An ode to South African Schoolboy Rugby

After two false starts in 2020 and 2021, a full schoolboy rugby season was enjoyed by countless players, parents, coaches and Old Boys this year. It was an unforgettable season of rugby, culminating in the South African U/18 side being unbeaten in three ‘test’ matches against England and France in Paarl in August.

What made this season so riveting was the amount of upsets that seemed to occur every weekend. At the risk of hyperbole, I am of the view that the South African schoolboy rugby scene is akin to football’s English Premier League in terms of quality and drama that is witnessed every week.

I began 2022 in Mongolia, working on a mega copper-gold project in the Gobi Desert and by the end of August I was watching SA U/18 smash France in Paarl, scoring several world-class tries along the way.

My return from Mongolia on a one way ticket was timed so that I would be able to attend the Saints Easter Rugby Festival, where my beloved alma mater, Grey High, were taking part. The Saints Fest is always the best of the festivals in Joburg, and definitely has the best beer tent! Grey performed poorly, a sign of things to come during the season, but the gees at being back at a rugby festival was palpable after a two year absence.

Another fringe benefit of my early return to SA was that I was able to attend my 20 year Reunion at Grey, which happened to coincide with a historic moment as the Philip Field (where I donned the famous azure blue First XV jersey), was renamed the Kolisi Field, in honour of our most famous Old Boy. What a weekend it was, the highlight being the First XV’s dominant win over Queen’s College!

Speaking of 20 year Reunions, Grey would save arguably their best performance of the season for their clash against arch-enemies, St Andrew’s College in Makhanda on the occasion of their Reunion Weekend, where a number of my friends were present to witness a hammering! Grey won 40 - 5 in a forward and mauling masterclass which gave me great joy.

In July I was fortunate enough to spend the week in Cape Town to attend the prestigious Craven Week at Rondebosch. It must rank as one of the best weeks in history, with the quality of the school derbies earlier in the season being emulated on the Tinkie Heyns fields under Table Mountain. Western Province were deserved winners, winning all three of their games. There is always controversy around the issue of who the Winelands schools will represent but while they represent the streeptruie, WP thoroughly deserve to have two teams at the Craven Week, such is their astonishing depth in every position. I would hate to be a selector of these two sides.

The selection of the SA Schools sides was announced on the Friday of Craven Week, prior to the final games which was a first. Whilst I understand that with the ubiquity of schoolboy action teams are now rightly selected based on more than 3 games at Craven Week, the excitement around this announcement for the boys would be heightened if made after the unofficial final on the Saturday afternoon.

I was in Paarl at the end of August for the massive Farmers clash between Boland Landbou and Oakdale, the final of the season’s Premier Interschools clashes which were televised live on SuperSport. I had skin in the Landbou clash as I had done some freelance analysis on the Oakdale side and was bitterly disappointed in the end result. Be that as it may, it was a brilliant occasion to be a part of and the fact that the Landbou sides won all the junior A team games and the Second XV clash, they should be confident of a fruitful few years op die plaas.

The emergence of the SuperSport Schools App and YouTube channel this season was a gamechanger. I was amazed every Saturday at how many games were available to watch live and there would not be near enough time on a Saturday to get through all the matches I wanted to see.

SuperSport Schools made minor celebrities of a number of schoolboys this season, including Jurenzo “Boogieman” Julius, Lili Bester, Divan Fuller and JF van Heerden. The main reason for me going to Paarl for the SA U/18 games was to see if Fuller hit as hard in person as it looked on TV. In the 5 minutes he played before getting concussed he did NOT disappoint. As a Grade 11, he is going to destroy a few egos next season that is for sure!

Another feature of this amazing season was how competitive and skillful the under 16 age group was, this despite these boys effectively not having played competitive rugby since being barefoot in under 13. This is a massive compliment to the coaching these boys receive up and down the country. The Grant Khomo Week was held in Kimberley with Grey Bloem, I mean Free State, beating KZN in a lopsided final, despite the Natal side having the better of the forward exchanges.

On the negative side, the cancer of poaching, as always, reared its ugly head with the most conspicuous result being the fact that two schools pulled out of facing Grey College in a derby day fixture. Paul Roos humbled Grey College on the penultimate weekend of the season in Stellenbosch and don’t be surprised to see some of the junior Paul Roosers ending up in Bloemfontein next year. In fact, every school around the country should be on high alert when a Free State registration plate circles the campus. Paul Roos won EVERY junior match and only four in the open division. This was a historic day and don’t expect the powers that be in Bloemfontein allow this to ever happen again.

I cannot wait for what next season holds, with many of the u/16s who performed so well this year making the step up to First XV rugby and the Grade 11 class from 2022 will look to carry on from where they left off. In a bid to keep this season going, I am going to be writing a match report every week for the next couple of months, rewatching and revisiting some of the upsets, classic clashes and excellent rugby that we were so fortunate to witness in 2022. Watch this space. At the same time, I may compare some of the high profile national selections with players who were unlucky to miss out, with some clips and critique to bolster my case for an alternative selection.