Fridges are stocked to capacity, fields are finely manicured, and the catering team is ready for the blitz of 650 hungry rugby players and thousands of supportive spectators at this weekend’s Kearsney Easter Rugby Festival (KERF).
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 27 participating teams, including 12 boys’ high sides, 11 primary school teams and, for the first time, a girls’ high school category.
The first day’s action kicks off with a battle between two festival newcomers: Milnerton High from Cape Town and Peterhouse Boys’ School from Zimbabwe. Second up is another new face, Hoërskool Durbanville (Cape Town), who will play Dale College (Qonce).
The four local teams face some tough opponents in their first KERF encounters - Durban High School against Hoërskool Rustenburg, hosts Kearsney College face Hoërskool Dr EG Jansen (Boksburg), Glenwood High up against Hoërskool Monument (Krugersdorp) and Westville Boys’ High take onHoërskoolFramesby (Gqeberha).
The festival is an immense organisational endeavour, for which planning starts soon after the previous one ends, in order to ensure a memorable experience for the players, support staff and spectators expected to converge on Botha’s Hill.
A vital cog in the KERF wheel is the team of 36 catering staff, who will put in 2,000 man-hours in order to prepare and serve 6,336 meals to players and their coaches.
Fifteen of the competing teams will be staying at Kearsney. They don’t travel lightly, with each squad having 25 players as well as a variety of support staff - from head, forward and backline coaches, to managers, physiotherapists, biokineticists, conditioning coaches and analysts. Between them all, there are varied dietary demands, from vegetarian and vegan, to halaal, pork-free and a range of food intolerances.
Ensuring these hungry bodies are satisfied is no light matter. The shopping basket to feed them over the festival includes 9 720 eggs, 1,018 litres of milk, 1,364 kg of chicken and fish, and 1,244 kg of red meat. The school’s on-site bakery will produce over 1,200 fresh bread rolls daily, and the on-site butchery will prepare 1,300 pieces of its legendary boerewors.
The festival’s ‘Boots & Balls’ outreach initiative, introduced in 2015, is again collecting new and good-condition second-hand sports kits and clothing to distribute to development teams throughout the province. Players and visitors are encouraged to leave items at designated bright yellow collection points next to the main Stott field.
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.
FIXTURES
STOTT FIELD
BOYS HIGH SCHOOLS & GIRLS U16
DAY 1 THURSDAY 17 APRIL
08h00 Milnerton High vs Peterhouse Boys
09h20 Hoërskool Durbanville vs Dale College
10h40 Durban High School vs Hoërskool Rustenburg
12h00 Mowat Park High vs * Adams College *
13h00 Kearsney College vs Dr EG Jansen
14h20 Hoërskool Monument vs Glenwood High
15h40 Westville Boys' High vs Hoërskool Framesby
DAY 2 SATURDAY 19 APRIL
08h00 Hoërskool Durbanville vs Hoërskool Rustenburg
09h20 Hoërskool Framesby vs Peterhouse Boys
10h40 Milnerton High vs Glenwood High
12h00 Adams College vs * George Campbell *
13h00 Westville Boys' High vs Dr EG Jansen
14h20 Kearsney College vs Dale College
15h40 Hoërskool Monumentvs Durban High School
DAY 3 MONDAY 21 APRIL
08h00 Hoërskool Monument vs Milnerton High School
09h20 Glenwood High vs Dale College
10h40 Hoërskool Framesby vs Dr EG Jansen
11h00 Adams College vs * Grosvenor Girls *
12h50 Closing ceremony
13h00 Durban High School vs Hoërskool Durbanville
14h20 Westville Boys' High vs Hoërskool Rustenburg
15h40 Kearsney College vs Peterhouse Boys
ROBERTS FIELD
BOYS PRIMARY SCHOOLS & GIRLS U16
DAY 1 THURSDAY 17 APRIL
08h00 Highbury Prep vs Kloof Senior Primary
09h00 Penzance Primary vs uThukela Rugby (Bergville)
10h00 Winston Park Primary vs Westville Senior Primary
11h00 Hillcrest Primary vs Chelsea Prep
12h00 George Campbell vs * Grosvenor Girls *
13h00 Umhlali Prep vs KZN Ibutho Development
DAY 2 SATURDAY 19 APRIL
08h00 Kloof Senior Primary vs Winston Park Primary
10h00 Westville Senior Primary vs Hillcrest Primary
11h00 Glenwood Prep vs uThukela Rugby (Bergville)
12h00 Mowat Park High vs * Grosvenor Girls *
13h00 Highbury Prep vs KZN Ibutho Development
14h00 Penzance Primary vs Umhlali Prep
DAY 3 MONDAY 21 APRIL
08h00 Hillcrest Primary vs Winston Park Primary
09h00 Chelsea Prep vs KZN Ibutho Development
10h00 Kloof Senior Primary vs uThukela Rugby (Bergville)
11h00 Mowat Park High vs * George Campbell *
12h00 Glenwood Prep vs Westville Senior Primary
13h00 Highbury Prep vs Umhlali Prep