The u/19A teams of the top Nelson Mandela Bay rugby schools will be tested early in the new season, playing in matches on Friday and Saturday.
Most teams have a couple of matches under their belt going into the weekend, but the annual rugby festival of Graeme College will be the first big assignment of the year.
The performances in Makhanda will be a good indication of what to expect later in the year from the Gqeberha teams of Grey, Pearson and Framesby.
Many of the teams they face later in the year will also play in Makhanda.
There will be a lot of interest in how the Kariega sides of Daniel Pienaar, Muir College, and Die Brandwag perform.
Nico Malan (Humansdorp) and Marlow (Cradock) are other regular opponents of the Gqeberha teams, and will also show what they can do in Makhanda.
The format of the tournament has been changed and the respective first teams will only play once.
Last year the first team matches were played over three days, and some teams played twice.
The festival has to compete more and more with other tournaments this time of the year, and some teams have a really hectic early season schedule to follow.
It has been decided that this year the first teams will play only on Friday and Saturday.
Grey will be involved in the main fixture on Friday. They take on the same opponent, Hudson Park of East London, which they beat easily at this festival last year. Hudson Park will no doubt be ready to make amends
On Saturday it will be very interesting to see what Framesby can produce against Stirling (East London).
This match will be followed by the clash between Pearson and Queen’s College (Komani).
The hosts will play the main match on Saturday when they take on Selborne College. These two teams were involved in a titanic battle two years ago which ended in a 7–7 draw.
Saturday is also a big day when Andrew Rabie hosts the Ratel Festival on their Gqeberha fields.
Six u/19A clashes are part of an action-packed day involving 20 schools. The last match of the day should be the highlight, when Rabie takes on Alexander Road.
Fixtures U/19A:
Graeme Festival
- Friday
09:00: Graeme College 2nd v Port Alfred High. 10:30: Mary Waters v Port Rex. 11:45: Daniel Pienaar v Union High. 13:00: Marlow v Kingswood. 14:15: Nico Malan v Dale College. 15:30: Grey High v Hudson Park.
- Saturday
10:30: Muir v Cambridge. 11:45: Framesby v Stirling. 13:00: Pearson v Queen’s. 14:15: Brandwag v St Andrew’s. 15:30: Graeme v Selborne.
Ratel Festival
- Saturday
12:00: Westering v McLachlan. 13:00: Victoria Park v Urban Academy. 14:00: Cillié v Paul Sauer. 15:00: Ithembelithle v Otto du Plessis. 16:00: DF Malherbe v Bergsig. 17:00: Andrew Rabie v Alexander Road.
Mzwandile Mali Tournament
- Friday, Wolfson Stadium
Final: Ndzondelelo High (Zwide) v Thubalethu High (Fort Beaufort).
