In an age when schools are doing whatever they can to remain competitive, there are concerns that some may try to find loopholes to improve their chances of success. Here are two instances that support the establishment of a set of national school rugby agreements should be put in place to strictly prohibit certain practices.
Scenario 1: the matric repeater who was a genuine high school graduate for a few weeks
Most top schools don’t cater for boys who want to repeat matric. In conjunction with this several unions prohibit matric repeaters from playing at all.
In the Western Cape in 2023, a particular school managed to pursue a youngster who had passed matric with a bit of breathing room the year before, to turn his back on the u20 club rugby practices he was attending and return to the school classroom and obviously get picked for the 1st XV.
Scenario 2: the exchange student programme
This one has actually played out in KZN in the past before it was outlawed. Now word is a Western Cape school may turn to it as a creative way to increase their depth. So while exchange students are part of the classroom education programme during the normal school day, these youngsters only stay for a short while. Ideally any student should be committed to writing matric exams at his school at some point before being considered for schoolboy rugby eligibility.
I think you missed another scenario. Players ‘failing’ grade 11.