24 June 2024
While St Alban’s College hosts 16 teams at the u18 Independent Schools Rugby Festival, from 29 June to 3 July, Clifton College will host a smaller u14 Independent Schools Rugby Festival (ISRF), from 28 June to 1 July, with eight teams in action.
The games take place at the home of Clifton Sport, the Riverside Sports Club, for the first two rounds of matches, and at the Crusaders Club for the last round of games. With only eight teams competing, it makes for a nice, compact programme, with each side playing three times in four days.
The hosts’ u14A team has enjoyed a fine season and they’ll be keen to build upon their record, which reads 10 wins and three losses. Those victories include defeats of Westville Boys’ High, Northwood, St Charles and, most recently, Kearsney College.
They will face Cornwall Hill College, St Stithians College and St David’s Marist Inanda in the ISRF, and, based on their results so far this season, they will be confident they can add another three victories to their record.
Both Clifton and St Charles narrowly lost to Maritzburg College. For Saints, it was a particularly tough loss. They opened up a 19-0 lead, but College brought it back to 19-19 before stealing a victory on the final whistle by landing a penalty. Clifton went down by two points.
As mentioned, though, Clifton, beat Westville, and the Griffin were comfortable winners over College by 19 points. It just goes to show, though, that the two KZN representatives will be strong contenders.
The other three schools who will be in action are St Benedict’s, Woodridge and St Andrew’s School (Bloemfontein).
Bennies is another team to keep an eye on. Twice this season, they’ve defeated St David’s Marist Inanda, and St David’s were convincing winners over Cornwall Hill College and St Stithians.
As the team that has the furthest to travel, Woodridge is the side about whom the least is known, in terms of their results against common opposition.
However, it’s not all about the results. It’s about a rugby education for the players, about being tested by different schools playing different styles of rugby.
Crucially, it’s about building relationships which, especially for boys in the u14 age group, can be grown over the course of their years in high school.
FIXTURES
Friday 28 June – Riverside Field A
13:00 – Clifton vs Cornwall Hill
14:00 – St Andrew’s vs St Benedict’s
15:00 – St Stithians vs Woodridge
16:00 – St Charles vs St David’s
Saturday 29 June – Riverside Field A
09:00 – St Stithians vs Clifton
10:00 – St Charles vs Cornwall Hill
11:00 – St Benedict’s vs Woodridge
12:00 – St David’s vs St Andrew’s
Monday 1 July – Crusaders Field A
08:00 – St Andrew’s vs Woodridge
09:00 – St Benedict’s vs St Charles
10:00 – St Stithians vs Cornwall Hill
11:00 – St David’s vs Clifton
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