E/Cape

It was May 1898 and the Kingswood College Rugby Union Football team wandered across the Valley to Lower Field and met the St Andrews College team in the first of what was to become one of the most enduring school rugby matches in South Africa. While this was the first time the two schools’ 1^st XV’s  in fact met it was not the first time that they had played each other as in 1896 The St Andrews 2^nd XV played the Kingswood 1^st XV  and this match was drawn. The first 1^st XV’s outing was won 6-3 by St Andrews and this match has been won more often than not by St Andrews. This has become particularly noticeable from the middle of the last century up to the present. The two schools should probably not be playing each other as the number of boys at each actually put them into different classifications but the traditions and camaraderie of this fixture are what have kept it alive. The week leading up to, and the weekend itself, are what create the vibe and atmosphere which is about far more than just a rugby match.…

On Saturday Grey High held on to recorded a 23-18 win against visitors Paul Roos. This was their second win in two seasons against Paul Roos. 

A feature of the game was the outstanding form of under-16 flyhalf Curwin Bosch who turned out for the home side’s 1st XV.  Many locals in attendance feel that the youngster’s play was the difference between the two teams on the day.…

In February SBRer Rugbyfan got us underway with his predictions of how the season would turn out: http://schoolboyrugby.co.za/blog/?p=2493. All the top contenders have a few games under the belt now. St Andrews is there somewhere above the cloud. At this stage they appear to be the overachievers in the region in terms of the pre-season forecasts.…

Grey High School has named a powerful team to play Kingswood at 5pm on Friday at the City Lords, Kingswood’s home ground in Grahamstown.…

By Ryan Victor.

Kingswood College 1^st XV kicked off their season with a match against Winterberg Agricultural School. The game was called a pre-season fixture, but both sides didn’t think this was the case.…

The Border Schools Tournament takes place at Buffalo Stadium in East London on Saturday 09 March 2013. The rugby day will feature all the well-known Border school’s including the regions heavyweights Selborne, Queen’s and Dale. …

Framesby is looking forward to the experience of playing a curtain-raiser to the Sharks versus Stormers Super Rugby match at Kings Park in Durban on Saturday, 02 March 2013. They are also grateful for the good relationship they have with their opponents on the day Glenwood, which made this match possible. Just like Glenwood, Framesby will be approaching the game as a pre-season preparation for the coming season.…

A tweet yesterday from Dale College read as follows:

Dale played De Vos Malan today in their opener beating them 28-8 the unbeaten streak at home continues!!

Sergeal Petersen, the 18-year-old Southern Kings right wing has just completed a dream debut for the new Super Rugby franchise. On Saturday the Kings defeated the Western Force 22-10 with Petersen accounting for two tries and being awarded the Man of the Match after the game. Professional Super Rugby started out as the Super 12 in 1996 and is now into it’s eighteenth season. During this time not too many 18-year-olds have played in the competition, even fewer of that age have scored tries and of those try-scorers it has been a rarity for one to score on debut.  So you can imagine how unique Petersen’s achievements are.…

Blogger Rugbyfan has shared his opinions on how the high profile Eastern Cape schools will fare in the rankings this season.…

Not too much enthusiasm is expected to come Kings Super Rugby campaign this season but they do have one of the brightest most exciting young prospects on their books and they intend to use him. Grey High and SA Schools 2012 wing Sergeal Petersen has been selected to start for the Kings in their first ever Super Rugby match against the Western Force on Saturday 23 February. The youngster Super Rugby player of all times was the Force’s former star James o’Connor at 17 years 288 days so that record is not under threat but at 18 years and 206 days, Peterson is still pretty much a baby in a competition in which the average age of the local Saffa squad players is still close to 26.…

Now that the Kings are established as a new Super Rugby franchise it brings about new opportunities. One such initiative undertaken is to build better ties with the schools within its system in the hopes of developing a feeder system and thereby fulfilling the promise of developing players from the region into fully fledged home grown professional rugby players one day. As a result Grey High School of Port Elizabeth and Kingswood from Grahamstown are being lined up as a possible curtain raiser to the Kings versus Chiefs match on Saturday 15 March at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.…

I have to extend a humble apology to coach Steve Turner, Dale supporters and other readers for misleading all with a blog that suggested Luke Smith is the new head coach at Dale.…

Imagine the Kings Superugby team could use players that at least attended junior schools within the Border, SWD and EP. I know could put together a nice side. I had a look at under-13 Craven Week before they moved to high school.…

Old Queenian Murray Basset has been handed the head coaching reigns at 154 year old Queens College. Basset has been the first team assistant coach for three years now, working alongside former head coach John Duncan.…

42-year old former provincial flyhalf and Dale Old Boy Luke Smith is the new coach at Dale College. Smith takes over from the school’s legendary coach Griffy Griffiths who has moved to Hamiltons Club in Cape Town. Interestingly Smith like Griffiths also played in an unbeaten Dale side in 1990. …

The Border schools Selborne, Dale and Queens have produced their fair share of rugby talent over the years. Usually these players complete their schooling first and then leave the region to make names for themselves playing top level rugby at other big provinces. There have been times when boys have left Border for schools in other regions under controversial circumstances. With news filtering through that the Bulls have persuaded a promising Grant Khomo Week 2012 player who also featured at the SA HP u16 training camp to move to Pretoria, this has to be classified as one of those controversial situations.…

John Duncan, the head coach of the Queens College 1st XV from the time he arrived at the school in 2010, has resigned.…