The 29th St John’s Easter Rugby Festival, brought to you by Standard Bank – South Africa, has come and gone, and it was one to remember: games that will stick in the memory, record crowds and the added drama of night rugby on two of the days.

Thursday and Saturday flew by in a whirl of frenetic action, highlighted by the historic win of our Australian visitors, St Joseph’s Nudgee College, over Grey College Rugby on Thursday night, and the 10-try spectacle of running rugby laid on by Bishops Diocesan College and Graeme College on Saturday.

The St John’s Blues did their bit to entertain the big crowds, losing valiantly to Bishops on Thursday under the floodlights, and then turning it on in style to beat a very good Golden Lions Rugby Union Invitation team on Saturday.

It all came to an end on Monday. It was a quieter day, with the under-13 prep school teams taking centre stage on Burger Field. There were four U13 games on the main field and, while we don’t record the scores of those games – it is a true festival of rugby for them – the boys revelled in the bigger space they were given to play in, and there were some spectacular tries scored.

There were also three under-16 games played, giving those players an early taste of what festival rugby is going to be like for them in the next year or two; and one more U19 clash, between New Zealand visitors Westlake Boys High School – who had come so far that they appreciated one more game – and Hoërskool Randburg, who had only joined the action on Saturday after Grey College had departed. The young Kiwis looked to have hit their stride and won quite comfortably.

All the brilliant action shots from every game played on Burger and C Fields throughout the festival are available via the link in the comments.

Results: Under-16 Noordheuwel 29 – Queens College 26 Golden Lions XV 24 – King Edward U16B 22 Randburg 21 – St John’s 5

Under-19 Westlake 42 – Randburg 8

#SJCRugbyFest26 #SBLove #LuxVitaCaritas

📸Actionpix

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