The KES Easter Rugby Festival maybe do not have all the big names that other rugby festivals have, however, the organisers of this festival know exactly how to plan a festival with most of the matchups being extremely close resulting in some brilliant and exciting rugby being on offer.
08h10 Trinityhouse (53,988) vs Dale College (82,351)
Unfortunately, due to the tragic passing of two of Dale College's 1stXV players, it is highly unlikely that the boys from King Williams Town will make the trip to Johannesburg.
09h20 Nico Malan (75,011) vs Durbanville (83,410)
Durbanville should be the favourite to cruise to a win, especially after a great win against Helpmekaar showed what they can achieve if they "click".
Unfortunately, Nico Malan did not have a good start to their 2022 season losing their first four matches of the season. Losses to St Andrew's College (03-18), Hudson Park (14-21), KES (12-20) and Northwood (20-23) were followed by a first win against Langenhoven Gim (24-06) a week ago.
Durbanville won three from six before travelling to Johannesburg. They lost to Drostdy HTS (00-26), SACS (06-13) and Affies (07-73). Wins against Hermanus (20-00), Helpmekaar (36-34) and Milnerton (43-23) were achieved.
10h30 Ben Vorster (81,093) vs Centurion (74,166)
This could be the first of several exciting and close battles of the KES Rugby Easter Festival. Ben Vorster should be the favourites, however, a surprise by Centurion is maybe not that a far-fetched prediction. Some exciting rugby should be on the menu.
Ben Vorster has a start from hell this year and is still looking for their first win of the season. They lost to Witteberg (10-36), Middelburg HTS (11-14), Frikkie Meyer (28-29) and Pietersburg (23-24).
Centurion is also looking for their first win of the season after losses to KES (15-36) and Ligbron (28-31).
11h40 Jeppe (90,743) vs Eldoraigne (79,709)
Jeppe must be the favourite for this match. However, there is some new excitement at Eldoraigne and although a win is not expected Jeppe will be asked several difficult questions during this exciting match.
Jeppe had an up and down start to their season beating Pretoria Boys High (16-10), Rondebosch (17-13) and St John's (29-28) but lost to Framesby (00-19) and Monnas (13-45)
Eldoraigne had a splendid start to the season winning four from five outings. Wins against Die Wilgers (38-07) and Middelburg HTS (42-33) were followed by their only loss of the season against Kearsney (40-41). Easy wins against Klein Nederburg (67-07) and Secunda (41-40) were achieved before doing the short trip to Johannesburg.
12h50 KES (93,471) vs Queen's College (82,933)
The home crowd will not leave the first day of the festival unhappy and should see a convincing win against their visitors from the Eastern Cape.
KES had a good start to the season beating Centurion (36-15) and Nico Malan (20-12) before going down to Grey High School (15-22) at their final match at the Grey High School Festival. However, the beating of St Stithians (59-12) sent out a clear warning to their opponents for the rest of the season.
Although Queen's College lost three from five matches, all of their losses were close and against some "proper" opponents. They start the season with a win against Cambridge (59-06) before losing to Kingswood (03-14), Westville (20-22) and SACS (14-15). A solid win against Stirling (17-03) was claimed just before jumping on the bus to Johannesburg.
14h00 Northwood (88,476) vs Hudson Park (87,201)
Another brilliant match between two schools who are not just close on the Ruggas.co.za rankings but both played and won against Nico Malan with more or less a similar margin. Could Hudson Park's unbeaten winning streak just be good enough to secure their fifth win?
Northwood lost all three games they played against other KZN opponents. They lost to Glenwood (19-42), Hilton (05-54) and Westville (10-24), however, two wins against Parktown (20-05) and Nico Malan (23-20) at the Grey High Festival should give them a little bit of hope for the KES Festival.
Hudson Park, however, is still unbeaten for 2022 after beating Dale College (10-08), Nico Malan (21-14), Despatch (28-03) and Cambridge (62-07).
