Paarl Boys High vs Paarl Gimnasium overview
On Saturday 2nd August 2014 the Paarl will once again be divided between North and South, between Gimmie and Boishaaier, between Bloedwors and Galpil. Actually, for the whole preceding week the town is split into two camps. The Blue and White of Boishaai and the Maroon, Green and Gold of Paarl Gim. These colours will feature on almost every tree, gate, porch or window of Main Street Paarl.
Trees showing their true colours during Interschools week!
During the week there will be functions and re-union get-togethers and old friends and foe’s reminiscing about the days gone by. The first salvos on the rugby field are fired on the Wednesday evening as the two Old Boy teams lock horns in what can only be described as a friendly but fierce game.
Mannetjies Roux in the Paarl Boys Old Boys jersey 1968
Thursday afternoon see the “Goffels” and “Hommels” (G and H teams) playing their own unique brand of rugby before Friday morning when it kicks into the business end of the weekend. This is the time when the two 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 and the first teams get capped for Interschools.
There are only 4 rugby matches played on the Saturday at Faure Street Stadium. This year the games start at 11h30 with the u/15A match, followed by u/16A, the Seccies and then the main match of the Firsts commencing at 15h30. On Friday afternoon the rest of the teams battle it out on the fields of the host, who this year is Paarl Boys High. The two main attractions on the Friday afternoon are the u/14A match and the “main” match of the Third teams, or the “Chiefs” and “Chippies” as they are known among the locals.
This is all but an appetizer for the Big One! Arguably the biggest schoolboys match in the world – Paarl Gymnasium vs Paarl Boys’ High! Old Boys and supporters come from afar to witness yet again one of the toughest rugby matches a schoolboy can hope to be involved in. History shows that it is always a close game between these two rivals with the average winning margin since 1915 being only 5 points!
The Paarl Gym team being introduced during the 2008 Interschools
The first matches started in 1915 when masters, schoolboys and old boys all played together. This was the format up to 1927 after which it was decided that the Interschools matches should only comprise of schoolboys and the current format as we know today started officially in 1929.
The last Paarl Gym team to include Old Boys and Masters – 1927
Tough and Uncompromising – Handre Pollard tackling Johan Peens 2011
The 2013 edition of the Paarl Interschools showcased what was one of the best Paarl Gim teams in recent years. They ended up being No 1 in the SA Schools ranking and produced no fewer than four SA Schools players in Rikus Bothma, Jacques Vermeulen, JD Schickerling and Grant Hermanus. Bothma also captained the SA Schools team. They dominated the 1st half of last year’s Interschools completely and laid the foundation for an 11 point win in the end. Although Boishaai came back at them in the second half and closed the gap, the reliable boot of Hermanus kept the Galpille just out of touch and with too much to do at the end.
Grant Hermanus slotting yet another kick for Paarl Gim with worried looking Boishaai old boys looking on – Interschools 2014
The victorious 2013 team of Paarl Gimnasium
The 2014 edition will thus be the 97th match and the 84th Interschool game to be played between the schools. 10 of these matches were drawn with the last one being in 2010 and three of them being 0-0 draws! Very tough and hard rugby indeed
2014 Season
The current season was not a good one to be a captain it seems. Both Boishaai and Gim lost their appointed captains during the season. Boishaai Head boy and captain Ruan Brits was injured as early as March with the opening of the WP Schools season against Bishops in Newlands. Zandré de Koker, the captain for the season for Gim, broke his ankle in a freak accident on the school grounds and is also out for the rest of the season.
Paarl Gim started the season on a very quiet note and under the radar. Their 18-22 loss early in the season to new up-and-coming Menlopark is not an indication of loss in form and one should not read too much into that result as they did play most of their reserve squad players. Their comfortable 31-10 win over a powerful Waterkloof side is much more of an indication of what we can expect from Christof Lotters boys for this season. Two weeks later they travelled to Riversdale and in a game every one expected Oakdale to win, they handed the Riversdale Farmers their first loss of the season coming up winners 27-13. The scary part is that they accomplished this without their 2013 SA Schools fullback Grant Hermanus and two other key players in centers Wayno Visagie and Andri Cooper, who are all unavailable due to injury. Hermanus and Visagie should be back for Interschools while the prospects for Cooper looks bleak and he might not play again this season. To top off a very good period Paarl Gim won against Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool (Affies) 40-7 at the Wildeklawer Festival in Kimberley. They then had a narrow one-point loss against Grey College, also at Wildeklawer, which would suggest that this is not a Gim team to be taken to lightly.
Back into the regular Western Province schools league campaign; they lost by 4 points to Paul Roos (incidentally the same margin that Boishaai lost to Paul Roos) before getting themselves back on track and winning well against Bishops and Tygerberg. It was during this time they lost their captain and talisman, scrumhalf De Koker, and it showed in their next result against Outeniqua, losing by 7 points. They had to do a re-shuffle of their backline and in their last two matches they won against HTS Drosdty and Boland Landbou, albeit both in close fought matches. At this stage it is still unknown if Hermanus will be fit to play Interschools, but if he does, Paarl Gim will have an extra arrow in their quiver come 2ndAugust.
Key Gim players to watch out for, is lock Jaco Willemse, 8th Man Luandre Luus, and No 12 Walter Smit.
| Jaco Willemse | Luandre Luus | Walter Smit |
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The awesome sight of a Boishaai Pack on the drive – 2011
Paarl Boys represented South Africa this year at the Sanix World Schools Competition in Japan and did very well to get to the final, where they narrowly lost to No 1 ranked New Zealand school Hamilton Boys High. Replacement captain Charl-Francois du Toit stepped into the breach and delivered an admirable job. He plays a hard, uncompromising game and leads his team mates by example. This Boishaai team of 2014 has shown a lot of character up to now and with new coach Sean Erasmus at the helm, they look to be a team not to be taken too lightly. They will fight to the last minute and will never give up, true Pride and Passion as is their unofficial motto!
Since the tight schedule in Japan where they played 6 matches in 9 days, the inevitable happened and they picked up a host of injuries. So much so, that 8 of their regular starters, could not take the field against a strong Wynberg team. Against all odds and with sheer determination they fought back from being 7-19 down to win 24-22 – a sure sign that this team will keep on playing for the blue stripe jersey no matter what the circumstance.
A week later they again had to dig deep and won against Boland Landbou in the final minute of play with a try in the corner.
They then came up against No 1 ranked school Grey College of Bloem and for the full 70 minutes at Brugstreet the game was anyone’s for the taking, Grey eventually running out winners 15-10. This Boishaai team is not the biggest of recent years but they pack a punch. Against Paul Roos at Markotter they got the tables turned against them when the host team scored after time was gone with the last movement of the game to clinch it by 4 points.
This Boishaai team has shown that they possess lots of guts and determination and those they will fight to the end and will never give up. This is perhaps just what is needed to win a close encounter like an Interschool match.
The different emotions of winning an Interschools match!
Results through the Years
| 1915: Boys’ High won 10-0 |
| 1916: Gim won 7-5 |
| 1917: Gim won 3-0 |
| 1918: Gim won 3-0 |
| 1919: Gim won 9-0 |
| 1920: Gim won 20-0 |
| 1921: Draw 6-6 |
| 1922: Draw 3-3 |
| 1923: Boys’ High won 3-0 |
| 1924: Boys’ High won 13-5 |
| 1925: Boys’ High won 7-3 |
| 1926: Boys’ High won 6-5 |
| 1927: Gim won 5-3 |
| 1928: No match |
| 1929: Draw 3-3 |
| 1930: Boys’ High won 5-3 |
| 1931: Gim won 6-0 |
| 1932: Gim won 7-3 |
| 1933: Boys’ High won 3-0 |
| 1934: Boys’ High won 5-4 |
| 1935: Draw 0-0 |
| 1936: Gim won 11-6 |
| 1937: Gim won 5-3 |
| 1938: Gim won 5-3 |
| 1939: Gim won 9-8 |
| 1940: Draw 3-3 |
| 1941: Gim won 6-0 |
| 1942: Draw 0-0 |
| 1943: Gim won 9-6 |
| 1944: Boys’ High won 6-0 |
| 1945: Boys’ High won 14-6 |
| 1946: Draw 3-3 |
| 1947: Boys’ High won 8-3 |
| 1948: Draw 3-3 |
| 1949: Gim won 9-3 |
| 1950: Boys’ High won 6-3 |
| 1951: Boys’ High won 6-0 |
| 1952: Boys’ High won 11-0 |
| 1953: Boys’ High won 6-5 |
| 1956: Gim won 6-3 |
| 1957: Gim won 5-3 |
| 1958: Gim won 11-0 |
| 1959: Boys’ High won 11-3 |
| 1960: Gim won 9-3 |
| 1961: Boys’ High won 6-0 |
| 1962: Boys’ High won 6-0 |
| 1963: Boys’ High won 8-0 |
| 1964: Gim won 9-8 |
| 1965: Gim won 11-0 |
| 1966: Gim won 8-0 |
| 1967: Gim won 8-6 |
| 1968: Gim won 3-0 |
| 1969: Boys’ High won 8-5 |
| 1970: Gim won 19-8 |
| 1971: Boys’ High won 11-6 |
| 1972: Boys’ High won 6-3 |
| 1973: Boys’ High won 19-6 |
| 1974: Gim won 9-3 |
| 1975: Boys’ High won 3-0 |
| 1976: Gim won 8-6 |
| 1977: Boys’ High won 15-6 |
| 1978: Gim won 13-10 |
| 1979: Gim won 12-6 |
| 1980: Gim won 9-3 |
| 1981: Gim won 12-0 |
| 1982: Boys’ High won 16-15 |
| 1983: Gim won 15-6 |
| 1984: Gim won 10-4 |
| 1985: Boys’ High won 16-6 |
| 1986: Draw 0-0 |
| 1987: Boys’ High won 15-7 |
| 1988: Draw 6-6 |
| 1989: Gim won 15-4 |
| 1990: Boys’ High won 10-6 |
| 1991: Boys’ High won 8-4 |
| 1992: Gim won 20-15 |
| 1993: Boys’ High won 19-17 |
| 1994: Boys’ High won 11-6 |
| 1995: Boys’ High won 17-3 |
| 1996: Gim won 18-16 |
| 1997: Gim won 13-10 |
| 1998: Boys’ High won 16-5 |
| 1999: Gim won 13-6 |
| 2000: Boys’ High won 15-7 |
| 2001: Boys’ High won12-3 |
| 2002: Gim won 15-0 |
| 2003: Boys’ High won 25-6 |
| 2004: Gim won 13-3 |
| 2005: Gim won 22-10 |
| 2006: Gim won 23-17 |
| 2007: Gim won 10-0 |
| 2008: Gim won 35-8 |
| 2009: Boys’ High won 24-12 |
| 2010: Draw 19-19 |
| 2011: Gim won 22-19 |
| 2012: Gim won 16-9
2013: Gim won 37-26 |
Even the local farm stock are divided during Interschools!
Come Saturday 2rd August a 99 year old tradition will again be repeated and the winners will have the bragging rights in Paarl for another year.
Paarl Gymnasium Profile
Paarl Gimnasium is a school in Paarl, Western Cape, South Africa. Rev. van Lingen founded the school in the centre of town in 1858. The primary school section of Gimnasium was founded in 1858 as a Dutch Christian school for boys, with the High School being founded much later. In the mid 30’s the school’s language of education shifted to Afrikaans. After the high school section was completed the school allowed the first female student to enroll in 1964.
The original old building of Paarl Gimnasium
Rugby at Gim
Paarl Gim is without doubt one of the Big Five of rugby schools in South Africa. They have to date produced 21 Springboks of which 20 have been capped in tests for South Africa. The current incumbent Springbok captain Jean De Villiers is an old Gimmie.
Gimnasiums Springboks
- Stevie Joubert
- Pierre de Villiers
- JC van der Westhuizen
- Jan Pickard
- Hugo van Zyl
- Wynand Mans
- Schalk (snr) Burger
- Kobus Burger
- Kobus Wiese
- Balie Swart
- Mornay Visser
- Pieter Rossouw
- Louis Koen
- De Wet Barry
- Marius Joubert
- Jean de Villiers
- Schalk (jnr) Burger
- Ashley Johnson
- Lourens Adriaanse (2013)
- **Louis Schreuder (2013 EOYT)
- Handré Pollard (2014) #857
Cravenweek Team 2014:
Gavin vd Berg (Prop)
Jaco Willemse (Lock)
Jacques Vermeulen (2013) and JD Schickerling (2013) represented the SA u/20 squad in New Zealand that played in the final against England.
Paarl Boys’ High profile
Hoër Jongenskool Paarl (also known as Boishaai, Paarl Boys’, BHS or HJS) is one of the oldest schools in South Africa. Built in 1868 the school’s rich history is filled with tradition and pride. The first building to house the school was a granary on Zeederbergplein, the owner of which was Mr. D. Beyers (a close friend to the first headmaster, Rev. Jeffreys). The first years of the school were unstable ones; with the school increasing in size every year and larger facilities were frequently required. The grounds on which the school stands today were originally formed part of the farm Berlyn owned by Mr. P.J Malherbe.
Paarl Boys’ High has featured in the academic merit list of the Western Cape for ten years running and has been featuring in the top ten for the duration as well, making it one of the top academic schools in the province. The school is bilingual, with classes in English and Afrikaans, and has maintained a 100% pass rate for over a decade.
‘Neath the far famed rock of granite grey……
Boishaai can be seen primarily as a boarding institution. The erection of the first hostel, Monte Bello, in 1901 can be seen as the one of the greatest turning points in the history of the school. This event inaugurated the change from a small school in a small farming community to a school to be esteemed nationally. In 2012 the four hostels, Bellevue, Imhoff, Monte Bello and Werda, house over 400 learners from all parts of South Africa and from abroad.
Good conduct, good scholarship and good sportsmanship reflect the school’s proud tradition, which spans over 143 years. Throughout Southern Africa, Paarl Boys’ High has always been regarded as a school with an unblemished record when it comes to producing men, as well as leaders, who have excelled in all walks of life. As a centre of excellence it is the school’s mission to create an environment in which every boy can reach his full potential in the academic, cultural and sporting field.
Rugby at Boishaai
Rugby is an integral part of the Paarl Boys’ way of life. It helps in educating the boys and growing the gentlemen Paarl Boys’ High is known to raise. 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 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.
Boishaai 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 play in 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.
Paarl Boys’ High Springboks.
- Cocky Hahn (1910)
- Dirkie de Villiers (1910)
- Louis Louw (1912)
- Theuns Kruger (1921)
- Champion Myburgh (1924)
- Jack Bester (1924)
- Boy Louw (1928)
- Manie Geere (1933)
- Fanie Louw (1933)
- Ben du Toit (1938)
- Ryk van Schoor (1949)
- Theuns Briers (1955)
- Piet du Toit (1958)
- Mannetjies Roux (1960)
- Haas Schoeman (1963)
- Carel du Plessis (1982)
- Wium Basson (1997)
- Corné Krige (1999)
- Gürthro Steenkamp (2004)
- Frans Malherbe (2013)
The 1961 Springbok team against Australia featured 3 Boishaai old boys. Piet Du Toit and Mannetjie Roux as players and Oom Boy Louw as the coach! (Picture Below)
Legendary “Oom” Boy Louw and Carel du Plessis also coached the Springboks. Corné Krige is still the only SA Schools captain who went on to captain the Springboks as well. Ryk van Schoor’s son, Theuns is currently a teacher at Boishaai and coaches the u/16’s.
WP Cravenweek 2014
Wikus Groenewald (Prop)
Ruben De Villiers (Lock)
Charl- Francois du Toit (8th man – Injured)
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