Michaelhouse has already received the only known award handed out for coming first in KwaZulu-Natal. As unofficial as it might be, there is merit to the decision made by the same group of gentlemen that were correctly able to identify Glenwood as the top team for a number of years prior to 2012.
On the highveld, the Beeld trofee final produced a surprise winner for the record books. Kempton Park has had a season to remember. During the course of this year they have beaten the likes of Waterkloof and Pretoria Boys High School. On Saturday they defeated powerhouse Monument 20-10 in the final to claim the Beeld Trofee for 2012. It concluded a very exciting 2012 year in the Northvaal region, one that saw teams like Kempton Park, Garsfontein, Centurion and even Middelburg HS raising their game to make life difficult for the traditional big guns. Sadly Affies, the top ranked team from the region, no longer participates in the Beeld and neither does KES, so although Kempies deserve a round of applause for their success, they can’t quite claim champion team status in the region.
Even in a weaker than customary year, Grey College still has no equals in the Free State/North Cape region. No one will dispute that they are the top dogs in the area or Kovsie Central Region as it’s referred to for school rugby competition purposes. The Kovsie Central Region tournament though, an exciting competition that Grey Bloem isn’t part of, drew to an end with Noord-Kaap from Kimberley (Griqualand-West) narrowly defeating Hentie-Cilliers from Virginia (Griffons) 30-28 in what was described as a nail-biting final. So Noord-Kaap, unofficially the second best to Grey Bloem in the large Kovsie region but more importantly to the Noord-Kaap boys, they are the best in Kimberley, having disposed of their bitter rivals Diamantveld earlier this season.
In the Western Cape, the Burger newspaper competition final is set to take place on 01 September. Paarl Gym will meet Outeniqua in what should be a pulsating contest between two of SA’s top 10 teams. The Burger Trophy is however a very watered down competition with only a select few schools taking part each year and therefore has no grounds to be regarded as anything more than just a school competition. It just happens to be a coincidence that the two best teams from their respective school regions will be contesting the final. There is little to dispute Outeniqua’s right to be classified as the best team from the South- Western Districts region in 2012. In terms of the Western Cape/Boland provincial regions, thanks to very accurate records kept by the website http://www.stoopstats.co.za it is possible to declare Paarl Gym as Western Province Premier League Champs for 2012, despite a slight 11-13 hiccup against the Donkeys of Drostdy (Boland) on Saturday.
This really only left the Eastern Cape Province unaccounted for and what a surprised it proved to be when the statistics were analysed. Grey High (PE) ended the season as the 10th best team in the country overall. Dale College were not far behind in 14th place overall. Queens College had a very successful campaign against Eastern Cape opponents, beating Grey High and Dale at home along the way. However it was none other than Daniel Pienaar from Uitenhage that managed to fly under the radar and record a perfect eight wins from eight games against regional opponents and thereby lay claim to be the province’s top school team for 2012.
WESTERN CAPE SUPER LEAGUE A compliments of Stoopstats.co.za
| School | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | Pts | AP |
| Paarl Gim | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 230 | 77 | 21 | 2.6 |
| Paarl Boys’ High | 8 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 247 | 85 | 21 | 2.6 |
| HTS Drostdy | 7 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 119 | 133 | 15 | 2.1 |
| Paul Roos | 8 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 139 | 112 | 15 | 1.9 |
| Wynberg | 10 | 6 | 0 | 4 | 168 | 164 | 18 | 1.8 |
| Boland Landbou | 8 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 191 | 162 | 12 | 1.5 |
| SACS | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 205 | 189 | 12 | 1.1 |
| Rondebosch | 11 | 2 | 0 | 9 | 127 | 253 | 6 | 0.6 |
| Bishops | 11 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 112 | 363 | 3 | 0.3 |
REGIONAL RANKINGS FOR ALL REGIONS (excluding Western Cape)
| # | Team | P | W | L | D | PF | PA | PD | TP | Avg |
| Region :Central | ||||||||||
| 1 | Grey College | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 157 | 68 | 89 | 14.0 | 2.80 |
| 2 | Noord-Kaap | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 281 | 89 | 192 | 18.7 | 2.67 |
| 3 | Diamantveld | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 161 | 99 | 62 | 12.0 | 2.00 |
| 4 | Voortrekker (Bethlehem) | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 488 | 169 | 319 | 20.9 | 1.90 |
| 5 | Sentraal | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 260 | 315 | -55 | 16.5 | 1.38 |
| 6 | Hentie Cilliers | 12 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 380 | 289 | 91 | 14.0 | 1.17 |
| 7 | Welkom Gim | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 125 | 119 | 6 | 7.5 | 0.94 |
| 8 | AHS Kroonstad (Rooiskool) | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 268 | 261 | 7 | 11.0 | 0.92 |
| 9 | Landboudal | 7 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 151 | 96 | 55 | 5.5 | 0.79 |
| 10 | Upington | 6 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 56 | 92 | -36 | 4.5 | 0.75 |
| Region:EP/Border | ||||||||||
| 1 | Daniel Pienaar | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 244 | 118 | 126 | 20.8 | 2.60 |
| 2 | Grey PE | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 317 | 195 | 122 | 25.8 | 2.58 |
| 3 | Queens College | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 448 | 147 | 301 | 29.0 | 2.23 |
| 4 | Dale College | 16 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 433 | 171 | 262 | 35.4 | 2.21 |
| 5 | St Andrews | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 247 | 179 | 68 | 18.0 | 1.80 |
| 6 | Framesby | 9 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 281 | 162 | 119 | 15.5 | 1.72 |
| 7 | Nico Malan | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 329 | 178 | 151 | 14.8 | 1.48 |
| 8 | Die Brandwag | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 420 | 168 | 252 | 14.5 | 1.21 |
| 9 | Selborne | 11 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 166 | 163 | 3 | 10.0 | 0.91 |
| 10 | Graeme College | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 193 | 164 | 29 | 7.0 | 0.64 |
| Region:KZN | ||||||||||
| 1 | Michaelhouse | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 217 | 136 | 81 | 21.0 | 2.33 |
| 2 | Kearsney | 10 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 283 | 131 | 152 | 22.3 | 2.23 |
| 3 | Maritzburg College | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 189 | 125 | 64 | 16.0 | 2.00 |
| 4 | Glenwood | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 263 | 143 | 120 | 18.0 | 1.80 |
| 5 | Westville BHS | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 280 | 139 | 141 | 19.0 | 1.73 |
| 6 | Hilton | 10 | 6 | 4 | 0 | 232 | 139 | 93 | 16.0 | 1.60 |
| 7 | George Campbell | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 234 | 140 | 94 | 8.5 | 0.85 |
| 8 | DHS | 9 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 159 | 211 | -52 | 7.0 | 0.78 |
| 9 | Northwood | 12 | 4 | 8 | 0 | 112 | 295 | -183 | 8.0 | 0.67 |
| 10 | St Charles | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 25 | 174 | -149 | 1.5 | 0.30 |
| Region:North | ||||||||||
| 1 | AHS (Affies) | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 232 | 88 | 144 | 22.6 | 3.23 |
| 2 | Waterkloof | 16 | 14 | 2 | 0 | 666 | 305 | 361 | 46.4 | 2.90 |
| 3 | Kempton Park | 13 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 383 | 247 | 136 | 34.5 | 2.65 |
| 4 | Centurion | 13 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 455 | 288 | 167 | 30.5 | 2.35 |
| 5 | Garsfontein | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 616 | 181 | 435 | 27.1 | 2.26 |
| 6 | HTS Middelburg | 11 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 240 | 160 | 80 | 24.5 | 2.23 |
| 7 | Pretoria Boys High | 13 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 409 | 214 | 195 | 23.0 | 1.77 |
| 8 | Monument | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 255 | 180 | 75 | 19.0 | 1.73 |
| 9 | EG Jansen | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 476 | 292 | 184 | 20.5 | 1.71 |
| 10 | Nelspruit | 9 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 224 | 204 | 20 | 15.0 | 1.67 |
ALTERNATIVE REGIONAL RANKING FOR WESTERN CAPE (includes SWD)
| Region:Western | ||||||||||
| 1 | HJS Paarl | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 410 | 118 | 292 | 48.1 | 4.01 |
| 2 | Paarl Gim | 13 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 463 | 122 | 341 | 48.4 | 3.72 |
| 3 | Outeniqua | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 472 | 132 | 340 | 29.9 | 2.72 |
| 4 | Wynberg BHS | 14 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 318 | 190 | 128 | 32.5 | 2.32 |
| 5 | Boland Landbou | 14 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 438 | 240 | 198 | 31.0 | 2.21 |
| 6 | HTS Drostdy | 17 | 11 | 5 | 1 | 395 | 269 | 126 | 37.0 | 2.18 |
| 7 | Paul Roos | 11 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 237 | 156 | 81 | 22.5 | 2.05 |
| 8 | SACS | 13 | 6 | 7 | 0 | 256 | 206 | 50 | 26.5 | 2.04 |
| 9 | Hugenote (Well) | 10 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 240 | 194 | 46 | 17.0 | 1.70 |
| 10 | Oakdale | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 257 | 206 | 51 | 16.0 | 1.60 |
I do however have an issue with the logs that Tony provides. WP schools are divided into seperate “leagues”, but teams play across leagues and a team like Drostdy for instance, play both WP schools as well as Boland schools as do most teams. However, Tony only uses the results of the games played in the same league against those teams. Thus, Drostdy ends up 3rd on the WP log by virtue of them winning aganst Gym and Paul Roos, but the game they lost against Hugenote and drew with Worcester Gim is not brought into calculation. Neither are the games against Outeniqua who have been regular participants against WP and Boland schools. This then doesnt give a true representation of the actual strenghth of teams.
@beet: Tony’s stats is great..still only proves that Boishaai and Paarl Gim ended with the exact same average.
@BoishaaiPa: Yes its interesting that the WC P/league is so tough and competitive that its possible for the national champions elect (Paarl Boys High) not to finish top in the league. HJS vs Gimmies in the WPPL: thats a fight for Tony Stoops. I fortunately just borrowed his data. :grin:
@Grasshopper: I wonder who compiles that very accurate formula driven Top 20 for SaSchoolSport
@Boishaaipa, in my honest opinion this top20/25 is the best by far; http://www.saschoolsports.co.za/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=690:rugby-final-rugby-rankings-for-2012&Itemid=19
You will of course expect that I do not agree with you on that claim of top dog in Western Cape!..Exact same points etc..But everyone knows Boishaai were the better team this year…despite what the scoreboard at Interschools says!!..
@Greenhopper: I’ve asked Archie for a Top 100 this week. We can then compare to the one BHP sends to saschoolsport and the FNB one.
ok, so what are the top 20 schools now, and please lets look at all of the rankings