Mutual & Federal Premier Interschool Paarl Gimnasium v Paarl Boys’ High

Jul 28 • General News, Premier Schools • 2976 Views • Comments Off on Mutual & Federal Premier Interschool Paarl Gimnasium v Paarl Boys’ High

Mutual & Federal Premier Interschools is a series of 12 matches, which feature the highest profile and most traditional interschool rugby rivalries from South Africa’s top rugby schools, which are broadcast live on SuperSport from March to August.

Schoolboy rugby has served as one of the cornerstones of domestic rugby dating back more than a century, and true to its slogan “Honouring Heritage. Playing for the Future”, Mutual & Federal Premier Interschools is about history, heritage and tradition. The series, now in its third year, is expected to grow even stronger.

The Mutual & Federal Premier Interschools stories are further captured in 12 Preview shows, which preview all the games and provide historical overviews of these traditional schools and highlight other academic, cultural and sporting achievements.

Paarl Gimnasium takes on Paarl Boys’ High at Faure Street Stadium on Saturday, 1 August at 16.00pm. The match will be televised live on Supersport Eight (SS8)

The Preview Show featuring Kobus Wiese, Kobus van Wyk and Devon Williams will start airing Wednesday evening, 29 July 2015 at 18.15 on SuperSport One

Paarl Gimnasium and Paarl Boys’ High celebrates their interschools centenary this year during the Paarl Interschools week. Even though the schools have been competing on the rugby fields since 1910, they celebrate the birth of interschools which dates back to 1915

Paarl Gimnasium v Paarl Boys’ High

It’s that time of the year again – late July as the quiet Boland town of Paarl starts to buzz with excitement at the imminent arrival of Interschools. Paarl Gimnasium versus Paarl Boys’ High School is the biggest Interschools battle in the world. These two rugby giants boast quite a shared history, having competed against each other ever since the competition’s inception in 1915.

During the week there will be functions and reunions with old friends and foes reminiscing about days gone by. The first clash on the rugby field comes on Wednesday evening as the two Old Boy teams lock horns in the fiercest of friendly games.

Thursday afternoon sees the Goffels and Hommels (G and H teams) play their own unique brand of rugby before Friday morning when things get serious for the business end of the week. This is the time when both schools have their Big Brags in the school hall. Here the rugby and hockey warriors that will represent their respective teams on the Saturday are introduced while the first teams are capped for Interschools.

There are four rugby matches played on Saturday at Faure Street Stadium. This year the games start at 12.05pm with the Under-15 A match, followed by the U-16 A, the Second XV and then the main match at 4pm. The two big matches on Friday afternoon, meanwhile, are the U-14 A match and the third team clash, known among the locals as Chiefs v Chippies.

This is the Big One – the biggest schoolboy match in the world. Old Boys and supporters come from afar to witness one of the toughest games a schoolboy can hope to be involved in. History shows it is always a close game between these two rivals with the average winning margin over a century of action being a meagre five points.

The first matches were played in 1915 when masters, schoolboys and Old Boys all played together. This was the format up to 1927, after which Interschools contests became a schoolboy-only affair.

Results through the Years

The 2015 season

The 2015 Boishaai team started very much under the radar. Head coach Sean Erasmus and assistant Elmo Wolfaardt are quietly confident, though, that their 2015 crop is a special bunch.

At the Easter festivals, they dispatched Noordvaal giants Monnas and Garsfontein within two days of each other in an efficient and effective manner.

Experienced lock Ruben de Villiers, a veteran of the 2014 campaign, plays a vital role in keeping the solid tight five together. With fellow lock Salmaan Moerat, they make a formidable pair at 1.99 metres high each.

When they dispatched early season favourites EG Jansen at Wildeklawer and then won against Grey College a week later in Bloemfontein, everyone sat up to take notice of the boys in blue.

They romped to top spot in South Africa and after 16 matches are still unbeaten. Having already played some of the best schools in the country and their local Western Cape league, the boys from southern Paarl can already claim to have a highly successful year. Everyone knows, however, that their season’s success is mostly defined by this one showdown.

Paarl Boys had seven WP representatives at Craven Week this year. Tyreeq February, Manual Rass, Khanye Ncusane, Ruben de Villiers, Salmaan Moerat, Leo Kruger and Wikus Groenewald were all at Markotter fields in July in the famous white and blue hooped jerseys. Scrumhalf Bradley Thain and reserve flanker Charl Serdyn were both picked for the WP Academy team.

Likely Interschools Line-up:

15 Jeanluc Cilliers, 14 Tyreeq February, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Jan-Louis la Grange, 11 Urgene Johannes, 10 Rayhaan Lombaard, 9 Bradley Thain, 8 Khanya Ncusane, 7 JC van Schalkwyk, 6 Andreas van Wyk (captain), 5 Salmaan Moerat, 4 Ruben de Villiers, 3 Leo Kruger, 2 MC de Jongh, 1 Wikus Groenewald.

Paarl Gimnasium have also quietly gone about their winning ways, including an early demolition job of Pietersburg at the Paul Roos 150th festival day. They then wrapped up wins against Menlopark and Garsfontein in the North-South tournament before surprisingly going down to Bishops.

A mixed bag of results came from the Wildeklawer tournament where they had a good win against HTS Middelburg and then drew with Affies on the last day. Their victory against Paul Roos at Markotter came as something of a surprise as the Maroon Machine were early front runners for top spot in the country. That success showed the team from northern Paarl is like most Gim teams of previous years: well coached and dangerous.

Four players from Paarl Gimnasium represented Western Province at Craven Week 2015. Lock and captain Ernst Van Rhyn (who was also appointed WP skipper), hooker Johan Grobbelaar, flanker Johan Visser and flyhalf George Lourens. Prop O’Neil Thiart, centre Taigh Schoor and fullback Wian van Zyl all represented WP at the Academy Week in 2015.

Likely Interschools Line-up:

15 Naudé Wessels, 14 Max Thalwitzer, 13 Taigh Schoor, 12 George Lourens, 11 Keenan Abrahams, 10 Wian van Zyl, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Muller Uys, 7 Gustav Marais, 6 Johan Visser, 5 Ernst van Rhyn (captain), 4 MJ Hayes, 3 O’Neil Thiart, 2 Johan Grobbelaar, 1 Rohan Hamman.

Rugby at Paarl Gimnasium

Paarl Gim is without doubt one of the Big Five rugby schools in South Africa. They have to date produced 30 Springboks, of which 20 have been capped in tests for South Africa, including injured captain Jean de Villiers. His fellow Gimmie, Schalk Burger, has filled the gap as the 55^th Springbok skipper.

South Africa internationals from Paarl Gimnasium

Rugby at Paarl Boys’ High School

Rugby is an integral part of the Paarl Boys’ way of life. It is important to win, but that should not be the primary objective. A sportsman may never be abused to ensure the success of a team. The primary objective at Paarl Boys’ High must be one of enjoyment, for both player and coach.

Whereas they agree with the legendary Vince Lombardi when he said: ‘’Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing,’’ they hold winning to be more than just points on the board. Winning relates to the values, commitment and the pursuit of the best of one’s abilities.

PBHS has produced 20 players that have represented South Africa since 1906. They have provided some of the legends and most famous Springbok rugby players ever to have graced the Green and Gold. Players like Oom “Boy” and Fanie Louw, Piet “Spiere” du Toit, Mannetjies Roux, Ryk van Schoor, Carel Du Plessis and Corné Krige.

Boy Louw and Du Plessis also went on to coach the Springboks, whole Krige is still the only SA Schools captain to go on to lead the national team as well. Van Schoor’s son, Theuns was a teacher at PBHS and coached the U-16 A team.

South Africa Internationals From Paarl Boys’ High

Mutual & Federal Premier Interschool Paarl Gimnasium v Paarl Boys' High

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