Grey hunts a reunion victory over Queen’s College
After a stellar start to their 2024 hockey season, Grey High School will be aiming to add another notch to their belt when they host Komani’s Queen’s College in their annual reunion derby fixture in Gqeberha on Friday night.
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The match will be played at the Collegiate Girls’ High Astroturf to coincide with the girls’ schools 150th reunion celebrations.
Grey has established itself as one of the country’s top teams in 2024, impressing with a strong all-round game against many of South Africa’s other leading sides.
Under the leadership of new head coach and Director of Hockey, Andrew Beynon, the Gqeberha-based side has only lost three times this season, against the current top two teams in the country, South African College High School (SACS) and Paul Roos Gimnasium, and one of those losses, to SACS, was in a penalty shootout.
Last weekend, Grey hosted an extremely competitive Hibbert Shield tournament, which brought together the strongest collection of boys’ teams to participate in a tournament in the country this year. They were drawn in Pool B, along with Paarl Gimnasium, and Clifton College.
Coach Beynon’s side breezed through the pool stages, beating both Clifton (8-1) and Gim (1-0), before dominating in a win over Westville Boys High (3-0) in the quarterfinals. That victory booked them a semifinal date with SACS.
Last month, Grey had suffered a first loss of the season against SACS, going down 2-5 in Cape Town. At home, they took the game to SACS. They looked like a different outfit, dangerous on attack and, defensively, they limited SACS’ goal-scoring opportunities.
The clash ended 1-1, but Grey eventually succumbed 2-4 in the penalty shootout. A 4-1 win over Hoërskool Garsfontein in their last match clinched the bronze medal, however.
They face an unpredictable side in Queen’s, who will be eager to pull off an upset.
Coach Michael Baiden’s team last played in April when they went down 2-3 to Dale College in their 166th reunion derby in Komani.
In that clash, Queen’s trailed 0-2 going into the fourth chukka, but they equalised through Bevaneo Maytham, and Aiden van Jaarsveld, only for Sibongisile Nzima to find a late winner for the visitors.
To bag a win in front of their home supporters, Grey will rely on their star-studded attack, under the leadership of Kian Cambier, to come alive against the Komani outfit.
Ben Ristow will be crucial in defence, while Blake Muller, alongside his skipper, will be entrusted to deliver quality balls from the midfield.
Grey has been in good goal scoring form in recent matches, and strikers Luke Tait and Caleb Humphreys will aim to keep that ball rolling.
In other matches around the province, Graeme College will take on Westering High School in an early game on Friday.
Kingswood College goes up against the tough Pearson High School in Makhanda. Stirling, who had a bye weekend last week, returns to action against Merrifield College in East London.
Woodridge College will host George’s York High School.
Meanwhile, preparations for the forthcoming K-Day festivities will begin at St Andrew’s College when they host Cambridge High School at the Webster Astroturf on Friday.
Fixtures
15:30 – Westering vs Graeme College
15:45 – Kingswood College vs Pearson
16:00 – Stirling High vs Merrifield College
16:00 – Woodridge College vs York High
16:30 – St Andrew’s College vs Cambridge High
19:30 – Grey High vs Queen’s College
