{"id":68343,"date":"2025-03-28T19:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T17:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=68343"},"modified":"2025-03-28T19:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T17:16:07","slug":"michaelhouse-to-challenge-hosts-proud-grey-high-festival-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/?p=68343","title":{"rendered":"Michaelhouse to challenge hosts’ proud Grey High Festival record"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Grey
Grey High takes on KwaZulu-Natal’s Michaelhouse in the final match on the opening day of the Standard Bank Grey High Rugby Festival, in Gqeberha, on Saturday. Photo: Siya Ntsenyana.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Grey High<\/strong> will be aiming to continue a proud record in the Standard Bank Grey High Rugby Festival<\/strong> when they take on KwaZulu-Natal’s Michaelhouse<\/strong> in the final match of the opening day, on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The KZN team is making its first appearance at the festival since 2022, and they know that they will have to produce their best performance to quell the support the home team will undoubtedly have in the day’s main match.<\/p>\n

Grey coach Matt King<\/strong> will be reasonably satisfied with his side’s opening match last week in Makhanda, at the Graeme College Festival<\/strong>, where the team unleashed some devastating backline attacks.<\/p>\n

Under the co-captaincy of hooker Evan Mucka<\/strong> and wing Luc de Villiers<\/strong>, Grey, who have a long string of wins in their festival, ran in six tries in a solid 49-25 win over Hudson Park<\/strong>, although they did concede several tries to their East London opponents in the second half.<\/p>\n

King knows they will have to tighten up that aspect of their play against Michaelhouse’s attacking flair.<\/p>\n

“Michaelhouse plays a very expansive and highly skilful brand of rugby, which entertains all who come to support, so I know we are facing a difficult encounter,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But it is a challenge we welcome with open arms as we continue to fine-tune our performances to build some momentum leading into the second term, in April.”<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Michaelhouse, under the guidance of coach James Fleming<\/strong>, is excited to return to the festival, after a three-year absence.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the KZN school beat Kingswood<\/strong> but lost to St Andrew’s College<\/strong>. Fleming believes this year’s competition will be more challenging.<\/p>\n

“We are very excited to be returning to the Bay and to be playing both Grey and Bishops<\/strong> on the Kolisi Field<\/strong>. We know we will be up against two strong schools, but we will certainly focus on bringing our A game,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Knowing Robbie Kempson<\/strong> and Darron Nell<\/strong> (part of the Grey coaching team), we can expect a very strong set piece.<\/p>\n

“The Grey Festival is a great opportunity to give all the squad members a run and to experience the camaraderie of touring, playing different opposition, and making new friends.”<\/p>\n

FIXTURES<\/strong><\/p>\n

Saturday, 29 March<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kolisi Field<\/strong><\/p>\n

08:00 – Queen’s vs St Stithians
\n09:10 – Dale vs Northwood
\n10:25 – Pretoria Boys vs Kearsney
\n11:45 – Graeme vs Hilton
\n12:55 – Kingswood vs Durban High School
\n14:05 – Selborne vs Westville
\n15:25 – Grey High vs Michaelhouse<\/p>\n

Pollock Oval
\n<\/strong>
\n14:05 – St Charles College vs Port Rex
\n15:25 – Hudson Park vs Muir<\/p>\n

Crusaders<\/strong><\/p>\n

14:05 – Ithembelihle vs Daniel Pienaar<\/p>\n

Monday, 31 March\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kolisi Field<\/strong><\/p>\n

08:00 – Westville vs Dale
\n09:10 – Selborne vs Durban High School
\n10:25 – Hudson Park vs Kearsney
\n11:45 – Queen’s vs Pretoria Boys
\n12:55 – Kingswood vs Northwood
\n14:05 – Bishops v Michaelhouse
\n15:25 – Grey High v Hilton<\/p>\n

Pollock Oval
\n<\/strong>
\n11:45 – St Stithians vs Port Rex
\n12:55 – St Charles College vs Daniel Pienaar
\n14:05 – Muir vs Ithembelihle<\/p>\n

Crusaders<\/strong><\/p>\n

14:15 – Mali XV v Woodridge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Grey High will be aiming to continue a proud record in the Standard Bank Grey High Rugby Festival when they take on KwaZulu-Natal’s Michaelhouse in the final match of the opening day, on Saturday. The KZN team is making its first appearance at the festival since 2022, and they know that they will have to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":68345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=68343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/68345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=68343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=68343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.ssschoolsplus.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=68343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}