The Lure of the Azure

My torrid love affair with the Grey High 1st XV

The Grey High 1st XV war cry - much-maligned by opposition schools, but special to me!

Rugby poles are now up at schools across the country as summer sports have given way to one of South Africa’s best products - schoolboy rugby.

Whilst many schools began their 2024 campaign in earnest on 9 March, the traditional pipe-opener of the Eastern Cape schools rugby season, the Graeme Rugby Day, took place on Friday and Saturday this past weekend. The main news for neutrals was the mass brawl between Kingswood and Marlow, but my sole focus was on my beloved Grey High First XV and their first game of the season against Hudson Park. Grey won 44 - 5 in a dominant display that bodes well for the year ahead as they travel to Cape Town this week for the Bishops 175 Festival where they will face SACS and Hilton.

PE roots and Grey Junior

Growing up in PE and attending Grey Junior, the Grey High 1st XV became an obsession for me over time as I poured blood, sweat and tears into being able to don the azure jersey.

In junior school I would watch in awe of what appeared to me to be supermen as a ‘ballboy’ alongside the then Philip Field whenever Grey had a home game. My Woodwork teacher at Grey Junior, the legendary Mr Pat Clarke, had a son Robert who played wing for the First XV and in my pre-teen years and he was an idol as was the deadly centre of the mid 90s Barry Curtin, who I bump into occasionally in Cape Town.

In my Grade 7 year, I was only good enough for the u13B side as I was overlooked by coach Andrewe Hayidakis who has now moved to the primary school of our brother school Grey College . (This is the same man who spotted Siya Kolisi as a 12-year old and brought him to Grey Junior. So he had a 50% success rate!) In a rare moment of confidence as a shy 13-year old, I told Hayidakis that his non-selection of me would only make me more determined to play First XV and that I would enjoy proving him wrong.

Grey High School

I made an inauspicious start to life at Grey High, with the first three years being punctuated by disappointment and ridicule. Being a redhead, the nickname “Spice” was bestowed on all us strawberry blondes. In my first week of high school, and in front of the entire school, I was singled out at the introduction to Cadets as I was to try to answer an impossible question, much to the mirth of 800 other boys.

In u14 I ended the season in the A side but in u15 it was back to the B team for me, despite poor results at First XV level in those two years, the desire to make the side burned strongly.

In those days we didn’t have the safety blanket of under 16 rugby in Grade 10 as we went straight in to the open u18 age group, playing with and against boys two years older (and bigger) than us. BokSmart would not approve!! I started the first game of my u16 year in the rather unglamourous 8th XV, on one of the outer fields at Queen’s College on a bitterly cold Queenstown morning. My dreams of wearing the Grey 1st XV jersey seemed pretty remote at this point!

Going to Grey, I got to experience the Eastern Cape circuit, where I learnt many valuable lessons from coaches, teammates and opponents. In the years I was in high school (1998 – 2002) the Eastern Cape fixtures were extremely competitive as we all knew each other very well from having played rugby and cricket against each other since u9.

Rivalries were fierce and matches hard fought. Our games in God’s country took us to the dustbowl of the Rec in Queenstown (often on Queen’s College’s Reunion weekend), via the Graveyard of C.B. Jennings at Dale, to the pristine Lower Field of St. Andrew’s College and along the coast to Selborne, our toughest opponents in the province.

The matches in Uitenhage against Brandwag and Daniel Pienaar were always interesting! From the blaring of Eye of the Tiger in the opposing changeroom for the ‘Tiere’ of Daniel Pienaar, to our opponents spitting in our water buckets at half time away at Brandwag in the u15B fixture, in my one and only game in the backline!

The bi-annual train trip to Bloemfontein was the most fun (and demoralising), in high school anyway. We also made the trip to Wynberg every two years, where we could test ourselves in the wet Western Cape winter. There was added spice to this fixture as my cousin was at WBHS at the same time.

2002 First XV

It is no exaggeration to say that I was close to tears when I did not see my name in the squad for the tour to Natal and our own Festival to kickstart the season. This devastating blow only made me more determined. I would get my chance to don the First XV jersey early in the season when our Headboy Luke Pearson went down with a knee injury against Queen’s at the Rec on their Reunion, which coincidentally was Robbie Kempson’s 10 Year (the current Grey DoR). I still harboured huge resentment towards our coach on that day and was basically pushed on to the field by my great friend who had been similarly discarded from the First side.

Walking under the Covered Way, up and over the hallowed First XV steps and running out for my starting debut a couple of weeks later in front of a packed Philip Field on our Reunion against our arch-rivals St. Andrew’s College is my favourite sporting memory. Old Boys from around the world come to PE over the Reunion Weekend and beating a good ‘Snoozles’ side surely made their trip worth it!

Near the end of that game, whilst leading 21 – 7, future Springbok Ryan Kankowski and I got into a scuffle and a few poor punches were thrown. We were both shown a yellow card and I was under the poles to watch us see out a deserved victory.

The barometer for any schoolboy is Grey College. Despite their poaching of players throughout high school and the bursaries they offer to so many boys at the u13 Craven Week, their record, especially at First XV level, speaks for itself. Since I was born in 1984, they have produced SEVENTEEN unbeaten sides, at a rate of nearly one every two years! This is harrowing considering how easily we used to beat them in junior school, home and away.

The 2002 Grey College First XV was ridiculous! They had class all over the field, starting with an unbelievably big front row. I hosted the two props, Riaan Vermeulen and Jan-Toit van Jaarsveld. My mom didn’t make nearly enough food for breakfast for these mutants and that probably angered them a bit more than was necessary! Bismarck du Plessis was their hooker and he went on to play 79 tests for the Springboks. It was obvious even then that he would wear the Green and Gold. It’s quite something when one of the dirtiest players in SA post-apartheid rugby history says to you on the field “Rooies, jy is vuil!”

The fearsome 2002 Grey College First XV, led by Bismarck du Plessis.

They were marshalled around the field by scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar, another classy future Springbok who played 88 tests and is still going strong for the Cheetahs. Their backline contained speedsters on the wings and power in the centres and future Stormer Joe Pietersen at fullback. I think 11 of their side that day went on to play professional rugby!

I am not a big guy, but the picture below shows the gulf in size between us and that Grey Bloem side. You can see future Bok scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar towering over me, when it should have been the other way around considering the numbers on our backs!

I am a terrible loser but whilst sitting demoralised in the changeroom afterwards, I was uplifted when their unbelievably successful coach, Dries van der Wal, came in to commiserate. He said that this team was the best he had ever seen, and he had seen it all. He correctly predicted that we played against a couple of future Springboks that day.

That would prove to be our last game of the season as our final return match against Selborne in East London was cancelled due to flash floods, meaning I never got to enjoy a final game in the azure jersey in what would have been a helluva clash to decide the best of the EC in 2002.

A Proud Old Grey

Since leaving school, I have followed Grey’s rugby passionately and have experienced some memorable days watching my alma mater.

2004 - Grey High School 17 – Grey College 14

During my first year at Rhodes University in Grahamstown, I had an inkling that an upset was on the cards and went home for the Grey Bloem game. They brought another star-studded team to PE, which included a loose trio of future internationals Richardt Strauss, Deon Stegmann and Heinrich Brussow! Their flyhalf that day was one Francois Steyn. The stands were packed and towards the end of the game, and right in front of the baying Grey Old Boys, Steyn’s kick was charged down by Warren Bell, who collected the rebound to score and then compose himself to slot the conversion rom the corner. There was bedlam at the final whistle!

2008 and 2009 - The emergence of Siya Kolisi

In 2008, there was plenty of buzz around the Grey loose trio, in particular the tearaway flank Siya Kolisi. I was lucky to watch him play live a few times when he was at school and he always stood head and shoulders above the other players on the field. He impressed me massively, but I never thought he would go on to achieve what he has, and let’s hope he hasn’t finished yet! He was part of a Grey team who won by 30 points in Stellenbosch against Paul Roos and came close to beating Grey Bloem in 2008 and 2009.

Siya Kolisi on the rampage against Wynberg.

2014 - Paul Roos Gymnasium 26 – Grey High School 27 - ‘Miracle at the Markotter’

Grey featured in the Premier Interschools clash against Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch in 2014, which was aired live on SuperSport. Grey produced one of the greatest comebacks in recent schoolboy history, especially against a school as decorated as PRG.

Grey were 26 – 0 down at one stage, thanks in a large part to future World Cup-winning scrumhalf Hershel Jantjies. Despite this, we clawed our way back into the game with some outstanding long range tries, reducing the deficit to 26 – 24, when we won a penalty for a lineout infringement in injury time. Curwin Bosch, the Sharks flyhalf, stepped up and slotted the kick from close to the touchline to cue delirious scenes in the stands and on the field.

I watched the game at the Wanderers Club with two Old Greys and their dad, a former Paul Rooser. He was making us have Jagies at half time but he ultimately left with his tail between his legs at full time! These rivalries and tribalism is what makes SA schoolboy rugby so great.

Grey boys celebrating the ‘Miracle at the Markotter’

2016 - Grey 44 – Bishops 0

On the Saturday of the Saints Easter Festival in 2016, I invited a number of work colleagues to the beer tent for the day, with the main feature being Grey’s lunch time kick off against Bishops. I was a bit nervous before the game but need not have been! Grey were excellent from start to finish and should even have won by more. It ended up being a great night in the tent, wearing my Grey Supporters gear with pride, having watched the boys put on the most impressive display of the day.

Probably my most treasured possession is my 2002 Grey First XV jersey. In late 2021 I went to Sandton City for Siya Kolisi’s book signing. I wasn’t as interested in him autographing my copy of his book as I was in getting him to sign my jersey. What a moment to cherish.

Hopes and Dreams for the 2024 Grey High First XV?

An unbeaten season.