Bellville could be a 2015 surprise package

This probably won’t be news to the well-informed Western Province community but for the rest of the schoolboy rugby loving country it might be a good thing to keep an eye on Bellville High School’s progress this season. This year’s 1st XV senior group has achieved really good results coming up through the age-groups.

A few facts and stats below on Bellville HS:

-The core of this group has played together since u10 at Bellpark Primary

-Two highly rated under-18 players Jondre Williams (Boland Landbou) and Marco Palvie (Glenwood) formed part of this group, before the former left for Brackenfell Primary and the latter’s family relocated to Durban

-In 50 games from u14 to u16 they only lost three games (Oakdale u14, Diamandveld u15 and Rondebosch u16) and drew one (Garsfontein u15)

-In three seasons they scored 1742 points (average 34 points/game) and conceded 303 (average 6 points/game)

-In three seasons they were undefeated against all Premier B opposition and scored notable victories against Brandwag (u14), Drostdy (u14 & u15), Wynberg (u15), Boland Landbou (u15), SACS (u16), Bishops (u16) and Marlow (u16)

-They have three players in the WP u18 Elite Squad:  Marco Joubert, Carlu Sadie and Ryan Muller

-Muller played WP Grant Khomo 2013 and WP CW and WP 7’s 2014, Sadie played WP Academy 2014

For Bellville the only setback is that just like Tygerberg has experienced in the recent past, it’s not so easy for a WP “tier-2” rugby school to gain full recognition when they have a strong team. This is a direct consequence of playing in the well structured setup that exists in the Cape. In many other parts of the country, Bellville could possibly have arranged tough fixtures against the best teams of that region but in the WP for now they are limited to action against only one Premier League big gun, namely Rondebosch.