15th edition of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival set to light up Stott Field

Kearsney College‘s picturesque Stott Field is ready and raring to host the 15th edition of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival (KERF), with 14 high school teams set to do battle while, in a first for the event, 10 local u13 teams will also be in action on an adjoining field.
The event, which has been sponsored by Standard Bank since 2012, previously featured u13 matches to open the action daily. Now, their full participation follows a very successful formula Kearsney has used for their Kearsney Soccer Tournament and Kearsney Hockey 5s.
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There are three newcomers this year: Cape Town’s Rondebosch Boys’ High, Pearson High School, from Gqeberha, and Hoërskool Rustenburg, from the North-West.
All three enjoyed outstanding 2023 seasons. Rondebosch produced the best record in competition against their three southern suburbs rivals – beating SACS and Wynberg twice, while winning one and losing one against Bishops.
Recently, on 16 March, they went 13-17 down against Oakdale. To put that result into context, Oakdale recently beat Garsfontein 23-17 and Helpmekaar 41-22 at the NMI Toyota North-South Tournament.
Pearson’s signature result of 2023 was a 25-22 victory over Selborne College and this season they’re unbeaten in three outings which, most recently, included a 19-11 win over Queen’s College.
Rustenburg lost only twice in 15 matches last year and upset Glenwood High School 26-24. That same Glenwood team had won all three of their games at the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival.
Coach Derek Heiberg‘s charges suffered an upset loss to Welkom Gimnasium in their first game of 2024, although, in mitigation, they entered the contest without a number of their first-choice players due to injuries.

On 21 March, they were unimpressive in an 11-9 win over Wesvalia, so the Green Machine will want to set the record straight at Kearsney.
Westville Boys’ High, another of last year’s unbeaten teams at the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival, went down 17-25 to Michaelhouse in their first match of the season.
It was a scrappy first outing, but they showed that they could be a very dangerous team in the last quarter of the contest, when they started to find their way.
Monument was the other side to put together a perfect festival record in 2023, recording comfortable wins over Framesby (28-7), Noord-Kaap (50-5), and Dale College (41-5).
They’re a beefy outfit, with seven members of their squad weighing in at 100+ kilograms, including lock Jacques Botha, who stands 2.06m tall (6’8″) and weighs 128 kilos, and prop Wikus Meyer, who is 1.95m tall (6’4″) and tips the scales at 127 kilos. They’re not the heaviest! Prop Juandré Marais stands 1.89m (6’2″) and weighs 136 kilograms.
The hosts, who beat Dr EG Jansen 17-12 last year, to end Jansies’ unbeaten start to the season, went down 20-23 to Dale College and 24-26 to England’s Hartpury College in their other outings, and will be keen to put together a better record this time around.
At last year’s festival, Dr EG Jansen’s opener was a thrilling contest against Hartpury College, with the Boksburg boys fighting back from 14-28 down to force a 28-28 draw. Apart from the loss to Kearsney, they also went down 10-22 to Westville.

Like last season, they head into the festival undefeated, and have already played five matches. They’ve been dominant thus far, with their 36-26 win over Welkom Gimnasium the closest game they’ve played thus far.
With former Springbok and Sharks’ captain Keegan Daniel now heading up Kearsney’s rugby programme, the early signs have been positive, with the One-Stripe beating Witteberg 17-5, Hentie Cilliers 41-14 and, in a massive upset, Maritzburg College 16-14.
Their only loss came in their most recent game, when Durban High School (DHS) blanked them 23-0. It was a result that didn’t do justice to how tightly contested the match was.
DHS, meanwhile, will be keen to go three for three after winning two out of three in 2023. Last year, they headed into the festival straight from doing duty in the North-South Tournament and were shocked by Worcester Gimnasium in their opener, going down 31-36.
This season, DHS opted not to participate in the North-South Tournament to reduce the demands on their players. That will have its positives, but it also means that they go into the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival having played a lot less rugby than they had before the 2023 KERF.

One thing that be expected from DHS, however, is an entertaining running game, which is built upon the efforts of a solid, mobile, and hard-working pack.
Worcester Gimnasium, who won a lot of hearts with their running rugby when they debuted at KERF last season, head into the festival with a record of played four, won four.
They’ve exhibited a strong defence in their four victories, surrendering only 32 points in total. Their offence, though, has not yet fully sparked, scoring 88 points in their wins, so they’ll be keen to improve that aspect of their play.
Hoër Landbouskool Marlow has been in good early season form, although their most recent result was a 14-29 loss to Kingswood College. Their other results include a 32-14 win over Hoërskool Upington and a 16-5 victory over Hoërskool Duineveld. That same Duineveld team went down 32-33 to the highly rated Noordheuwel on Tuesday.
Noord-Kaap brings a clean record to the festival, although they haven’t played the toughest of opposition yet, recording wins over Sentraal (28-22), Landbouskool Jacobsdal (29-20) and HTS Louis Botha (59-14). One thing that can be expected from the Kimberley school is a willingness to run the ball.
Framesby have been regular visitors to the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival, and their record in 2023 included a convincing 35-7 win over Noord-Kaap. However, they were beaten 31-10 by DHS and 28-7 by Monument in their other matches.
The boys from the Eastern Cape have begun 2024 well, with victories over Brackenfell (31-12) and Stirling (43-0).
Their fellow Eastern Cape school, Nico Malan, of Humansdorp, should be well prepared for KERF, with three matches in the bag. They won against Bergsig (15-7) and Dale College (32-29), but they were edged out by St Andrew’s College (24-21).
Online tickets for the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival can be purchased through Quicket at R45pp to avoid queues, or at the gate for R40pp. Children under six years of age get in for free.
There is ample on-site parking, numerous food outlets, a refreshment tent, and a fun KidZone for the little ones.
Fixtures
Day 1: Thursday, 28 March
09:00 – Worcester Gim v Rustenburg; 10:20 – Noord-Kaap v Dr EG Jansen; 11:40 – Glenwood v Marlow; 13:00 – DHS v Nico Malan; 14:20 – Framesby v Kearsney; 15:40 – Westville v Rondebosch
Day 2: Saturday, 30 March
07:40 – Noord-Kaap v Nico Malan; 09:00 – Westville v Pearson; 10:20 – Worcester Gim v Marlow; 11:40 – Rustenburg v DHS; 13:00 – Framesby v Monument; 14:20 – Glenwood v Dr EG Jansen; 15:40 – Kearsney v Rondebosch
Day 3: Monday, 1 April
07:30 – Marlow v Noord-Kaap; 08:50 – Rondebosch v Rustenburg; 10:10 – Framesby v Worcester Gim; 11:30 – Glenwood v Nico Malan; 12:40 – Closing Ceremony; 13:00 – DHS v Pearson; 14:20 – Monument v Westville; 15:40 – Kearsney v Dr EG Jansen
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