April 2024 – Cape Town Southern Suburbs rugby is too good! Title defending Rondebosch meets SACS from Newlands to get it underway in 2024.
Rondebosch keen to snap that two game losing streak and reaffirm that they have everything one looks for in a national Top 10 team. Coach Joel Carew really has some great prospects at his disposal including fit again Colin Paul Kemp.
SACS are not quite there yet but competitiveness is better, their nose is pointing in the right direction and hopefully in the years ahead they will be able to challenge for top honours just like they did in 2015 and 2016 when Cape rugby gurus were praising their coaching structures and their superior rugby programme. Amongst the players to keep an eye on in this contest is their BBC – Connor King.
| TEAM | RONDEBOSCH | TEAM | SACS | ||
| 1 | Luke Pretorius | u18 | 1 | Ethan Combrink | u18 |
| 2 | Ismaeel Conrad | u17 | 2 | Sango Zangqa | u17 |
| 3 | Matthew vd Merwe | u17 | 3 | Ikhona Maxegwana | u18 |
| 4 | Carl Geddie | u19 | 4 | Callum Hirst | u18 |
| 5 | Tom Barnard | u18 | 5 | Pierre Van Selm | u18 |
| 6 | Matthys du Plooy | u18 | 6 | Zac Wilson | u18 |
| 7 | Danil-Nicolas Oosthuizen | u17 | 7 | Daniel Grant | u17 |
| 8 | Josh Neill | u17 | 8 | Connor King | u18 |
| 9 | Caleb Belelie | u18 | 9 | Matt Forbes | u17 |
| 10 | David Simon | u18 | 10 | Rayaan Solomons | u18 |
| 11 | Shakeel Abrahams | u18 | 11 | Endi Sidinile | u18 |
| 12 | Alutha Wesi | u18 | 12 | Matt Carrick | u17 |
| 13 | Randall Davids | u17 | 13 | Nic Reynolds | u18 |
| 14 | David Kadima | u17 | 14 | Imtiaz Abrahams | u17 |
| 15 | Dylan Miller | u18 | 15 | Jack Benade | u18 |
| Coach | JOEL CAREW | Coach | NICK MAURER |
Far be it for me to cast aspersions, particularly as I have no link to the schools mentioned below…but is it a coincidence that the rugby programs at PBHS and Bishops declined under the watch of Bishops’ current headmaster? I know that he is a rugby man, as he played with a mate of mine at UCT back in the day…but the results speak for themselves.
Bosch & Berg to fight it out for Southern Kings, Berg might have it & make SA Top 10
@Kaya 85 (Comment #12)
It was 1979 & no one cared. Derek La Marque the Glenwood SA school rugby captain & Springbok waterpolo player at school was 19 I think in matric
Lol yikes…20 in matric
@Kaya 85 (Comment #10)
Yeah BUT Michaelhouse & Hilton got like 5 to 10 posties & usually from like Grey Bloem or the best Gov school players. I can name quite a few. It was men vs boys. The era of overaged druipers was 1990 & before. Mike Barker at DHS must have been 20 in matric
@Deon (Comment #8)
Hilton and the likes also had formal post-matric years…but who are we kidding? Lots of gov schools had u 19 rugby stars returning to ‘improve’ matric marks another year, heck a guy I was at Tuks with back in the 90s (fly-half) very good player, but at early season first year trials didn’t make one of the 4 under 20 Tuks teams…month later was back at his platteland school playing first XV, principal lured him for another season.
@Kantman (Comment #7)
Definitely top 5 I’d say over last 10 -15 prior to that higher…
@Kantman (Comment #7) I disregard any Bishops results from the era of their bizarre (at times) post matric era. Especially the 80’s. It gave them a very unfair advantage.
@Kaya 85 (Comment #5)
Current or over last 40 years?
@Kaya 85 (Comment #5)
Ah….Helpmekaar at 2 or 3?
@Kantman (Comment #4)
Best private rugby schools?
1. Hilton
2. Michaelhouse
3. Bishops
4. St Andrew’s
5. Kearsney
6. St Johns
7. Kingswood
8. St Albans
9. St Stithians
9. …?
@Grasshopper (Comment #3)
Private Schools in the WC have a bit more competition than in the rest of the country.
@Gold (Comment #1)
Could be the economic climate, Bishops ain’t cheap and maybe don’t give out as many bursaries/scholarships as the likes of Hilton, Kearsney and Michaelhouse, the other privates…
@Gold (Comment #1)
Very fair point. The SS dominance is definitely cyclical, and the tables/results here show that.
I think the SS crown this season is going to be incredibly competitive. Form often goes out the window a bit for these derbies, where on the day anything can happen and surprises are coming.
Berg are the early season favourites for the title – they’ll be brimming with confidence after the win against Paarl Boys (always rare for an SS school to get one over their Winelands counterparts). Despite the shock loss to Milnerton, Bosch rebounded very nicely in the first half against Paul Roos. It was always going to be tough against a classy Paul Roos who ultimately ran out comfortable winners in the second half, but I saw enough in that first half to show that Bosch have a very good team this year and if they click for the full 70mins, they can be lethal.
SACS are the darkhorses this season and will by no means be pushovers – they proved this by beating Stellenberg. I expect them to be very competitive in these games. There’s definitely an indication of an upturn in their rugby and their age group results are starting to show this.
Bishops I think are in for a tough, long season, and indications are that they are in that lull in the SS cyclical.
I think what this shows is that the dominant side in the SS is cyclical. Over this period Berg have come out top 5 times, Bosch and Bishops 3 each and Sacs 2. It looks like the Sacs junior age groups are really strong and that could be the start of a new cycle.
The one programme that is a concern is Bishops, who don’t look to have any strong age groups in the pipeline.