Gqeberha\u2019s reputation as a hub for junior rugby excellence took another big step forward when SA rugby bosses decided the 2026 U18 Craven Week for schoolboys would be held at Grey High.<\/p>\n
Though the region\u2019s impact at the senior level remains underwhelming, with Test matches at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium a rarity these days, it is at the junior level where EP are making their mark.<\/p>\n
Apart from the acclaimed Craven Week tournament from June 29 to July 4, Gqeberha will also host the international U20 Rugby Championship tournament in May.<\/p>\n
The two-week U2O championship drew massive crowds to the Bay stadium in 2025, with 15,000 fans flocking to watch the action on the final day.<\/p>\n
The event was such a huge success that SA Rugby president Mark Alexander said the tournament, featuring the Junior Springboks, New Zealand, Australia and Argentina, would be held in Gqeberha for the next three years.<\/p>\n
History will be made at the 2026 Craven Week in Gqeberha event because it will be the first time the boys\u2019 and girls\u2019 tournaments will be held at one venue.<\/p>\n
With the final between the best-performing teams set to be played at Grey\u2019s iconic Kolisi field, a capacity crowd is expected to watch SA\u2019s brightest young rugby prospects.<\/p>\n
The competition has since become a hunting ground for talent scouts trying to find the best new players for their provinces, and many young upcoming stars see the tournament as an opportunity to further their careers.<\/p>\n
EP was chosen to host Craven Week after a vetting process that involved site inspections at fellow bidders at the Border Rugby Union-backed Queen\u2019s College in Komani, and the Western Province Rugby Union-aligned Paarl Gymnasium.<\/p>\n
The last time EP hosted Craven Week was in 2012, when matches were staged at the NMB Stadium.<\/p>\n
Craven Week started in East London in 1964 and is named after the legendary Springbok player and coach Dr Danie Craven.<\/p>\n
With a rich pool of talented schoolboy players to draw from, EP will be going flat out to ensure they hold the region\u2019s flag high at a rare home tournament.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gqeberha\u2019s reputation as a hub for junior rugby excellence took another big step forward when SA rugby bosses…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":427036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,224116,224117,224119,760,224120,224121,224118,85,224122],"class_list":["post-427035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ep-rugby-development","tag-gqeberha-sport-events","tag-kolisi-field-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-rugby-career-opportunities","tag-rugby-talent-scouts","tag-sa-rugby-events","tag-sports","tag-u20-rugby-championship-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/427036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}