St Johns’ College Easter Festival promises a celebration of schoolboy rugby
The 25th St John’s College Easter Festival in Johannesburg will have more than a couple of exciting new names in attendance. Like always it promises to be a celebration of schoolboy rugby over the Easter Weekend from the 9th of April to 13 April 2020.
Like last year’s Easter Festival 14 schools will take part in the prestigious festival. Three regulars since the inaugural festival in 1996 Hilton College, Parktown Boys’ High and St Benedict’s College returns after missing from last year’s line-up. Two of the other newcomers, Boland Landbou and Pretoria Boys’ High will only play two matches during the festival.
Another two schools, Grey College and Garsfontein will both make a solitary appearance at the festival. Grey College and Boland Landbou will face each other on the opening day in what promises to be the match of the festival. Grey College’s last appearance in Johannesburg was back in 2008 when they attended the St John’s College Easter Festival. It is therefore expected that the team from Bloemfontein will pull quite a big crowd for this match-up.
Garsfontein will play Nelspruit on the Saturday. Clashes between these two teams usually are exciting to watch.
The main match on the Saturday between Paarl Boys’ High and Pretoria Boys’ High will be one looked forward to by old-boys from both these schools. It has been a long time since these two schools have met on the rugby field and Pretoria Boys’ High will want to show how much they have developed as a team since Paul Anthony returned from Durban. Pretoria Boys’ High ended a 12-year drought against Affies last year under the custodianship of Anthony with a 38-21 victory.
St John’s College will face St Charles College of Pietermaritzburg on the Saturday. The hosts’ other two clashes will be against Hilton College and the Nelspruit. The match-up against Hilton College on the Thursday night will be a highlight for the hosts.
Paarl Boys’ High toughest clash will be the main match of the final day against Helpmekaar-kollege. The Helpies lost in the final of the Virsekerbeker against Menlopark during last year’s competition and will yet again be a force to reckon with.
Boland Landbou will face Noordheuwel and Nelspruit in their two matches in the City of Gold. The team from the Agter-Paarl will be one of the top sides in action during the festival and will give Nories en Nelspruit a clear indication where they are in their preparation before the Virsekerbeker kicks off.
Another highlight of the festival will be the clash between the Nelspruit Rhinos and Noordheuwel. The Nories replaced the Rhinos in the top tier of the Virsekerbeker for 2019
The four schools that participated in last year’s St John’s College Easter Festival who won’t be in action this year is Stellenberg, St Alban’s College, HTS Daniël Pienaar, and Windhoek Gimnasium.
The Fixtures (Burger Field):
Thursday, 9 April 2020
10:30 – Paarl Boys’ High vs Golden Lions XV
11:40 – Helpmekaar vs Graeme College
12:40 – Parktown Boys’ High vs Soweto Eagles
14:00 – St David’s Marist vs St Charles College
16:00 – Hoërskool Nelspruit vs Noordheuwel
17:10 – St Benedict’s College vs Pretoria Boys’ High
18:20 – Boland Landbou vs Grey College
19:30 – St John’s College vs Hilton College
Saturday, 11 April 2020
09:00 – Soweto Eagles vs St Benedict’s College
10:10 – Boland Landbou vs Parktown Boys’ High
11:20 – St Charles College vs Noordheuwel
12:30 – St David’s Marist vs Golden Lions XV
15:00 – St John’s College vs Graeme College
16:10 – Garsfontein vs Hoërskool Nelspruit
17:20 – Helpmekaar vs Hilton College
18:30 – Paarl Boys’ High vs Pretoria Boys’ High
Monday, 13 April 2020
09:00 – St David’s Marist vs Soweto Eagles
10:10 – St Charles College vs Golden Lions XV
11:20 – Parktown Boys’ High vs Graeme College
13:20 – Noordheuwel vs St Benedict’s College
14:30 – St John’s College vs Hoërskool Nelspruit
15:40 – Paarl Boys’ High vs Helpmekaar
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