Old rivals meet at Bishops

On Saturday of this long weekend, the Diocesan College of Rondebosch and St Andrew’s College of Grahamstown, both Anglican foundations, both roughly the same age, both the same kind of people. meet – Bishops vs College, as has happened since 1896.

That year St Andrew’s, part school and part university, came to the Cape to play in the Anderson Cup for competition amongst the Colonial Colleges who included the South African College and Victoria College. Bishops won the Anderson Cup that year, beating St Andrew’s 5-0. Since the early 1920s matches between the two schools have happened in most years.

For many of both schools this is the most fundamental of their rugby rivalries, between two sister schools. For St Andrew’s Grey and others are big challenges in the Eastern Cape and for Bishops there are Rondebosch a few metres away and others in the Southern Suburbs and beyond. But still the match between Bishops and St Andrew’s remains special. It used always to be the occasion of a dance.

Travel has made the contact easier – train, car and now plane.

It used to be just the first teams that met but this time there will be five matches.

Bishops have won the last two First XV matches but they have been close – 26-22 last year and 25-24 the year before that.

Neither side has been in scintillating form this season. St Andrew’s has two out of five. They beat Pretoria Boys High but lost heavily to KES, whom Pretoria Boys High had beaten, and then to Michaelhouse and Framesby. Bishops has played seven, winning three. But they lost to Eldoraigne, Maritzburg College, Hilton and KES – and they have had several injuries. The two sides have only KES in Common. KES beat St Andrew’s 58-8 and Bishops 28-13.

There may, again, not be much between the two sides.

The teams:

Bishops: 15 Greg Alexander, 14 Keenan Jacobs, 13 James Goddard, 12 Herman Share, 11 Ant van Ryneveld, 10 James van Heerden, 9 Sean van Rensburg, 8 Abrahams, 7 Jo Miller (captain), 6 Wesley White, 5 Floris Groeninx, 4 Shane Smith, 3 Tahriq Allen, 2 Cuan Hablutzel, 1 Vuyo Quma.
Reserves: Mike Mynhardt, Jason Morris, Luke Kuhn.

Coach: Dave Mallett
Assistants: Kevin Foote, Gareth Hayden

St Andrew’s: 15 Chris Ford (vice-captain), 14 Joshua Devis, 13 Ethan Fortuin, 12 Ryan Horne, 11 Matthew Alexandre, 10 Jason Baggott, 9 Justin Ferrant, 8 Stuart Stopforth, 7 Zuko Gcezengana, 6 James Myburgh, 5 James Pagden, 4 Sintu Manjezi, 3 Martin Chandler, 2 Garrick Bowker (captain), 1 David Murray.

Coaches: Gerry Posthumus, Allan Miles

Date: Saturday, 28 April 2012
Kick-offs: 08.30 – Under-14; 09.30 – Under-15; 10.30 – Under-16; 11.45 – 2nd XV; 13.00 – 1st XV
Venue: Piley Rees Field, Bishops
Expected weather conditions: Saturday looks to start out autumnally foggy and then be partly cloudy with a high of 19°C , dropping to 13°C.
1st XV Referee: Deon van Blommestein (Western Province Referees’ Society)

Bishops vs St Andrew’s results down the years:
1896: Bishops won 5-0
1898: Bishops won 9-0
1903: Bishops won 5-0
1921: St Andrew’s won 15-0
1922: Bishops won 18-3
1923: Bishops won 3-0
1924: Draw 8-8
1925: Bishops won 3-0
1926: St Andrew’s won 28-0
1927: Draw 3-3
1928: Bishops won 11-3
1929: Bishops won 20-9
1930: Bishops won 23-6
1931: Bishops won 16-0
1932: Bishops won 13-12
1933: St Andrew’s won 9-8
1934: St Andrew’s won 21-3
1935: St Andrew’s won 6-5
1936: Bishops won 24-0
1937: Bishops won 8-6
1938: Draw 3-3
1939: St Andrew’s won 16-0
1940-45: World War II
1946: Draw 11-11
1947: Bishops won 8-6
1948: Bishops won 9-3
1949: Bishops won 6-3
1950: Bishops won 14-0
1951: St Andrew’s won 5-3
1952: Bishops won 3-0
1953: St Andrew’s won 28-0
1954: Bishops won 14-3
1955: Bishops won 8-3
1956: Draw 3-3
1957: St Andrew’s won 9-6
1958: Bishops won 6-3
1959: St Andrew’s won 16-3
1960: St Andrew’s won 25-0
1961: Bishops won 11-5
1962: Bishops won 8-3
1963: St Andrew’s won 11-3
1964: Bishops won 19-12
1965: Bishops won 3-0
1966: St Andrew’s won 12-8
1967: St Andrew’s won 6-0
1968: Bishops won 11-9
1969: St Andrew’s won 17-3
1970: St Andrew’s won 8-6
1971: St Andrew’s won 6-3
1972: Bishops won 10-3
1973: Bishops won 12-11
1974: Bishops won 12-0
1975: St Andrew’s won 15-0
1976: Bishops won 19-9
1977: Bishops won 41-3
1978: St Andrew’s won 9-4
1979: Bishops won 49-3
1980: Bishops won 9-3
1981: Bishops won 18-6
1982: Bishops won 25-12
1983: Bishops won 23-12
1984: Bishops won 13-12
1986: Bishops won 30-3
1987: Bishops won 11-3
1988: Bishops won 50-6
1989: Bishops won 19-9
1990: St Andrew’s won 15-4
1991: Bishops won 19-16
1992: Bishops won 41-17
1993: Bishops won 21-18
1994: Bishops won 30-21
1996: Bishops won 18-12
1997: St Andrew’s won 47-17
1998: St Andrew’s won 20-19
1999: Bishops won 27-20
2000: St Andrew’s won 18-17
2001: St Andrew’s won 19-15
2002: Bishops won 27-8
2003: Draw 12-12
2004: St Andrew’s won 10-8
2005: St Andrew’s won 28-10
2006: Bishops won 41-6
2008: Bishops won 64-18
2009: Bishops won 17-12
2010: Bishops won 25-24
2011: Bishops won 26-22

Played: 86
Bishops won 55
Drawn: 6
St Andrew’s won 25