@John Legend: No Beet put a stop to that Thread by installing a PG code. But watch this space. 12th of April Legends will be playing golf, eating, drinking and hanging with GW Legend Mr Clarke.
@Speartackle: Always knew Beet was one of your best buddies. Due to you having permission to have so many personalities on the Blog. I will be on the lookout for a new one Beet Root or Beet My Polony
@Bush:
Lekker Wilson
Glad to hear I’m your 3rd best buddy
Massive improvement from being Buddy nr 99
You are also still in my Top 3 behind BOG and Beet
@Steve K: Kevin was the Westville u16A coach last year. Nice guy who got results. The u16A’s did well in 2018 and perhaps more importantly in the development cycle, they improved a lot since u15A.
@star: From what I understand Chris van Leeuwen who was the Glenwood Director of Sports Academies has joined Westville and will take charge of the u16A. He was involved with the Glenwood u16A team. I think that acquisition may have prompted Ville to not renew Kevin van Rensburg’s contract. The unfortunate part was that the decision was made so late in the year, that by the time KvR was informed, all the other major KZN schools had conclude their agreements for 2019, so it left him with few options. It’s definitely not an easy profession to be in as job stability just isn’t a guarantee for many good school level coaches.
@star: Not sure who Kevin van Rensburg was… Warren Hitchings coached u16 in 2018 and really did well. Not sure as yet who will be coaching which teams this year. No doubt we’ll find out soon as we most teams have already started pre season training (actually started already the last few weeks of last year)
@Vleis: Younger age groups are looking good. For 2018, they had a good intake of u14 boys. The U15 side has a great core of talent, and the U16 team of 2018 was a superb and very impressive unit. So, we’re all hoping for a much better 2019, and beyond.
@Vleis: Meaty, oke from Greenside doesn’t need to apologize??you right they have struggled. I think they are the surprise package. They have been putting in big work on their Rugby.
@Bush: Bushie! Westville’s swimming is the best in the country, their academics is very good, etc, etc. However, their rugby 1st team has struggled for 3 or 4 years…and given that the topic of conversation is the the performance of rugby 1st teams of the past four years compared to the three years preceding same, I’m hoping that you’ll forgive me for focussing on rugby.
@Vleis: Strugggled where? Rugby? Is Rugby the only sport that makes as school???? Jis you need to be on top your game when you have a fixture against WBHS
@star: Hey Star, Kevie is one of my best buddies next to Playa and Spear. He did so well with the young bucks at WBHS, was the right person for the job at WBHS. Any reason why WBHS didn’t renew his contract. He is now at Villages, great gain for Province fcuk up of KZN.
@OudUppie: I attended the Bok v Ireland game in Dublin a few years back and remember telling the Irish people that invited me that it must have been the only time in history that three players from the same school participated in an international match in a position where they is only one player per team (e.g. scrumhalf, flyhalf, etc) – i.e. not a position where there are two players (e.g. lock, wing, centre, etc).
It was Bismark Dup, Richardt Strauss and Adriaan Strauss…all hookers from GCB, with the latter two cousins too.
@Steve K: Hello Steve. I have quite a few mates that attended Westville way back in the day, so I keep an eye on their results. They were very strong up until about three or four years ago, but have struggled since then. It makes no sense to me as they have a massive student body, are in a good area and provide a gargantuan amount of sport bursaries/scholarships (if Grassy is to be believed)…plus have passionate OBs. How are the junior age groups doing?
Sommer so bietjie interessante inligting – ek sien daar speel vanaand 7 GCB old boys vir Montpellier in die Champions Cub. Dit moet sekerlik ‘n rekord wees vir spelers van een skool by ‘n oorsese club. Daar is in totaal 10 SA spelers ingesluit in die Montpellier se 23 en ‘n verdere 5 oud SA spelers in Edenburgh se span.
@Andre T’tjie: Jou neef in PE is blykbaar onder die prop…Protokol is nie n wet of vereiste nie. As jy via n blog die skool wil probeer ondermyn het ek nuus vir jou…dit gaan nie werk nie. Jou skrewe is nie die trui waardig nie.
@Steve K: My family are giving some support to a boy in the U16 structures. Now that Kevin van Rensburg has moved on do you know who his successor is. It seemed he was doing a really good job with them.
Wynberg has definitely improved the coaching over the past two years with junior teams. A large number of Varsity Cup players involved as part of the coaching setup as well and the youngsters can relate a lot easier.
I read somewhere that Wynberg took in 200 grade 8 students this year which seems a lot higher than in previous years.Last year the school had about 760 students across the 5 grades. That should have an impact in depth across all sports.
My ander neef in PE het witwarm nuus.
Framesby neem nie meer deel teen HJS by Porterville nie.
Framesby het onttrek van HJS se 0/15 toernooi.
Auretstraat is n ongemaklike plek op die oomblik.
Goeie reputasie is vinnig besig om n slegte een te raak.
Dankie aan die Gimmie ‘poster’ wat die dingetjies vir ons uitgewys het.
Die regte protokol is nie deur HJS gevolg nie. Alle seuns wat nuut by die skool aankom van n ander skool of streek, MOET deur HJS se skoolhoof aan die ou skool oorgedra en verwittig word, DIT is nie gedoen nie.
Wie gaan die blaam dra en wie gaan om verskoning vra.
@Vleis: Hi Vleis. Yes, Westville have been off the boil of late. Being a relatively new parent – I can’t shed light on years past. We all know that 2018 was a disaster year for injuries, with at one point up to 12 of the starting line up out. Jeremy Maclaren (Craven Week U18 coach) joined just over a year ago, and Waylon Murray mid 2018, so hopefully with that combination, as well as Njabalo Zulu – it will get us back into top form in the next few years.
Thanks so much Beet for all your hard work in managing this site and doing the rankings. It’s so interesting to compare how schools have done across various years, etc.
As a Rondebosch Old Boy, it’s disappointing to see that we are the lowest ranked of the four Southern Suburb schools across the years. It’s interesting in that we generally perform well in the derby matches (and I could be mistaken but from my count, I think that Bosch is well-ahead in a hypothetical ‘table’ of the derby games since 2010), but don’t seem to be able to do that well outside of these derby games (as shown in our rankings over the years).
Indeed, Bosch is the only Southern Suburb school not to have featured in a top 20 at some point in the last five or so years. In fact, I struggle to recall the last time we actually beat a Paarl school (whereas the other 3 schools – SACS, Bishops and Wynberg – I do recall have picked up the odd victory against them recently). To me this points to a bit of underachievement on our side. We seem to do very well in other sports codes such as water polo, cricket and hockey, but not quite as well at rugby.
I think we have the potential and the structures in place, we just need some self-belief. It’s difficult for me to pinpoint what exactly is missing. Hopefully, 2019 will be the year we sneak a Top 20 spot (wishful thinking of my part, I know)
That being said, I’m looking forward to another year of awesome rugby in 2019! Can’t wait!
Compliments for 2019 to all bloggers. I for one are looking forward to a very competitive 2019 sport season which includes all disciplines. For now it is athletics and cricket that got the attention.
@Jaques: If only half of the people writing here could eco the same sentiments regarding better opportunities for boys.Must say I respect your viewpoint and must say I feel the same.As for Garsies rugby I’m not involved there in any capacity,my boy finished matric last year.I understand they will be more than competitive.Like every year we’ll have to wait and see,can’t wait… Congrats on Wildeklawer and good luck,to be invited is quite an achievement.
@Grizzly: I’m not entirely sure Grizzly. Will need to wait and see. I know the majority of the ’18 squad were Gr 11s. With that being said and following the squads’ achievements last year, we’re cautiously optimistic… hoping for another good season.
However, I’m made to believe that we lost a couple star players to Pretoria. Now, this could leave many others hot under the collar, but I recognise the true value in that, and I respectfully say, their opportunities will be that much better. Believe the Bulls union might have already raised their interest and for that reason, such a move makes perfectly good sense. I’m very happy for them and obviously wishing them all the best. Will follow their careers with great expectation. Makes me sit at the end of my chair knowing that these boys might just have an extremely bright future.
Ever seen that ice hockey movie, Mystery Alaska, with Russell Crowe? End of movie a few of the standout players from Alaska gets called up to the NHL. That was awesome, you recognise the analogy?
Uncertain how many of our U16s were prepared for their move to the “MAIN SHOW” and I await to see how the off-season treated our boys, or should I say how they treated the off-season? I trust that preparations are going well. Really excited to see how things will pan out.
Gonna be tough with our inclusion in Wildeklawer… but very exciting times.
Your side? Needless to ask… surely your boys will continue their great showing?
@Vleis: Potch Gim is very pro-active with the direction they are taking. They have appointed a Director of Sport that oversees all the sporting codes. Every sporting code has it own Head of Sport and is answerable to the Director. They have also obtained the services of Jean Verster’ company to assist with analysing of their games and have also contracted independent consultants to assist with the coaching. The schools in the “country” side need to think out of the box to stay relevant and also to retain their players, and it appears that they are very pro active in that regard
On a different note, I’m surprised that St Alban’s didn’t feature in the past three years. I must assume that something has gone pear-shaped with the formula. For example, despite St Alban’s winning 13 and losing only 3 last year, they did not feature in the Top 50 but St John’s were at 36 despite winning 6 and losing 8…including a 30 to 12 hammering by St Alban’s. Also, they shared a lot of common opponents. Iets is nie lekker nie!
@Vleis: Speaking of cognitive bias, among others you’ve mentioned BV, Jeppe and Helpies in your improvement list. Allow me to add Oos-Moot as well, then you have three schools with whom BV have had regular derbies over a number of years in recent times = confirmation bias!
@Jaques: Cool!Yes the only problem is a nagging anckle injury which started in ’16.All the best to him, like you and Vleis rightly said, quite a talent and hard worker.So how’s Valia looking this year?How many grd 11’s is back this year from the 1st team?
@Grizzly: I remember Beyers from primary school. Was head boy at Laerskool DF Malherbe, a freakishly talented cricketer. Malan wasn’t gonna let him slip. Great to hear how he developed.
@Vleis: @beet: Of course, the explanation re Bosch, Selborne and BL may simply be that the sample period is too small. All three may have had worse than normal years in the three years between ’12 – ’15 a bit better than normal in the subsequent four years. As was proven by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, we humans have a cognitive bias whereby we extrapolate the results from small sample sizes with too much confidence.
Wynberg, Westville, Maritzburg, HTS Middelburg, Waterkloof, Michaelhouse and Menlo have experienced big declines and, to a lesser extent, EG Jansen. Wynberg suffered after the departure of Musikanth, but seem to be on the road to recovery. I hear rumours that HTS, House and Kloof are reinvigorating their rugby strategies and EG have their old coach back. Menlo can’t seem to convert their great junior results into great 1st team results, but they showed improvement last year and this year is supposed to be a cracker, albeit we’ve heard that before. I’m not sure what’s happening at Westville and Maritzburg?
On the other hand, Brackenfell, Potch Gym, Ben Vorster, Jeppe, Bosch, Eldos, Hilton, Drosdty, SACS, Helpies, Boland Landbou and Selborne have shown great improvement. I’ve heard of the hard work put into the rugby programs in recent years at Brackies, Hilton, Helpies (in particular), SACS, BV, Jeppe (also huge work to the school in general) and Eldos. Clearly said hard work is bearing fruit. Maybe other bloggers can update us what’s happened at Bosch, Selborne, Potch Gym, Drostdy and BL?
@Vleis:Beyers Swanepoel, played with my son in ’16 and made the Northens u/19 team.Product of the Morkel cricket academy in Van Der Byl.Not sure if he made the Colts that year.Snr contract with the Knights,true all rounder,should hear from him this year.
@Grizzly: Still on cricket, while attending the Gauteng u13 trials in ’11, I heard about a boy who retired on 150 not out in his first two games of the trial.
So, in his third game, a T20 match v my son’s district (Jhb Far North), he had to drop down the order to bat at 9. His team (I think Jhb West) was struggling on about 60 for 7 after about 16 overs when he came in. He proceeded to klap our top two bowlers (who both made the Gauteng u13 team) for 39 runs off about 10 balls, including one six that he hit out of the school and into a swimming pool of a house across the street!
As good as Wiaan was, I thought that this oke would be the first Protea from this age group. I then heard that he really struggled at the Std Bank week…and then went to high school at Garsfontein, so I was wondering how he did there? If I remember correctly, his name was Beyers.
@Grizzly: Your top five looks as good as any. It’s hard to tell, as cricket is much less consistent than rugby – especially in the Cape, where one particular school will be very good in one year and another average and the next year it’s the opposite.
P.S. My son’s first game for the 1st team in ’14 was an away win v Affies and his last game in ’16 was a home win v KES…so I’m v happy with your top 5!
@Vleis: Thanks for the info,maybe there’s an argument for them for the nr1 spot so far this decade.1.Saints
2.Kloof
3KES
4.Affies
5.Wynberg
Who’s your top 5?
@Grizzly: Yep, Wiaan played for the Saints 1st team in ’13, ’14, ’15 and ’16. He was a pretty handy rugby player too (flank), but gave up in gr10 (u16). His fellow Saints opening bowler (Justin) broke his leg in the first warm-up game…so both he and Wiaan gave up rugby. When Justin was not selected for the SA u19 cricket side in ’16 he returned to play the last few matches of the season for the 1st team. Unfortunately for us (St Alban’s), our 1st team flyhalf did make the SA u19 cricket team, so was told by the selectors to quit rugby early in the season.
Wiaan did score a 1st class ton in the middle of his matric exams, so he may still come good. He’s been injured a lot of late.
@Grizzly: Agreed, in ’18 they declined sharply, as they had 11 losses out of about 37 to 41 games in the season. In ’17, ’16, and ’14 they had only one loss in the season and in ’15 they had 4 losses.
@Vleis: Ya,you probably right.More difficult to rate cricket because of the nature of the game.This year Garsies beat both KES and St Stithians easily but lost a game or 2 against weaker opposition.
@beet: Hello Beet. The average rankings over seven years are interesting, but I think that the averages over a shorter period (e.g. 3 or 4 years) would also be insightful. So…any chance you could add two columns to the left of the table that show the ranking and schools for the shorter period too? It would be interesting to compare the two.
@Grizzly: I think that Saints would probably be #1 in cricket, as they were #1 in the 3 years that my son played 1st team cricket at St Alban’s – i.e. ’14, ’15, ’16 and I know that they won the National T20 tournament in ’17 (so must have been good then) and had Rabada (amongst others) playing for them in ’11, ’12 and ’13 (so must have been good then too).
@beet: Kloofs cricket the past couple of years not as good as used to be.They were very good during the first half plus of the decade.I think for now it will be a toss up between Affies,KES and St Stithians.Marais Viljoen very good cricket school, there’s a boy there who’s a very good, destructive batsman.
@Grizzly: When I mentioned Kloof’s cricket prowess to a certain someone a few months back he gave me an earful then brought up Meyerton’s finest. No names mentioned!
@Valkie: boer julle nie bietjie agteruit nie? Baie skole onder julle toon baie beter onlangse resultate en raak net beter. Geniet hom, maar hoop daar is planne.
@Skopgraaf243: Hierdie is ‘n 7 jaar gemiddelde ranking – Menlo was 42ste op die vorige 6 jaar ranking. ‘n Verbetering van 7 posisies toon inderdaad uitstekende vordering.
@John Legend: No Beet put a stop to that Thread by installing a PG code. But watch this space. 12th of April Legends will be playing golf, eating, drinking and hanging with GW Legend Mr Clarke.
@Speartackle: Always knew Beet was one of your best buddies. Due to you having permission to have so many personalities on the Blog. I will be on the lookout for a new one Beet Root or Beet My Polony
@Bush:
Any new photos of legends eating and drinking?
@Bush:
Lekker Wilson
Glad to hear I’m your 3rd best buddy
Massive improvement from being Buddy nr 99
You are also still in my Top 3 behind BOG and Beet
@Steve K: Kevin was the Westville u16A coach last year. Nice guy who got results. The u16A’s did well in 2018 and perhaps more importantly in the development cycle, they improved a lot since u15A.
@star: From what I understand Chris van Leeuwen who was the Glenwood Director of Sports Academies has joined Westville and will take charge of the u16A. He was involved with the Glenwood u16A team. I think that acquisition may have prompted Ville to not renew Kevin van Rensburg’s contract. The unfortunate part was that the decision was made so late in the year, that by the time KvR was informed, all the other major KZN schools had conclude their agreements for 2019, so it left him with few options. It’s definitely not an easy profession to be in as job stability just isn’t a guarantee for many good school level coaches.
@BoishaaiPa: My neef is altyd reg. Die feite is op die tafel.
@Bush: 2 3 go Green…go Side!
@Steve K: Cool, good luck!
@star: Not sure who Kevin van Rensburg was…
Warren Hitchings coached u16 in 2018 and really did well. Not sure as yet who will be coaching which teams this year. No doubt we’ll find out soon as we most teams have already started pre season training (actually started already the last few weeks of last year)
@Vleis: Younger age groups are looking good. For 2018, they had a good intake of u14 boys. The U15 side has a great core of talent, and the U16 team of 2018 was a superb and very impressive unit. So, we’re all hoping for a much better 2019, and beyond.
@Vleis: Meaty, oke from Greenside doesn’t need to apologize??you right they have struggled. I think they are the surprise package. They have been putting in big work on their Rugby.
@Bush: Bushie! Westville’s swimming is the best in the country, their academics is very good, etc, etc. However, their rugby 1st team has struggled for 3 or 4 years…and given that the topic of conversation is the the performance of rugby 1st teams of the past four years compared to the three years preceding same, I’m hoping that you’ll forgive me for focussing on rugby.
@Vleis: Strugggled where? Rugby? Is Rugby the only sport that makes as school???? Jis you need to be on top your game when you have a fixture against WBHS
@star: Hey Star, Kevie is one of my best buddies next to Playa and Spear. He did so well with the young bucks at WBHS, was the right person for the job at WBHS. Any reason why WBHS didn’t renew his contract. He is now at Villages, great gain for Province fcuk up of KZN.
@OudUppie: I attended the Bok v Ireland game in Dublin a few years back and remember telling the Irish people that invited me that it must have been the only time in history that three players from the same school participated in an international match in a position where they is only one player per team (e.g. scrumhalf, flyhalf, etc) – i.e. not a position where there are two players (e.g. lock, wing, centre, etc).
It was Bismark Dup, Richardt Strauss and Adriaan Strauss…all hookers from GCB, with the latter two cousins too.
@Steve K: Hello Steve. I have quite a few mates that attended Westville way back in the day, so I keep an eye on their results. They were very strong up until about three or four years ago, but have struggled since then. It makes no sense to me as they have a massive student body, are in a good area and provide a gargantuan amount of sport bursaries/scholarships (if Grassy is to be believed)…plus have passionate OBs. How are the junior age groups doing?
@OudUppie: puik prestasie… Dit gaan al hoe meer in die toekoms die geval wees
Sommer so bietjie interessante inligting – ek sien daar speel vanaand 7 GCB old boys vir Montpellier in die Champions Cub. Dit moet sekerlik ‘n rekord wees vir spelers van een skool by ‘n oorsese club. Daar is in totaal 10 SA spelers ingesluit in die Montpellier se 23 en ‘n verdere 5 oud SA spelers in Edenburgh se span.
@Andre T’tjie: Jou neef in PE is blykbaar onder die prop…Protokol is nie n wet of vereiste nie. As jy via n blog die skool wil probeer ondermyn het ek nuus vir jou…dit gaan nie werk nie. Jou skrewe is nie die trui waardig nie.
@Steve K: My family are giving some support to a boy in the U16 structures. Now that Kevin van Rensburg has moved on do you know who his successor is. It seemed he was doing a really good job with them.
@Steve K: Njabalu Zulu is a stand up person and an excellent coach!
Wynberg has definitely improved the coaching over the past two years with junior teams. A large number of Varsity Cup players involved as part of the coaching setup as well and the youngsters can relate a lot easier.
I read somewhere that Wynberg took in 200 grade 8 students this year which seems a lot higher than in previous years.Last year the school had about 760 students across the 5 grades. That should have an impact in depth across all sports.
My ander neef in PE het witwarm nuus.
Framesby neem nie meer deel teen HJS by Porterville nie.
Framesby het onttrek van HJS se 0/15 toernooi.
Auretstraat is n ongemaklike plek op die oomblik.
Goeie reputasie is vinnig besig om n slegte een te raak.
Dankie aan die Gimmie ‘poster’ wat die dingetjies vir ons uitgewys het.
Die regte protokol is nie deur HJS gevolg nie. Alle seuns wat nuut by die skool aankom van n ander skool of streek, MOET deur HJS se skoolhoof aan die ou skool oorgedra en verwittig word, DIT is nie gedoen nie.
Wie gaan die blaam dra en wie gaan om verskoning vra.
@Steve K: That set up should pay dividends.
@Vleis: Hi Vleis. Yes, Westville have been off the boil of late. Being a relatively new parent – I can’t shed light on years past. We all know that 2018 was a disaster year for injuries, with at one point up to 12 of the starting line up out. Jeremy Maclaren (Craven Week U18 coach) joined just over a year ago, and Waylon Murray mid 2018, so hopefully with that combination, as well as Njabalo Zulu – it will get us back into top form in the next few years.
Thanks so much Beet for all your hard work in managing this site and doing the rankings. It’s so interesting to compare how schools have done across various years, etc.
As a Rondebosch Old Boy, it’s disappointing to see that we are the lowest ranked of the four Southern Suburb schools across the years. It’s interesting in that we generally perform well in the derby matches (and I could be mistaken but from my count, I think that Bosch is well-ahead in a hypothetical ‘table’ of the derby games since 2010), but don’t seem to be able to do that well outside of these derby games (as shown in our rankings over the years).
Indeed, Bosch is the only Southern Suburb school not to have featured in a top 20 at some point in the last five or so years. In fact, I struggle to recall the last time we actually beat a Paarl school (whereas the other 3 schools – SACS, Bishops and Wynberg – I do recall have picked up the odd victory against them recently). To me this points to a bit of underachievement on our side. We seem to do very well in other sports codes such as water polo, cricket and hockey, but not quite as well at rugby.
I think we have the potential and the structures in place, we just need some self-belief. It’s difficult for me to pinpoint what exactly is missing. Hopefully, 2019 will be the year we sneak a Top 20 spot (wishful thinking of my part, I know)
That being said, I’m looking forward to another year of awesome rugby in 2019! Can’t wait!
Compliments for 2019 to all bloggers. I for one are looking forward to a very competitive 2019 sport season which includes all disciplines. For now it is athletics and cricket that got the attention.
@Jaques: If only half of the people writing here could eco the same sentiments regarding better opportunities for boys.Must say I respect your viewpoint and must say I feel the same.As for Garsies rugby I’m not involved there in any capacity,my boy finished matric last year.I understand they will be more than competitive.Like every year we’ll have to wait and see,can’t wait… Congrats on Wildeklawer and good luck,to be invited is quite an achievement.
@Grizzly: I’m not entirely sure Grizzly. Will need to wait and see. I know the majority of the ’18 squad were Gr 11s. With that being said and following the squads’ achievements last year, we’re cautiously optimistic… hoping for another good season.
However, I’m made to believe that we lost a couple star players to Pretoria. Now, this could leave many others hot under the collar, but I recognise the true value in that, and I respectfully say, their opportunities will be that much better. Believe the Bulls union might have already raised their interest and for that reason, such a move makes perfectly good sense. I’m very happy for them and obviously wishing them all the best. Will follow their careers with great expectation. Makes me sit at the end of my chair knowing that these boys might just have an extremely bright future.
I trust that preparations are going well. Really excited to see how things will pan out.
Ever seen that ice hockey movie, Mystery Alaska, with Russell Crowe? End of movie a few of the standout players from Alaska gets called up to the NHL. That was awesome, you recognise the analogy?
Uncertain how many of our U16s were prepared for their move to the “MAIN SHOW” and I await to see how the off-season treated our boys, or should I say how they treated the off-season?
Gonna be tough with our inclusion in Wildeklawer… but very exciting times.
Your side? Needless to ask… surely your boys will continue their great showing?
@4×4: En Volkies?Is Neels de Villiers by Gim of Volkies?
@Vleis: Potch Gim is very pro-active with the direction they are taking. They have appointed a Director of Sport that oversees all the sporting codes. Every sporting code has it own Head of Sport and is answerable to the Director. They have also obtained the services of Jean Verster’ company to assist with analysing of their games and have also contracted independent consultants to assist with the coaching. The schools in the “country” side need to think out of the box to stay relevant and also to retain their players, and it appears that they are very pro active in that regard
@tzavosky: Yep, sorry. I missed Oos Moot.
On a different note, I’m surprised that St Alban’s didn’t feature in the past three years. I must assume that something has gone pear-shaped with the formula. For example, despite St Alban’s winning 13 and losing only 3 last year, they did not feature in the Top 50 but St John’s were at 36 despite winning 6 and losing 8…including a 30 to 12 hammering by St Alban’s. Also, they shared a lot of common opponents. Iets is nie lekker nie!
@Vleis: Speaking of cognitive bias, among others you’ve mentioned BV, Jeppe and Helpies in your improvement list. Allow me to add Oos-Moot as well, then you have three schools with whom BV have had regular derbies over a number of years in recent times = confirmation bias!
@Jaques: Cool!Yes the only problem is a nagging anckle injury which started in ’16.All the best to him, like you and Vleis rightly said, quite a talent and hard worker.So how’s Valia looking this year?How many grd 11’s is back this year from the 1st team?
@Grizzly: I remember Beyers from primary school. Was head boy at Laerskool DF Malherbe, a freakishly talented cricketer. Malan wasn’t gonna let him slip. Great to hear how he developed.
@Vleis: @beet: Of course, the explanation re Bosch, Selborne and BL may simply be that the sample period is too small. All three may have had worse than normal years in the three years between ’12 – ’15 a bit better than normal in the subsequent four years. As was proven by Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, we humans have a cognitive bias whereby we extrapolate the results from small sample sizes with too much confidence.
@beet: Thanks beet. That’s interesting.
Wynberg, Westville, Maritzburg, HTS Middelburg, Waterkloof, Michaelhouse and Menlo have experienced big declines and, to a lesser extent, EG Jansen. Wynberg suffered after the departure of Musikanth, but seem to be on the road to recovery. I hear rumours that HTS, House and Kloof are reinvigorating their rugby strategies and EG have their old coach back. Menlo can’t seem to convert their great junior results into great 1st team results, but they showed improvement last year and this year is supposed to be a cracker, albeit we’ve heard that before. I’m not sure what’s happening at Westville and Maritzburg?
On the other hand, Brackenfell, Potch Gym, Ben Vorster, Jeppe, Bosch, Eldos, Hilton, Drosdty, SACS, Helpies, Boland Landbou and Selborne have shown great improvement. I’ve heard of the hard work put into the rugby programs in recent years at Brackies, Hilton, Helpies (in particular), SACS, BV, Jeppe (also huge work to the school in general) and Eldos. Clearly said hard work is bearing fruit. Maybe other bloggers can update us what’s happened at Bosch, Selborne, Potch Gym, Drostdy and BL?
@Vleis:
2015-2018 with number in red being ranking for period 2012-2014.
@Skopgraaf243: met alle respek Menlo nr 37 Juniors het goed gedoen 2012-2018 Eerstes nie onder Top 15
@Rugbyrealis: menlo?
7 seunsskole in Top 10 – plaas dubbelgeslagskole soos Outeniqua en Garsfontein se prestasie in perspektief – puik prestasie
@Grizzly: Cool. He’s clearly a good player but must have hit the best purple patch of his life at those u13 trials!
@Vleis:Beyers Swanepoel, played with my son in ’16 and made the Northens u/19 team.Product of the Morkel cricket academy in Van Der Byl.Not sure if he made the Colts that year.Snr contract with the Knights,true all rounder,should hear from him this year.
@Grizzly: Still on cricket, while attending the Gauteng u13 trials in ’11, I heard about a boy who retired on 150 not out in his first two games of the trial.
So, in his third game, a T20 match v my son’s district (Jhb Far North), he had to drop down the order to bat at 9. His team (I think Jhb West) was struggling on about 60 for 7 after about 16 overs when he came in. He proceeded to klap our top two bowlers (who both made the Gauteng u13 team) for 39 runs off about 10 balls, including one six that he hit out of the school and into a swimming pool of a house across the street!
As good as Wiaan was, I thought that this oke would be the first Protea from this age group. I then heard that he really struggled at the Std Bank week…and then went to high school at Garsfontein, so I was wondering how he did there? If I remember correctly, his name was Beyers.
@Vleis:
Cool.What I love about the game there’s no place to hide on a cricket oval unlike a rugby field 
@Grizzly: Your top five looks as good as any. It’s hard to tell, as cricket is much less consistent than rugby – especially in the Cape, where one particular school will be very good in one year and another average and the next year it’s the opposite.
P.S. My son’s first game for the 1st team in ’14 was an away win v Affies and his last game in ’16 was a home win v KES…so I’m v happy with your top 5!
@Vleis: Thanks for the info,maybe there’s an argument for them for the nr1 spot so far this decade.1.Saints
2.Kloof
3KES
4.Affies
5.Wynberg
Who’s your top 5?
@Grizzly: Yep, Wiaan played for the Saints 1st team in ’13, ’14, ’15 and ’16. He was a pretty handy rugby player too (flank), but gave up in gr10 (u16). His fellow Saints opening bowler (Justin) broke his leg in the first warm-up game…so both he and Wiaan gave up rugby. When Justin was not selected for the SA u19 cricket side in ’16 he returned to play the last few matches of the season for the 1st team. Unfortunately for us (St Alban’s), our 1st team flyhalf did make the SA u19 cricket team, so was told by the selectors to quit rugby early in the season.
Wiaan did score a 1st class ton in the middle of his matric exams, so he may still come good. He’s been injured a lot of late.
@Vleis: Yes,and think part of the ’16 squad was Wiaan Mulder who didn’t came true on Snr level yet as expected,but at school level he was a freak…
@beet: Thanks beet.
@Grizzly: Agreed, in ’18 they declined sharply, as they had 11 losses out of about 37 to 41 games in the season. In ’17, ’16, and ’14 they had only one loss in the season and in ’15 they had 4 losses.
@Vleis: Hi Vleis – will do.
@Grizzly: Last year
@Vleis: Ya,you probably right.More difficult to rate cricket because of the nature of the game.This year Garsies beat both KES and St Stithians easily but lost a game or 2 against weaker opposition.
@beet: Hello Beet. The average rankings over seven years are interesting, but I think that the averages over a shorter period (e.g. 3 or 4 years) would also be insightful. So…any chance you could add two columns to the left of the table that show the ranking and schools for the shorter period too? It would be interesting to compare the two.
@Grizzly: I think that Saints would probably be #1 in cricket, as they were #1 in the 3 years that my son played 1st team cricket at St Alban’s – i.e. ’14, ’15, ’16 and I know that they won the National T20 tournament in ’17 (so must have been good then) and had Rabada (amongst others) playing for them in ’11, ’12 and ’13 (so must have been good then too).
@beet: Malan’s number One….nice ring to it
@beet: Kloofs cricket the past couple of years not as good as used to be.They were very good during the first half plus of the decade.I think for now it will be a toss up between Affies,KES and St Stithians.Marais Viljoen very good cricket school, there’s a boy there who’s a very good, destructive batsman.
@Playa: The school traces its heritage back to 1851. And is still competing at a high level without any bursaries or “incentives”.
@Grizzly: When I mentioned Kloof’s cricket prowess to a certain someone a few months back he gave me an earful then brought up Meyerton’s finest. No names mentioned!
@beet: Kloof will top that ranking with Affies,Kes,St Stithians,Wynberg, Rondebosch,HJS, Maritzburg College all in top 10
@Die Ken: Talking Dr Malan, I wonder what a school cricket ranking for the same period would look like.
Wat ‘n uitdaging vir Menlopark … speel nommer 1 en 2 tydens Noord/Suid.
I have never noticed this, but my biggest surprise on this list is that Nico Malan is quite possibly the second oldest school in the Eastern Cape
1, 2 en 3 is nek aan nek.
Groot val in waarde daarna.
@Valkie: boer julle nie bietjie agteruit nie? Baie skole onder julle toon baie beter onlangse resultate en raak net beter. Geniet hom, maar hoop daar is planne.
Whoop-Whoop well done Nellies!! I rest my case your Honour!! of sal ek eerder sê: Told you so!!
Waar is Dr. Malan, Beet?
@tzavosky: ek was self van opinie dat oor sewe jaar ons nie top 50 sou maak nie so ja inderdaad soos jy daar sê is dit goeie vordering!
@Skopgraaf243: Hierdie is ‘n 7 jaar gemiddelde ranking – Menlo was 42ste op die vorige 6 jaar ranking. ‘n Verbetering van 7 posisies toon inderdaad uitstekende vordering.
Menlo at 37 ?
Het die ranglys se waarde saam die rand geval?
The 2018 team changed the Menlo direction.
Well done MenloBoys!
MenloTrots!!