Day one of the St Stithians festival will be an interesting day with the main dish being the last game of the day between Grey High School and Bishops.
The points in brackets are the points the schools have on the Ruggas.co.za rankings and if we "dare" to claim could be used to "predict" the winners?
09h15 St Andrew's (91,915) vs St Alban's (77,163)
Although St Andrew's did not have a good start to their season the general quality of their game will just be too good for the JJohanneburg based St Alban's.
St Andrew's started the season with an 18-03 win against Nico Malan before losing three games in a row. The losses against Framesby (22-24), Kingswood (12-15) and Bishops (05-42) were followed by a win against Michaelhouse (17-15) on the 2nd of April.
St Alban's started the season with a loss against St John's (07-21) before beating St Stithians (24-15) and St Benedict's (34-10)
10h30 Maritzburg College (89,375) vs Michaelhouse (85,370)
A brilliant match between two almost equal sides will result in great running rugby with both backlines including speedsters of note. Maritzburg College should win according to the rankings, however ........
Maritzburg College's carefully planned season saw them being unbeaten at this stage. Wins against St Charles (45-07), Fichardt Park (63-07), Ligbron (47-13) and Pretoria Boys High (28-05) were a great start to the season and preparation for this festival.
Michaelhouse won two from their five matches this season. They started with losses against Helpmekaar (20-24) and Glenwood (10-17) before winning their next two matches. The wins against Selborne (16-10) and Kinswood (19-12) were followed by a loss against St Andrew's (15-17) in their last match at the Grey High School Festival.
11h45 Clifton (72,774) vs St Stithians (82,634)
Although the hosts are struggling to find some decent form they should be able to win their opening match of the festival with relative ease.
Clifton only played two matches before this festival losing against Westville (17-43) and beating Richardsbay (22-07)
The hosts are struggling in 2022 and are still looking for their first win of the season. Losses against Wynberg (07-45), Duineveld (00-26), St Alban's (15-24) and KES (12-59) indicate a team not representative of the quality that we are used to.
13h00 Parktown (85,159) vs Wynberg (92,689)
Unfortunately, if Parktown does not pitch on the day a big win for Wynberg is on the cards.
Parktown lost their first two matches against Northwood (05-20) and Muir (15-19) before beating St David's (27-23) a week ago.
Wynberg started the season with good wins against St Stithians (45-07) and Soweto (53-00) before losing to one of the top schools in South Africa. Paarl Gim had to work hard to beat Wynberg a week ago with 33-14.
14h15 Grey High School (93,461) vs Bishops (97,931)
Definately the match of day one at all the Easter Festivals in the country with Bishops the favourites to maintain their unbeaten record.
Grey High had a great start to the season beating Brandwag Uitenhage (31-27), SACS (41-09) and KES (22-15) before losing to Paul Roos (14-30). If it was not for the dominant start by Paul Roos in the first half the score could have looked a lot different.
Bishops are as predicted by many pundits still unbeaten. They won against Duineveld (45-05), Drostdy HTS (27-19), St Andrew's (42-05) and Outeniqua (31-20) confirming them being one of the top 1stXV's in the country.