Pieter Rossouw and the organisers of the Noord/Suid Rugby Festival have cemented their place at the top of the Rugby Festivals in South Africa and can prepare themselves for record crowd and television attendances come end of March.
In the post Covid-19 period combined with the expected recession, schools are steering away from attending festivals outside their own provinces to keep additional costs to the parents to a minimum. Organisers of the top festival are struggling to attract more than five top rugby schools in South Africa while Pieter and his team have found the success recipe and had to decline several requests from top schools to attend.
An impressive eight of the 10 top-ranked schools on the Ruggas.co.za will attend. Fourteen of the top 20 schools, Twenty-two of the top 30 schools with the lowest ranked school ranked 47th.
What makes the fixture list even more impressive is that no clear favourites exist in the 48 matches that will be played apart from maybe one or two matches where the scores might become "ugly".
The organisers also managed to have negotiated several matches that could secure or derail teams' top 10 hopes for 2023. Only one or two 1stXV matches bar the annual derbies are "left" for other festival organisers to use as drawcards.
The match between Grey College and Paarl Gimnasium 1stXVs on day 1 could be the decider of who will end the season ranked number one, while Peter Engledow's DHS will definately ask a few questions of the Affies 1stXV who is also a candidate for the Top 10.
Day 2 ends with Paul Roos taking on the Noordvaal champions, Monnas in what should be an exciting arm wrestle. Giant slayers who have grown into a giant themselves, Stellenberg will take on Garsfontein who is said to be a favourite to end the season in the top 3. Outeniqua who is celebrating its 100th birthday will want to lay an early claim to a top 5 spot at the end of the year when they face the "unknown" Menlopark with Nico Luus at the helm.
On Day 3 KES will make their appearance against Paarl Gimnasium who will either be full of confidence after beating Grey College OR a team that wants to prove that the referee maybe had a hand in their defeat to Grey College. Hendre Marnitz who recently was appointed Director of Rugby at Maritzburg College first and definitely biggest test for 2023 will be when they face the mighty Grey College in the last match of the day.
On Day 4 Affies will play in the last match of the festival when they meet a Boishaai that is apparently a candidate to end 2023 as the best 1stXV in the country while Monnas take on Outeniqua in what could be one of the matches of the festival. Garsfontein will face Oakdale at 10:00 who will test them to the limit with both teams definitely having dreams of being the best.
Apart from these matches involving the Top Ten candidates several other teams will use this opportunity to upset. EG Jansen's young 1stXV will be closely watched as they are said will be a top 10 team in 2024 while the growth of KwaZulu giants DHS and Maritzburg College will be closely watched as new influences will make a big impact in the foreseeable future.
Nelspruit's road to the top under the guidance of Hennie Korbinski has already gained a lot of momentum with Glenwood and DHS their possible victims, and, and, and.
Do not blink or .....
2023 Noord/Suid Fixtures
31 March 2023
A Field
08:15 Noordheuwel II vs Maritzburg College II
09:30 Affies II vs DHS II
10:45 Grey College II vs Paarl Gimnasium II
12:00 Waterkloof vs Drostdy HTS
13:30 EG Jansen vs Welkom Gimnasium
15:00 Nelspruit vs Glenwood
16:30 Noordheuwel vs Maritzburg College
18:00 Affies vs DHS
19:30 Grey College vs Paarl Gimnasium
B Field
08:15 Waterkloof II vs Drostdu HTS II
09:30 EG Jansen II vs Welkom Gimnasium II
10:45 Nelspruit II vs Glenwood II
01 April 2023
A Field
07:45 Jeppe II vs Paarl Boishaai II
09:00 Menlopark II vs Outeniqua II
10:15 Monnas II vs Paul Roos II
11:30 Pretoria Boys High vs Durbanville
13:00 Helpmekaar Kollege vs Oakdale
14:30 Garsfontein vs Stellenberg
16:00 Jeppe vs Paarl Boishaai
17h30 Menlopark vs Outeniqua
19h00 Monnas vs Paul Roos
B Field
09:00 Pretoria Boys High II vs Durbanville II
10:15 Helpmekaar Kollege II vs Oakdale II
11:30 Garsfontein II vs Stellenberg II
03 April 2023
A Field:
08:00 Waterkloof II vs Glenwood II
09:15 Nelspruit II vs DHS II
10:30 KES II vs Paarl Gimnasium II
11:45 Grey College II vs Maritzburg College II
13:00 EG Jansen vs Drostdy HTS
14:30 Waterkloof vs Glenwood
16:00 Nelspruit II vs DHS II
17:30 KES vs Paarl Gimnasium
19:00 Grey College vs Maritzburg College
B Field:
08:00 Garsfontein II vs Oakdale II
09:15 EG Jansen II vs Drostdy HTS II
10:30 Pretoria Boys High II vs Paul Roos II
11:45 Helpmekaar Kollege II vs Stellenberg II
04 April 2023
A Field
07:30 Monnas II vs Outeniqua II
08:45 Affies II vs Paarl Boishaai II
10:00 Garsfontein vs Oakdale
11:30 Noordheuwel vs Durbanville
13:00 Helpmekaar Kollege vs Stellenberg
14:30 Menlopark vs Welkom Gimnasium
16:00 Pretoria Boys High vs Paul Roos
17:30 Monnas vs Outeniqua
19h00 Affies vs Paarl Boishaai
B Field
08:45 Noordheuwel II vs Durbanville II
10:00 Menlopark II vs Welkom Gimnasium II
