THE 2021 Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival will take place during Kearsney College’s centenary year, and schools that it has enjoyed long relationships and friendly rivalries with over many decades have been invited to take part in the festivities.
Three schools, Michaelhouse, Hilton College and Kingswood College, were invited for the first time to celebrate the milestone.
Together with Kearsney’s traditional KZN rivals Maritzburg College and Glenwood High School, they will be joined by the perennially strong Eastern Cape outfits of Selborne College (East London), Dale College (King Williams Town) and Hoërskool Framesby (Port Elizabeth), as well as Hoërskool Noord-Kaap (Kimberley), Hoërskool Dr EG Jansen (Boksburg in Gauteng) and Pretoria Boys’ High School.
The five KZN teams are expected to add a great sense of local celebration to the festival, while also increasing the number of participating high schools to 12.
Traditionally, the three play days of the festival, held during the Easter long weekend, attract strong teams from across the country, and offer an exciting mix of playing styles. Next year promises to be no different.
Selborne College will undoubtedly play the special brand of rugby which they have displayed each year since the inaugural 2008 edition of Kearsney’s festival. Regular participants Glenwood and EG Jansen have both played at 10 previous festivals.
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Three primary school teams, which will play the KZN Ibutho-Mark Godefrey U13 development team as the curtain-raiser each day, are Umhlali Preparatory School, Hillcrest Primary School and Highbury Preparatory School.
Kearsney College’s headmaster, Elwyn van den Aardweg, said, “We are delighted that schools, both independent and state, drawn from across the country, have accepted the invitation to celebrate Kearsney’s centenary year with us at this festival. The different styles of play that characterise each participating school will ensure that every fixture is set up to produce thrilling contests in the finest traditions of schoolboy rugby.”
Considered to be one of the most prestigious and well-organised schools’ rugby festivals in South Africa, played in the most beautiful environment, the festival will see teams travel with families and supporters to enjoy top schoolboy rugby in a family-friendly festival atmosphere on Kearsney’s campus.
This year’s festival was cancelled three weeks before kick-off, due to the country’s unfolding coronavirus pandemic.
Preparations are now well underway to ensure the year-long programme, to mark Kearsney’s Centenary, is commemorated in style.
Special events include a 24-hour inter-house sports challenge, a relay marathon reading of the New Testament in the Kearsney Chapel, an outdoor musical proms event that will feature old boy musicians and performers, a Centenary Ball. The year’s celebrations will culminate in a 140km Kearsney Epic, a relay run from the chapel at Kearsney College in Botha’s Hill to the chapel at Old Kearsney, near Stanger on the KZN North Coast, where the College started in 1921.
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2021 Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival fixtures
Day 1: Thursday, 1 April 2021
8.30am: Umhlali Prep vs KZN Ibutho-Mark Godefrey U13
9.30am: Kearsney College vs Hoërskool Noord-Kaap
10.45am: Michaelhouse vs Selborne College
noon: Hoërskool Framesby vs Dr EG Jansen
1.15pm: Maritzburg College vs Kingswood College
2.30pm: Glenwood High School vs Pretoria Boys’ High School
3.45pm: Hilton College vs Dale College
Day 2: Saturday, 3 April 2021
8.30am: Hillcrest Primary vs KZN Ibutho-Mark Godefrey U13
9.30am: Hilton College vs Dr EG Jansen
10.45am: Hoërskool Noord-Kaap vs Pretoria Boys High School
Noon: Kearsney College vs Dale College
1.15pm: Michaelhouse vs Kingswood College
2.30pm: Maritzburg College vs Hoërskool Framesby
3.45pm: Selborne College vs Glenwood High School
Day 3: Monday, 5 April 2021
8.30am: Highbury Prep vs KZN Ibutho-Mark Godefrey U13
9.30am: Hoërskool Noord-Kaap vs Dale College
10.45am: Michaelhouse vs Pretoria Boys High School
Noon: Hilton College vs Selborne College
1.15pm: Maritzburg College vs Dr EG Jansen
2.30pm: Glenwood High School vs Hoërskool Framesby
3.45pm: Kearsney College vs Kingswood College
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