Grey College ready to build on their heritage in 2024
Grey College is set to follow up its unbeaten 2023 season with another action-packed list of fixtures in 2024.
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Boasting the experience of eight players from last year’s unbeaten squad, it appears as if the Bloemfontein powerhouse could continue its unbeaten run this season.
Pieter van der Merwe, Dian Venter, Liam van Wyk, Danie Kruger, Heinrich Theron, Philip McLaren, Emile McGeer, Liam Santos, and Alzeadon Felix pulled on the coveted first-team jersey last year and they will be itching for the opportunity to secure their places this season.
Many exciting young talents – like Ethan Adams, Toriq Schambreel, AJ Meyer, Xander Smit, Jan-Hendrik van der Linde, Thristan Maree, Bernard Wessels, AJ Booysen, Siyabonga Kenny and Adem Nieuwoudt – who stood out at the Grant Khomo Week last year are moving up the age grades and will be knocking on the door of the 1st XV this year, thus ensuring Grey College will, as is so often the case, be the team to beat again.
Smit previously made an impression running out for Grey’s u17 sevens team at the end of last season. Together with Santos, van Wyk, Felix, and McLaren, he helped the Bloem boys secure the High Schools Sevens Series Champions title.
He comes from a proud rugby pedigree. His father, Philip Smit, earned five caps for the Springboks on their northern hemisphere tour in 1997 and also represented the SA sevens team in 1998.
As always, the proud Bloemfontein school continues to attract players from families with rich rugby histories. Heinrich Theron and Benjamin van den Berg are also following in their fathers’ footsteps by picking up the oval ball. Heinrich’s father, Louis, represented the Free State in three matches during the late eighties. Van den Berg’s father JB played centre for the Griffons and the Leopards during his career.
The Grey coaching team remains unchanged from the group that has produced so many successful squads over the last couple of years, with Jannie Geldenhuys leading proceedings. Three of his assistant coaches – Wian du Preez, Tiaan Liebenberg, and Helgard Müller represented the Springboks in their playing career, while Tewis de Bruyn played first-class rugby for the Cheetahs, Leopards, Boland and South Western Districts.
Former first-team player Inus Keyser is responsible for the team’s strength and conditioning, while their team manager is Putu Pretorius.
Last year, Grey had the added advantage of fielding a squad that had already bonded at the World Schools Festival in 2022 where they reached the final despite not fielding any boys in grade 12.
They didn’t attend the festival in 2023, but it would be ill-advised for any of their opponents to expect anything less than a finished product from Grey.
With a brand-new inter-school derby against Paarl Gimnasium awaiting them in April, as well as away games at Oakdale and Paul Roos, Grey College will need to be at their best to emulate the successes of 2023. The Grey boys, however, have long been the standard-setters and it will take a very special performance to dethrone the Free State giants.
They kick off their season at the President Steyn Sports Day on the 24 February where they will field an invitational team against Hoërskool Trio.
Last season, they beat the team from Kroonstad 38-10 in their opening fixture before going on to hand Paarl Gim their only loss of the season. They also outlasted Outeniqua in the Kwaggas’ centenary year in George, and they overpowered Affies, dishing out a record 60-19 hiding in Bloemfontein, as they stormed their way through the best teams in South Africa to be universally recognised as South Africa’s number one.
Garsfontein, who were also among the top sides in 2023, went down 9-23 to Grey at the Wildeklawer Festival, but they’ll get another shot at the Free Staters at this year’s tournament.
As always, Grey College’s season ends with the Paul Roos derby and after beating the boys from Stellenbosch last year without six of their star players, who were missing due to national duties, they will prepare for a battle on the Markötter in August when the Maroon Machine will attempt to return the favour.
The fixtures for the 2024 season
| # | nt_header_1 | nt_header_2 | nt_header_3 | nt_header_4 | nt_header_5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24/02/2024 | Grey College | vs | Hoërskool Trio | President Steyn Sports Day |
| 2 | 02/03/2024 | Grey College | vs | Welkom Gimnasium | Bloemfontein |
| 3 | 22/03/2024 | Grey College | vs | King Edward VII | Noord/Suid |
| 4 | 25/03/2024 | Grey College | vs | Jeppe High School for Boys | Noord/Suid |
| 5 | 13/04/2024 | Grey College | vs | Outeniqua | Bloemfontein |
| 6 | 20/04/2024 | Grey College | vs | Paarl Gimnasium | Paarl |
| 7 | 27/04/2024 | Grey College | vs | Selborne College | East London |
| 8 | 02/05/2024 | Grey College | vs | Maritzburg College | Wildeklawer |
| 9 | 04/05/2024 | Grey College | vs | Garsfontein | Wildeklawer |
| 10 | 11/05/2024 | Grey College | vs | Paarl Boys' High | Bloemfontein |
| 11 | 18/05/2024 | Grey College | vs | Affies | Pretoria |
| 12 | 25/05/2024 | Grey College | vs | Monument | Bloemfontein |
| 13 | 20/07/2024 | Grey College | vs | Grey High School | Bloemfontein |
| 14 | 03/08/2024 | Grey College | vs | Oakdale Landbou | Riversdal |
| 15 | 17/08/2024 | Grey College | vs | Paul Roos Gimnasium | Stellenbosch |
