| GRAEME RUGBY FESTIVAL | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 : Thu 20-Mar-2025 | ||||||
| 09h15 | EP | Port Alfred | vs | Mary Waters | EP | |
| 10h30 | EP | Muir | vs | Otto du Plessis | EP | |
| 11h45 | BOR | Cambridge | vs | St John’s | LIO | |
| 13h00 | EP | Kingswood | vs | Stirling | BOR | |
| 14h15 | EP | Pearson | vs | Queen’s | BOR | |
| 15h30 | EP | Graeme | vs | Brandwag (EP) | EP | |
| Day 2 : Fri 21-Mar-2025 | ||||||
| 09h15 | EP | PJ Olivier | vs | Mzansi Academy | EP | |
| 10h30 | EP | Woodridge | vs | Port Rex | BOR | |
| 11h45 | EP | Daniel Pienaar | vs | Union | EP | |
| 13h00 | EP | Grey HS | vs | Hudson Park | BOR | |
| 14h15 | EP | Nico Malan | vs | Dale | BOR | |
| 15h30 | BOR | Selborne | vs | Marlow | EP | |
| Day 3 : Sat 22-Mar-2025 | ||||||
| 09h15 | BOR | Cambridge | vs | Otto du Plessis | EP | |
| 10h30 | BOR | Stirling | vs | Pearson | EP | |
| 11h45 | BOR | Queen’s | vs | Brandwag (EP) | EP | |
| 13h00 | EP | Kingswood | vs | Muir | EP | |
| 14h15 | EP | St Andrew’s | vs | Framesby | EP | |
| 15h30 | EP | Graeme | vs | St John’s | LIO | |
@RuggaFreak (Comment #6)
There are lots of schools involved in these practices around SA and the majority of them are associated with success.
Kingswood do not have it easy. The expectations are far higher than for a fellow local private like Woodridge. I’m sure there is plenty of pressure on the KC management to deliver success on the rugby field for a few reasons, the most important being their own financial sustainability in the face of stiff competition. A winning culture promoted by a good 1st XV does wonders. Their bridging year provided them with access to useful players in the past but since that option has fallen away, they have had to look at different ways to stay competitive. I think in exceeding expectations and becoming the number 1 1st XV in EC, that success has made them more of a target than when they just slotted in the EC domestic league in a position lower than number 1
Agree with Beet, I don’t feel sorry for Kingswood, quite a few Dale, Selborne and Hudson boys at Kingswood through bursaries which is uncalled for, Queen’s has always said they against this practice so therefore will never play Kingswood. If you want to improve your own rugby rather poach from outside the EC or give a kid from disadvantaged school and background and completely change their lives. I’m not even going to go on about the behaviour of KC boys on the field and stands
. Well-done QC and Selborne!
@Ystervark (Comment #3)
I know every circumstance is different but I would also steer clear of acquiring players from schools who form part of the same local league. Rather let those boys go find homes in other provinces if they are unhappy. Its better than damaging important sporting relationships. School officials always tend to focus solely on their own immediate needs when they really need to dedicate part of their attention to contributing to the overall health of their domestic league. The Eastern Cape still has a good thing going and the travel distances between the schools are manageable. Work together to keep it that way. It may turn out that trips to Gauteng, Cape Town, SWD, Boland, Bloem and the Northern Cape become every other week budget considerations in the future due to circumstances out of the richer schools’ control. But don’t speed it up by eroding a credible local rival to the point that they become uncompetitive and lose valuable sponsorship interest.
Kingswood could only realistically play Selborne or Queens at a festival. Their junior teams are far too weak and they struggle to have enough boys to make B teams for all age groups.
@beet (Comment #2)
The problem Kingswood have is that the lower teams are not competitive enough to fulfil fixtures against the bigger EC schools. Also, a school like Selborne won’t play them because they are taking players from them. It also doesn’t help their cause when they host home games and tell the opposition that they will stop games when it gets to 50 points.
@Farmer (Comment #1)
From my dealings with schoolboy rugby festival organisers from around SA, I’ve realised what a difficult job it is to put together a fixture list let alone one that pleases all parties. Under the circumstances the Graeme Fest organisers have done an excellent job.
I know one obstacle Kingswood faces is to cater for all their lower teams. The strength of their 1st XV in relation to the junior A-teams makes it a difficult prospect to find balance and they lack team numbers for the bigger schools. So their interschools vs Muir on that weekend makes sense.
But the main problem at Graeme 2024 is that the big guns do not want to play against Kingswood, rather than Kingswood not wanting to play against the big guns.
Ideally Grey High should target this fest or their own as the opportunity to play Kingswood. That would be super. A game against Framesby, Queen’s, Selborne or St John’s was also proposed but declined from what I’ve heard.
KINGSWOOD