St Charles College in Pietermaritzburg will turn 150 years old in 2025! The rugby year before that celebration is going to be a pretty unique one as well, judging by their fixture list.
For starters, there will only be two home games in 2024 (Clifton and St Stithians), so picking an Old Boys Day could have been decided by a coin toss if they wanted to.
Apart from Clifton, there are also only three interschools Saturdays against other local KZN schools, with one of these being split up due to matches against Durban High School taking place at Kings Park as part of Sharks Day/Trials. This places Saints at the bottom of the list of KZN teams with local derbies.
But the big interest item has to be the three tours during the season.
- Wynberg Festival in Cape Town,
- St Stithians Easter Rugby Festival in Randburg, and
- Grey High Rugby Festival in Gqeberha.
Lots of travel, lots of expense but also the exciting opportunities to versus a range of high schools from other parts of the country that SCC would not normally do battle against.
For Stayers there is the bonus of attending the Independent Schools Rugby Festival at St Alban’s in Pretoria during July 2024.
It will be extra hard on the pockets of parents who typically don’t miss a match but could prove to be a fun journey ahead of a milestone in 2025.
| # | DATE | OPPONENT | FESTIVAL / VENUE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fri.15Mar | Milnerton | Wynberg Festival |
| 2 | Sun.17Mar | TBA | Wynberg Festival |
| 3 | Thu.28Mar | TBA | St Stithians Easter R/F |
| 4 | Sat.30Mar | TBA | St Stithians Easter R/F |
| 5 | Sat.20Apr | Clifton | Home |
| 6 | Sat.27Apr | DHS | Sharks Day Trials |
| 7 | Thu.02May | TBA | Grey HS Festival |
| 8 | Sat.04May | TBA | Grey HS Festival |
| 9 | Sat.11May | Clifton | Away |
| 10 | Sat.25May | St Stithians | Home |
| 11 | Sat.01Jun | Glenwood | Away |
| 12 | Sat.08Jun | Hilton | Away |
@beet (Comment #5)
Sorry to clarify. All the MC A-teams will be at Wildeklawer, so its their B-teams and down that will face SCC, bearing in mind MC will travel to Kimberley with 23 player squads, so 8 2nd XV/B-team players will be removed and create a type of staggered match interschools effect against SCC
@Skywalker (Comment #3)
SCC teams below 1st XV squad will face MC in 2024. No opportunity for a 1st XV match due to MC being at Wildeklawer on Sat 04 May. Similar to the situation this year where there was no KC vs MC 1st XV match as part of a weekday interschools.
@Skywalker (Comment #3)
Thanks, appreciate the feedback
@Kantman (Comment #2)
They have done a Maritzburg Day for the last few years where St Charles faced off against MBC. Unf. the gulf in class is very evident and its probaby just not worth it for St Charles. Their rugby seems to have slipped over the last few years. I thought it could get stronger but the other schools have responded and they have not actually gained. Clifton is getting stronger each year and will be a tough game for them. Clifton will soon be favourites.
@Kaya 85 (Comment #1)
Agree it does not make sense – fixture against your city/town opposition should be first to pencil in
WONDERING