Graeme Festival will start rugby season in cracking style

The schools rugby season in the Eastern Cape is set for another cracking start next year when the early shots are fired at the annual Graeme College Festival in Makhanda from 20 to 22 March.

A total of 26 first teams will be involved in matches from Thursday to Saturday on the Somerset field, while the age-group teams will also have a chance to showcase their talents on the Marais fields.

An exciting inclusion next year is Johannesburg school St John’s College, who place an emphasis on playing a skilful, smart brand of rugby and will definitely pose a threat to their opponents.

St John’s have been regular participants in the annual Grey High Festival in Gqeberha, but this will be their first visit to the Graeme College event and they are sure to be motivated to make a statement.

Graeme, in fact, will host the Johannesburg outfit in the festival finale on the Saturday afternoon and it should make for an absorbing conclusion to three days of exciting schoolboy rugby.

Another team making a rare appearance in Makhanda will be Woodridge College, based at Thornhill just outside Gqeberha.

Although their smaller numbers mean they battle to match the bigger schools, Woodridge has worked hard at their sport, and it will be interesting for them to face East London opponents Port Rex Technical High.

Woodridge College will be involved in only one match, as will one of Makhanda’s top sides in St Andrew’s. They will be in action only on the Saturday, but it should be a humdinger against Gqeberha team Framesby, who will also play just one game.

Graeme College kicks off their programme on Thursday with a tough opener against Brandwag from Kariega, whose perennially hard-forward play, linked to speedy backs, always makes them a threat.

In addition, the top guns in Eastern Cape rugby will all be in action, with Gqeberha’s Grey High and East London’s Selborne College playing only on the Friday.

Grey have what has become something of a traditional fixture with Hudson Park, whom they don’t play in their annual schools’ programme, and Selborne will be up against the resilient Marlow Agricultural team.

Pearson and Queen’s College from Komani will have a rematch after the Gqeberha side won 19-11 in this year’s festival, which should be one of the highlights of the opening day. It is the main curtain-raiser to the Graeme-Brandwag showdown.

After some strong performances in recent seasons, Kingswood will be looking to lay down a marker when they play Stirling on Thursday and Muir on Saturday.

The scheduled First XV fixtures are:

Thursday | 20 March 2025

09:15 – Port Alfred vs Mary Waters
10:30 – Muir College vs Otto du Plessis
11:45 – Cambridge vs St John’s College
13:00 – Kingswood College vs Stirling
14:15 – Pearson vs Queen’s College
15:30 – Graeme College vs Die Brandwag (Uitenhage)

Friday | 21 March 2025

09:15 – PJ Olivier vs Mzansi Academy
10:30 – Woodridge College vs HTS Port Rex
11:45 – HTS Daniël Pienaar vs Union High
13:00 – Grey High School vs Hudson Park
14:15 – Nico Malan vs Dale College
15:30 – Selborne College vs Marlow Landbou

Saturday | 22 March 2025

09:15 – Cambridge vs Otto du Plessis
10:30 – Stirling vs Pearson
11:45 – Queen’s College vs Die Brandwag (Uitenhage)
13:00 – Kingswood College vs Muir College
14:15 – St Andrew’s College vs Framesby
15:30 – Graeme College vs St John’s College