Cape schools festivals take centre stage

PREVIEW: Graeme College and Wynberg will host the first of the major schools’ rugby festivals this week, while Monument will tackle the Grey College juggernaut in Krugersdorp.

The 2025 school season is in full swing, with a host of leading teams gearing up for the respective festivals in the Makhanda and Cape Town.

Elsewhere in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, a few of the country’s top dogs will be looking to make an impression, after shaking off the early season rust.

@Rugby365com looks ahead to some of the biggest match-ups around South Africa this weekend.

GRAEME COLLEGE FESTIVAL

Graeme thrashed Daniel Pienaar 51-17 last week to begin their season with a bang.

This Thursday, Graeme will host Brandwag – who have racked up four wins already in 2025 – before facing St Johns from Johannesburg on Saturday.

Other festival fixtures of note see Pearson tackling Queen’s College on Thursday, and Nico Malan fronting up to Dale on Friday.

Queen’s may have their work cut out for them when they meet Brandwag on Saturday. although it remains to be seen how both teams will manage their squads over the two matches.

WYNBERG FESTIVAL

This past Tuesday, a clutch of local teams featured at the Western Province Schools Day held at the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, where the contests were limited to 20 minutes per half.

Several of those teams will return to regular action at the Wynberg festival in Cape Town’s southern suburbs this weekend.

Bishops will face Tsumeb Gymnasium from Namibia on Friday, before SACS take on Parel Vallei and Rondebosch battle on Oakdale on Saturday. Oakdale were competitive in their recent match against Grey College in Bloemfontein – which they lost 10-25 – and may fancy an upset win against ‘Bosch.

Paul Roos – who won all of their matches during the regular season last year to become the leading First XV in South Africa – will be in action for the first time in 2025, when they travel to Drostdy on Friday.

MONUMENT VS GREY COLLEGE

In Krugersdorp on Friday, Monument will host Grey College in what has the potential to be the clash of the weekend.

Monument are coming off a 38-26 win against Welkom Gymnasium, who Grey thrashed 60-17 two weeks ago.

The first game of the traditional double-header between KES and Jeppe will be staged in Houghton on Saturday.

Last week, KES edged St Johns 17-15 in their first game of the season. It will be interesting to see how they go against Jeppe, who have already faced Die Anker, Garsfontein and Pretoria Boys over the past few weeks.

Garsfontein beat Jeppe 26-18 in the recent fixture, and will be looking to extend their winning run when they front Noordheuwel on Saturday.

MARITZBURG COLLEGE VS NORTHWOOD

Maritzburg will be desperate to bounce back against Northwood this weekend, after going down 13-29 at Durban High School last week. Northwood are coming off a 15-13 win against Michaelhouse.

DHS, the pick of the KwaZulu-Natal schools in 2024, has made a successful start to the 2025 season, with convincing wins against Voortrekker Bethlehem and Maritzburg.

The Durbanites will look to extend their record against Michaelhouse this Saturday, before preparing for the Grey High School festival in Gqeberha next week.

Further west, the Noord Suid Festival will be staged at Paul Roos in Stellenbosch from 28 March and 1 April, and feature most of the leading Western Cape schools as well as national powerhouses such as Grey College and Affies.

@rugby365com