of the season with a stunning come from behind victory on the Recreation ground on Saturday afternoon. The underdog status that the “Men in White” had going into the match was part of their motivation to secure the shock 29-25 victory over their much fancied opponents from Port Elizabeth. While most supporters gave Queen’s very little chance going into this encounter, the QC team itself always had the belief that they could stand up to this highly rated Grey, even after the QC teams early season battles.…

Meyer Sauerman is the Eastern Province and Eastern Province Country Districts tournament. The name originates from the surnames of the people most involved in the inception of this idea (format) of final trials. It has been going for many years, although the format has changed slightly over the years.…

Queen’s College will host Selborne as part of their Reunion weekend celebrations. Queen’s haven’t lost on their famous ground, “The Rec” since Dale won there in 2011. That’s a long and proud winning streak that the Queenians would love to extend via claiming the scalp of the East London powerhouse.…

Many passionate school rugby followers of the Eastern Cape region were able to attend the Graeme Rugby Day and the Grey High Festival. I asked a handful of these supporters of the wonderful game to come up with their selections for a combined Eastern Province / Border team. Here is the net result of their combined efforts:…

Grey High School’s recent 71-8 and 10-7 wins against Nico Malan and Michaelhouse respectively have come at a huge price in the end. …

Still a work in progress but here are what some of the 1st XVs will look like for the Graeme Rugby Day…

St Andrew’s College in Grahamstown will be involved in the first really big clash of the Eastern Cape school rugby season when they take on Daniel Pienaar from Uitenhage on Saturday, 15 March. …

Here is the first look at what the Border big guns Queen’s College of Queenstown and Selborne from East London have to offer this season. Both schools will be in action at this Saturday’s Border Schools Rugby Day …

A short while back I blogged about how jacked up Kingswood were with their preseason rugby preparations. In spite of every one of the rugby players in their 1st XV squad being a dual sportsman, the little Grahamstown co-ed private school had managed to organise their 1st XV squad well ahead of other bigger high schools from the Eastern Cape. Now much closer to the start of the rugby season well laid plans are slightly derailed.…

The Dale College first team to face De Vos Malan in the derby of King on 08 March 2014…

The 2014 Border schools rugby season officially gets underway with the annual Border Rugby Day which takes place at Border Stadium in East London on Saturday, 15 March 2014. This is super early season opportunity for supporters to see what  talent that the best rugby schools in the region are packing this year.…

Die Brandwag’s 2013 team contained some very good players that helped them achieve a set of good results. Included in that team was Malcolm Jaer who went on to gain SA Schools selection, joining the likes of Brandwag old boys Freddie Ferreira (1980), Sean Plaatjies (1996) and Riaan Arendse (2007) in the process. …

Former NMMU Supremo and SA Universities Assistant Coach Brent Janse van Rensburg is the new Director of Rugby at Grey High School.…

It would have been acceptable for Kingswood, a small private co-ed from Grahamstown to be amongst the last of the Eastern Cape schools to get their 1^st XV rugby for 2014 up and running. Although they don’t the student numbers of most rival schools, Kingswood remains competitive in sports across the board during the year thanks to the commitment of boys, …

Two Muir College students returned to their school in Uitenhage, Eastern Province last week after a short stay at Noord-Kaap in Kimberley did not live up to their expectations.…

Report from Old Dalian Denver Donian a reporter from the Bugle

DALE COLLEGE was privileged to be at the centre of a program set to improve the face of school rugby in the area when they hosted the Sport Focus Capacity Building Programme – a school rugby coaching workshop facilitated by the South African Rugby Union (SARU) and the Border Rugby Union (BRU).…

Message from the Grey High (PE) Rector regarding the 1st XV coaching set up:…

A squad of 25 prospective Grey 1st XV players undertook a 13 day and a five match of the United Kingdom in late November and early December. Much is expected of this group of U17 and U16 players who will make up the Grey 1st XV next season, and they didn’t disappoint – winning all 5 of their matches on tour.…