Stellenberg make history with landmark win over Bishops

Stellenberg produced a dominant performance to beat Bishops 38–13 on Saturday — a result that goes down in the record books for two significant reasons.

Firstly, it marked the Jade Brigade’s first-ever victory on the famed Piley Rees Field — a ground long considered one of the spiritual homes of schoolboy rugby in the Western Cape.

Secondly, Stellenberg completed an historic Southern Suburbs Four Great Grand Slam by mid-May, defeating all four of Cape Town’s traditional Southern Suburbs giants — Bishops, Rondebosch, SACS and Wynberg — in a single season. Achieving this feat before June is unprecedented.

While the Western Province’s national powerhouse trio of Paarl Boys’ High, Paarl Gimnasium, and Paul Roos have often swept the Southern Suburbs schools, only two other teams outside that elite group have managed the clean sweep in the last decade: Grey High in 2015 and Boland Landbou in 2024.

The magnitude of coach Divan Batt’s Stellenberg’s achievement speaks to their continued rise as a force in South African schoolboy rugby — particularly impressive for a co-ed school from the Northern Suburbs.

Grey High 2015, Boland Landbou 2024 and Stellenberg 2025 successes:

Beating the Winelands Four — Boland Landbou, Paarl Boys’ High, Paarl Gimnasium and Paul Roos — in a single season remains one of the most elusive achievements in South African schoolboy rugby. Over the last 10 completed seasons, no school has either had the full opportunity or succeeded in completing the sweep.

Grey College, the perennial powerhouse from Bloemfontein, has managed three “Winelands Triple Slams” in that period — victories over Paarl Boys’, Paarl Gim, and Paul Roos — but even they have never conquered all four in a single year in this time frame dating back to 2013. For most schools, even claiming one or two scalps from this elite group is considered a memorable feat in any given season.