The Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival countdown is on as the cream of the country’s young rugby players are doing final training ahead of next week’s kick-off of the Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival (KERF).
A highlight on the calendars of local rugby spectators, the festival always entertains with competitive, well-matched teams which produce fast-paced rugby and a display of uninhibited passion with an exciting mix of styles.
Dates:
Play days for the 16th edition of KERF are Thursday 17, Saturday 19 and Monday 21.
This year’s event promises to be bigger and better, with 28 participating teams, including 12 boys’ high sides, 12 primary school teams and, for the first time, a girls’ high school category.
Schools participating:
Durban High School, Westville Boys, Glenwood and hosts Kearsney will represent KZN in the senior boys’ division, with a touring team from Peterhouse Boys’ School in Zimbabwe, the alma mater of Tendai ‘Beast’ Mtawarira, adding their special brand of rugby.
They will be joined by powerhouse teams from Gauteng:
Hoërskool Dr EG Jansen
(Boksburg) and Hoërskool
Monument (Krugersdorp);
Eastern Cape:
Hoërskool Framesby (Gqeberha)
Dale College (Qonce)
Hoërskool Rustenburg (North West).
Newcomers from Western Cape:
Hoërskool Durbanville
Milnerton High School
Joining junior Zimbabwean club team Harare Lions, will be local teams from Chelsea Prep, Glenwood Prep, Hillcrest Primary, Highbury, Kloof Senior Primary, Penzance Primary, Umhlali Prep, Westville Senior Primary and Winston Park; as well as uThukela Rugby from Bergville and KZN Ibutho Development side.
Girls Teams
Four U16 girls’ teams will also offer something new, playing during the lunchtime slots each day. They are Adams College (Amanzimtoti), Mowat Park (Montclair), Grosvenor Girls (Bluff) and George Campbell School of Technology (Durban).
Kearsney headmaster Patrick Lees said he was grateful for significant support from Standard Bank, Halfway Ford Waterfall, The Sharks Academy and Nashua, which had enabled growth of this year’s festival to include 28 teams.
To avoid queues, spectators can purchase prepaid tickets online through Quicket. Alternatively, they can be purchased on the day from the Kearsney College Road gate. Spectators are urged to pay by card or SnapScan. Entry is R45 per person and children under six are free
There will be ample parking, a fun KidZone for the little ones, as well as numerous food outlets and a field-side refreshment tent to ensure spectators can fully enjoy the weekend’s entertainment.
All games will be live-streamed via YouTube on the SuperSport Schools app.
Full and up-to-date festival news, team information, fixtures, results and match reports will be available on www.kearsney.com or from the Kearsney College Events app which can be downloaded from Google Play or iStore.
Author: Sue Miles
