Border’s Big 3 sights on Grey festival
A TRIO of Border teams are set for some intriguing skirmishes when Queen’s, Dale and Hudson Park compete in the Standard Bank Grey High Rugby Festival in Port Elizabeth this week.
The sides are among 20 first teams appearing in the festival as supporters prepare for a smorgasbord of schools rugby tomorrow and Saturday.
In addition, a total of 48 age-group teams, including Selborne U14, U15 and U16 teams, will contest matches on six fields over the two days, meaning there will be 1 420 players in action during the tournament.
As well as four venues at Grey, games will be played at Old Grey and the Police ground.
Uitenhage outfit Daniel Pienaar, who lost narrowly to Framesby at the weekend, will be pushed against the perennially slick-running Dale team.
Always keen to move the ball, the Dalians will be a threat if they can secure their fair share of possession.
Queen’s and Hudson Park will also be keen to impress after registering notable wins in their schools matches at the weekend.
Queen’s shaded arch-rivals Dale 2524, but will need to come back to earth for their clash with Johannesburg team St John’s. Although the Queenians should start as favourites, they will need to be careful of complacency.
Hudson Park dealt comfortably with Cambridge in their clash on Saturday and you would expect them to kick off with a win in the day’s opening game against Despatch.
Despatch, however, have put a lot of work into their rugby and this is a chance for them to send a message to their rivals.
Queen’s are not in action on Saturday, while Dale face Pearson and Hudson Park take on Uitenhage side Brandwag.
In other matches, PE township school Ithembelihle, often deprived of quality opposition, have a golden chance to prove themselves against Louis Botha Tech, of Bloemfontein, and Graeme College.
Ithembe have always been a competitive unit, producing a stream of talented players. One of these is Border player Masixole Banda, currently making a name for himself as an exciting fullback for the Southern Kings Super Rugby franchise.
No doubt there will be others lining up to prove a point this week and Louis Botha, from Bloem, and Graeme will not be taking anything for granted.
While hosts Grey will have their hands full against Johannesburg opponents Jeppe and Parktown, Brandwag face an equally tough challenge tomorrow.
They take on Durban High School, who were one of the top sides in KwaZulu-Natal last year.
In the final two opening day matches, Muir face a strong examination against Parktown, while Pearson will be hoping to start on a high note when they take on St David’s. — DDC