FNB Classic Clash in Grahamstown

Grahamstown, frontier town a long time ago, as city of schools and churches nowadays and the venue for Saturday's FNB Classic Clash between St Andrew's and Graeme College, schools founded in the second half of the 19th century.

Grahamstown loves these matches - K Day and the Graeme-St Andrew's match. There will be lots of enthusiastic, cheerful interest on Saturday and the Old Andrean Club will be buzzing.

They have been playing rugby against each other since 1878, a match in which Rugby Rules were used, perhaps for the first time in South Africa. This year Graeme will wander down from the hillside over the High Street and up to St Andrew's.

Last year the match was at Graeme and St Andrew's just won - 23-22. This year they are at home on atmospheric Lower Field just down from the chapel and Upper. But neither side has been having great success on the field this year.

2014 Results

Graeme actually have the best result so far this season, beating the strong Michaelhouse side 12-10.

St Andrew's have played eight matches, winning five and losing three. Graeme have played seven, losing three. St Andrew's probably had the tougher fixtures, though they have no matches in common.

St Andrew's beat Die Brandwag of Uitenhage, Pearson, St Benedict's Hilton and SACS but just lost to Maritzburg College and took heavy defeats against Daniël Pienaar (30-8) and Bishops (39-15). The Bishops match was in Cape Town on Monday and recovery will be important for St Andrew's in terms of morale at least.

Graeme beat Michaelhouse, Gill of Somerset East, Northwood, Trinityhouse and Cambridge but lost to Dale and, surprisingly, to Parktown.

Experience

Graeme have five players back from last year's close encounter, St Andrew's three.

Back for Graeme are their halfbacks, Sethu Pinini and Craig Williams, Ethan September, who was a flank last year, Ryan Calitz and Xandré Vos.

St Andrew's have this year's captain Robert Ball,  flank Matt Andrews and prop Adrian Parsons.

In 2013 St Andrew's had seven players at Craven Week of whom only Robert Ball is back. Graeme had three at Craven week of whom Sethu Pinini. Both captains were in the same Craven Week side last year.

Teams

Graeme College: 15. Bradley Christian, 14. Fabio Mapaling, 13. Siya Siaw, 12. Joshua Twum-Boafo, 11. Yiva Ndwandwa, 10. Siphosethu Pinini (captain), 9. Craig Williams, 8. Odwa Xonxa (vice-captain), 7. Lwazi Baleni, 6. Ryan Calitz, 5. Heino Gaiser, 4. Ethan September, 3. Justin Danckwerts, 2. Siya Zita, 1. Xandré Vos

Coach: Kevin Watson

St Andrew's: 15. Brendan Owen, 14. Grant    Dixie, 13. Tom Lane, 12. Robert Ball (captain), 11. Ben Dovey, 10. Hugo de la Fargue, 9. Luke Alexandre, 8. Matt Andrews, 7. Gordon Everard, 6. Peter Kroon, 5. Jono More, 4. Hamish Hughes, 3. Adrian Parsons, 2. Brian Ferguson, 1. Stephen Cragg

Coach: Gerry Posthumus

Date: Saturday, 10 May 2014

Kick-off: 16.00

Venue: Lower Field at St Andrew's

Expected weather conditions: Partly cloudy with a high of 18°C, dropping to 8°C. Mind you that could change as Grahamstown tends to have weather rather than climate!

Referee: Schalk Rossouw (Eastern Province Referees' Society)

Rugby Programme

Lower Field

09.00: 14A

10.00: 15A

11.10: 16A

12.20: 5th

13.30: 3rd

14.45: 2nd

16.00: 1st

Knowling 1

09.00: 15B

10.00: 16B

Knowling 2

10.00: 14C

11.10:  14B