Bishops celebrates proud 175 year history with rugby spectacle – All the fixtures
Bishops Diocesan College celebrates its 175th Anniversary this weekend, marking the historic milestone with their Bishops 175 Rugby and Hockey Festival, which will see 1 400 young sportsmen representing their schools over the course of four days.
In 1849, just as swarms of people began flocking to the west coast of the USA, in the California gold rush, and Queen Victoria was into the twelfth year of a nearly 64-year reign as Monarch of the United Kingdom and Great Britain, the first Bishop of Cape Town, Robert Gray founded Diocesan College in Rondebosch.
To put it into perspective, that was only 26 years after William Webb Ellis famously picked up a football in the town of Rugby in England and made a mad dash towards the opposition’s goal line, inspiring the sport that would come to play such a large part in our culture.
The hosts’ 1st XV has already revved up its engine this past weekend with two good wins at the Wynberg Boys’ High Rugby Festival. They flexed their muscles in their opener against Windhoek High School, from Namibia, winning 43-8, before showing real character to see out a 28-24 arm-wrestle against St Charles College from Pietermaritzburg.
Scrumhalf, Kashief Joseph, has already put his hand up as a player to watch in the Bishops’ team this season, stepping up to fill the boots of the Class of ’23’s Haashim Pead, who made the SA Schools team last year.
Joseph also captained his school’s 1st XI cricket team through a brilliant season, but he’s shown that he is not yet done etching his name into the Diocesan College history books by scoring two tries against St Charles.
Co-captains, James Le Feuvre and Alex Smith, lead the Bishops’ first team out for their first challenge at the festival on Thursday at 16:00, when they take on Michaelhouse. They’re in action again on Saturday, in the final match of the weekend against St Andrew’s College.
Before both of those matches, a team of Bishop’s old boys will square off against representatives from their respective challengers to set the table for the main games.
SACS and Wynberg Boys’ High also got off to winning starts at last weekend’s event.
SACS outmuscled Hoërskool Durbanville by five tries to three, but kicking difficulties made the SACS boys sweat to secure a 25-22 victory. They will hope to have shaken off the last remaining rust from the off-season in that match because they might be punished for those types of mistakes in their fixtures against Grey High and Michaelhouse.
Watch out for some of the big boys in the SACS front row, like Ikhona Maxegwana and Ethan Combrink, this weekend.
Wynberg stormed to a lopsided 84-3 victory in their opening match of the season against Windhoek High, but they will be expecting much more resistance on Thursday and Saturday when they square off against St Andrew’s College and Kingswood College.
The big victory, and hat-tricks for flyhalf Yaqeen Ahmed and scrumhalf Tyron Gombe, will have done wonders for the boys from Wynberg’s confidence heading into the weekend.
Kingswood faces Hilton College on the first day. They will hope to continue building on their momentum from the Graeme College Festival where they made an early statement by beating Marlow Landbou 29-14.
Teams
Bishops Diocesan College vs Michaelhouse at 16:00
Bishops Diocesan College: 15 Lucca Mynhardt, 14 Iviwe Dadamasi, 13 Wa-keem Fortuin, 12 Alex Newton, 11 Ammar Laatoe, 10 Jordan Petersen, 9 Kashief Joseph, 8 Aza Gabada, 7 Imma Magongwa, 6 James Le Feuvre, 5 Fouke Wagener, 4 Alex Smith, 3 Yusuf Ahmed, 2 Jack Campbell, 1 Gareth McKinnon.
Michaelhouse: 15 Stefan Moolman, 14 Aya Mkhodeli, 13 Rourke O’Sullivan, 12 Tom Baguley, 11 Rourke Murray, 10 Luke Davidson, 9 Jack Hughes, 8 Carlyle Hawkins, 7 Anesu Nduru, 6 Riley Gehren, 5 Dom Sesink Clee, 4 Robert Combrinck, 3 Thomas Peach, 2 Jordan Ratsey, 1 Aphiwe Shelembe.
Wynberg Boys’ High vs St Andrew’s College at 14:30
Wynberg Boys’ High: 15 Morné Noble, 14 Kunene Gadu, 13 Albert Lourens, 12 Brandon Ashburner, 11 Levi Brown, 10 Yaqeen Ahmed, 9 Tyrone Gombe, 8 Torren February, 7 Aden da Costa, 6 Jamie Stride, 5 Tjeripo Karuhumba, 4 Jaythen Orange, 3 Benjamin Matthews, 2 Xabiso Mkiva, 1 Luqobo Makwedini.
St Andrew’s College: 15 Karabo van Heerden, 14 Aza Nonxube, 13 Nic Hall, 12 Aphindile Ncuka, 11 Julian Mapoore, 10 Scott Miles, 9 Will Stern, 8 Murray Wilson, 7 Guy Fraser, 6 Philip Maske, 5 Roman van Zyl, 4 Rob Faber, 3 Thato Machaba, 2 Joe Wostenholm, 1 Mark Were.
Kingswood College vs Hilton College at 13:00
Kingswood College: NA
Hilton College: 15 Ivan Jjuuko, 14 Rukudzo Madinga, 13 Khazimla Makali, 12 Daniel Sweeney, 11 Requime Adonis, 10 Liyema Nela, 9 Zander Vorster, 8 Hanu Pieterse, 7 Stewart Falconer, 6 Ross Brown, 5 Kieran Hunter, 4 Meyer Malherbe, 3 Ben le Roux, 2 Josh Grant, 1 Oliver Proudfoot.
SACS vs Grey High at 11:00
SACS: 15 Jack Benade, 14 Matt Carrick, 13 Nic Reynolds, 12 Endi Sidinile, 11 Imtiaz Abrahams, 10 Rayaan Solomons, 9 Matt Forbes, 8 Daniel Grant, 7 Siphe Mbungendlu, 6 Ben van Coller, 5 Pierre van Selm, 4 Connor King, 3 Ikhona Maxegwana, 2 Zinzan Paulsen, 1 Ethan Combrinck.
Grey High: 15 Kyle Callaghan, 14 Meyer Prinsloo, 13 Lavela Pongolo, 12 Dylan Garrod, 11 Luc de Villiers, 10 Divan Lamprecht, 9 Liyema Makaane, 8 Jon Hobson, 7 Blayton Ward, 6 Tanner Howard, 5 Likhona Sodlaka, 4 Steven Lee, 3 Ross Atkinson, 2 Evan Mucka, 1 Alex Ferreira.
Fixtures
Wednesday, 20 March
Piley Rees Field (u16 A): 11:30 – Diocesan College vs Michaelhouse; 13:00 – Kingswood College vs Rondebosch Boys’ High; 14:30 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs St Andrew’s College; 16:00 – SACS vs Grey High.
Range Rugby Field (u15 A): 11:30 – Hamiltons vs Rondebosch Boys’ High; 13:00 – SACS vs Grey High.
Cemetery Rugby Field (u14 A): 11:30 – SACS vs Grey High; 13:00 – Diocesan College vs Ubombo; 14:30 – Hamiltons vs Rondebosch Boys’ High; 16:00 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs St Andrew’s College.
Thursday, 21 March
Piley Rees Field (1st XVs): 11:00 – SACS vs Grey High; 13:00 – Kingswood College vs Hilton College; 14:30 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs St Andrew’s College; 16:00 – Diocesan College vs Michaelhouse.
Avenue Rugby Field (2nd XVs): 09:00 – SACS vs Grey High; 10:30 – Bergvliet vs Rondebosch Boys’ High; 12:00 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs St Andrew’s College; 13:30 – Diocesan College vs Michaelhouse.
Friday, 22 March
Piley Rees Field (u16 A): 12:00 – Grey High vs Rondebosch Boys’ High; 13:30 – SACS vs Michaelhouse; 15:00 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs Kingswood College; 16:30 – Diocesan College vs St Andrew’s College.
Range Rugby Field (u15 A): 10:30 – Diocesan College vs Grey High; 12:00 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs Hamiltons.
Cemetery Rugby Field (u14 A): 10:30 – Grey High vs Rondebosch Boys’ High; 12:00 – SACS vs Hamiltons; 13:30 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs Ubombo; 15:00 – Diocesan College vs St Andrew’s College.
Saturday, 23 March
Piley Rees Field (1st XVs): 11:30 – Grey High vs Hilton College; 13:00 – SACS vs Michaelhouse; 14:30 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs Kingswood College; 16:00 – Diocesan College vs St Andrew’s College.
Avenue Rugby Field (2nd XVs): 09:00 – Grey High vs Rondebosch Boys’ High; 10:30 – Wynberg Boys’ High vs Michaelhouse; 12:00 – SACS vs Bergvliet; 13:30 – Diocesan College vs St Andrew’s College.
