Bumper schools season to kick off in Bloem
SPOTLIGHT: Grey College will be in action at the President Steyn Sports Day this weekend as the 2026 schoolboy rugby season gets underway.
Many schools across the country will continue with their summer sports programmes for several weeks yet.
Most of the Noordvaal, Eastern and Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal schools will play their first competitive rugby fixtures in mid-March, while the North-South tournament – the first big interprovincial competition of the schools season – will commence two weeks later at Affies.
Some of the schools based in central South Africa, however, will get a jump on the competition, when they travel to the President Steyn Sports Day in Bloemfontein this weekend.
Rugby365 looks ahead to some of the fixtures scheduled for Saturday.
GREY COLLEGE V TRIO
Grey College will look to hit the ground running in their first competitive game of the season.
Grey and Trio met at President Steyn in last year’s opener, with the former emerging as 38-10 winners.
From there, Jannie Geldenhuys’ side went on to win all but two of their fixtures – losing to Paarl Gym at home and Paarl Boys away.
The 31-43 loss to Gimmies was especially significant, given that it marked Grey’s first home defeat in eight years.
This season, Grey will face Boishaai – the leading team in the country in 2025 – in Bloem, and they may be determined to make a point.
Star players like fullback Lamla Magedzi – who represented Free State U18, SA Schools and SA U18 in 2025 – are expected to make an impact over the course of the campaign.
Trio had a relatively good 2025 season, winning seven of their 11 matches.
The Kroonstad-based outfit are coached by Quintin Geldenhuys, who played Test rugby for Italy – and are expected to compete against Grey at the set pieces and collisions.
WELKOM GYM V FICHARDTPARK
Fichardtpark won the Free State Liga title in 2025, and will take some momentum into the 2026 season, given that many of their players are returning for another season.
After losing just four matches in 2024, Welkom Gym struggled to make an impact on the national scene in 2025.
Gimmies lost to SACS and Outeniqua at the North-South tournament, to Nelspruit and Diamantveld at the St. John’s Easter Festival, and to Marlow and Rustenburg at the Wildeklawer Tournament.
They were more consistent against regional opponents, beating Jim Fouche, Trio, Hentie Cilliers and Goudveld.
While they won the first battle against Bethlehem Voortrekker, they lost the away leg of the derby on the final weekend of the season.
This weekend, Welkom Gym may view the season opener against Fichardtpark as an opportunity to shake off the rust and build some momentum – before facing Grey College away on March 7.
Apart from the two fixtures mentioned above, Bethlehem Voortrekker will battle HTS Louis Botha, while Jim Fouche will tackle Hentie Cilliers at the same venue.
