Paul Roos, the number one ranked rugby school in South Africa, fresh off a good fully in control 25-10 win against Winelands rivals Paarl Boys’ High, are heading to Gqeberha in the Eastern Cape next. Here they are set to meet Grey High on the Kolisi Field. The big question is which Grey?
Will it be the Grey that surprised all in an underachieving 32-25 away loss to Dale College or the the Grey that surprised all with an overachieving 10-all draw against unbeaten on a high Wynberg in Cape Town. It it is worth any kind of advantage, this will be Grey’ s first home match of the regular season, after playing six on the road. It is a massive effort required though. The introduction of Gerrit van Vuuren in the Paul Roos frontrow has upped the ante there. Ollie Reid is already one of the highest rated looseheads in the land and as a ballcarrier he is fantastic in heavy traffic. Hooker Altus Rabe is mobile and energetic. Behind this frontrow are just beasts in the secondrow and backrow. They are big, tall and strong. Everyone is waiting for the Maroon backline to fire properly. Keenan Stoffels and Sam Badenhorst are two experienced players capable of causing plenty of damage if the situations present themselves.
The list of tier-one unbeatens was trimmed to just three over the weekend. In a match that lived up to its top billing and then some, Paarl Gim lost an epic clash to Grey College on the Jan Kriel by just a missed last conversion of the match. Northwood also came within two points of clinging onto their impressive undefeated start to the season but succumbed to a good Michaelhouse team on the Meadows in Balgowan. Marais Viljoen of Alberton had quietly gone about compiling a seven game winning streak, which was the longest in SA this season, that is until they ran into high tempo Noordheuwel in the semis of the NWU Prestige Cup. Nories won 44-13 in the end.
So that just leaves Wynberg and little known high-flyers Charlie Hofmeyr as the other two unbeatens of tier-one. Berg face struggling Bishops and after their scrape home last weekend, one expects a revved up show. However Southern Suburb matches are known to bring out the best in the underdogs, so nothing can ever be taken for granted in those much loved derbies.
The Charlies of Ceres in the Boland are surely the breakaway leaders in the race for team of the year at the moment. They are seven-and-oh. No assignment for this weekend but Oakdale on the horizon in mid-May is definitely the expected end-point of an amazing 2024 to date.
Still unbeaten tier-ones after the week ending 20 April 2024:
| # | SCHOOL | P | W | D | L | PF | PA | PD |
| 1 | Paul Roos | 5 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 213 | 86 | 127 |
| 2 | Wynberg | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 238 | 87 | 151 |
| 3 | Charlie Hofmeyr | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 217 | 66 | 151 |
Wynland water.
Maroon Masjien storm voort.
@Deon (Comment #44)
Nee my mater, jou opstelle is uitstekend. PRG het jou n goeie redenaar en opstelle skrywer gemaak.
@Snelvuur (Comment #43)
Dis uitstekend, veral die hokkie. Ek was bekommer nadat Ashlin Freddie weg is. Hy en Rothman het sterk strukture gebou. Veral na die verloor teen Bosch.
@OomPB (Comment #42)
Hallo Oom, ek woon so 60 km vanaf Gansbaai, aan die ander kant van Walkerbaai, al baie lankal. Ek het net 2001-2002 op Franskraalstrand gewoon. Ek het wel deeeeestyds toe ek nog in vennootskap was, tot 2018 ons takkantoor daar by tye besoek.
Het wel ‘n paar jaar in Oom se baai gewoon in die 90’s, en op daai plek met die grot waar die Britse skip op 30 Mei 1815 gesink het.Mooi aand verder vir Oom PS : Ek moet mooi dink of ek enigsens ‘n sterk punt het, maar ek weet opstelle is nie een van hulle nie.
Bitter goeie algehele naweek vir PRG. 19 uit 21 rugbywedstryde gewen, met een gelykop en een verloor. 11 uit 16 hokkiewedstryde gewen met 3 gelykop en 2 verlore. Dit is regtig ‘n puik stel hokkie uitslae teen Grey.
Deon jy is n regte filosoof van Gansbaai. Opstelle moes jou sterkpunt wees by PRG.
@OUD ANKER (Comment #19)
Facts cannot be assumed at all, ever. Facts, theories, hypotheses, fiction, sangomas-all different things. You can go back as far as Thomas Aquinas, 800 years ago, and his “Scientific Method” to distinguish the difference. To use a single variable, i.e. pass rate, as sole indicator of academic prowess makes zero sence at all, especially when compared to schools specialising, say in Technical studies, Agriculture etc., where the selection by both the scholar and the school is much more “picky”. So a plaas school with 10 Matrics, average 30% for Mathematical what what ( not true maths-maths literacy or whatever it is called = Wielietjie Wiskunde) and 30% average for Science, but a 100% pass rate will beat a school with 250 Matrics from a much wider area, where one or two failed Matric, but have the best average achievement for Maths and Science? Also study academic achievement after school, and for fun compare ordinary platteland public school stars to those of big private schools. I had to make that study before for a well-known big corporate. Extremely insightful and jaw dropping.
@Deon (Comment #39)
21-7 PRG maar was 10 min voor die einde 14-7
GCB 36-7 Selborne
@Smallies (Comment #37)
Hi Smallies, wat was PRG vs GHS se telling en wat was GCB se telling teen wie ookal?
Mooi aand vir jou.
@yesnomaybe @Kaya (Comment #24)
You want the return of indentured servitude for a basic human right, moreover partly enforced by law, and that of schoolboys? Even those below legal age of being employed in labour at places them at risk? 0 – 14 and 15 -18 years of age rules? Imagine the lawsuits in case of injury; already sticking out its neck where children drown at school camps, eg Parktown. Flippit, I have killed, with substantiation and evidence, comments by Grassy about his 100 Currie Cup-less province and structures and Kaya (definition of “fact”-I have not had time to return to that article), which were just plain due to gossip and excuses and not substantiable, in fact easy to dismiss, but this is bizarre and insane. Next the taxpayer will be refunded for investments in players, or even when teachers move to other school, or the SGB when SGB appointed teachers move and the SGB invested in them ?????? Above 18 of age is a very different story, eg Eskom bursaries for tertiary education.
@OomPB (Comment #35)
Jou ou clown😂😂
@OomPB (Comment #35)
Dink die sterk wind het ‘n groot rol gespeel. Geen span kon hul lynstane bemeester nie en dit was selfs moeilik om in die agterlyn aan te gee. PRG het veral in die tweede helfte gesukkel om die vlug van die bal in die wind te oordeel – ek het gedink Grey sou dit meer teiken. PRG was duidelik bereid om bietjie vinniger vandag te speel as teen HJS, maar die omstandighede het dit bietjie belemmer. Solank hulle aanhou wen, gee ek nie om as dit bietjie lelik lyk nie!
PRG het baie foute gemaak en sal baie moet verbeter indien hul onoorwonne wil bly. Die ref was baie swak amper Grey Kollege standaard.
@Snelvuur (Comment #32)
Het dit geniet. PRG het laas in 2015 Grey High daar met interskole geklop.
Seccies se game was self spannend
@PRondersteuner (Comment #30)
2014? Julle het BL daardie jaar 43-32 in die Bos gewen
@PRondersteuner (Comment #20)
Vanaand ‘n soortgelyke comeback op die hokkieveld gesien! Grey 2-0 voor in die derde chukka, toe wen PRG 2-3. Regtig bitter hoë kwaliteit hokkie die hele dag.
@yesnomaybe (Comment #24)
The transfer fee idea of yours is very good. I 100% agree, and in fact the senior pro teams should also be paying transfer fees to the schools who invest so much into players.
@Snelvuur (Comment #28)
Dit was nie lekker nie, maar dit was ‘n span wat daarna net nooit ophou fight het vir ‘n wen nie. Gim in Paarl, HJS op Markotter en die 1ste PRG span in 15 jaar wat vir BL op die plaas kon wen. so miskien was dit ‘n goeie ding.
@yesnomaybe (Comment #24)
Also interesting his the link between rugby and the headmaster. These days it feels like there is a much stronger association link when it comes to rugby underachievement than there is to rugby success.
@PRondersteuner (Comment #20)
‘n Gruweldag wat ek uit die annale van my geheue geskrap het.
@OUD ANKER (Comment #19)
Really? I don’t think that a matric pass rate is the first and foremost factor. By that logic, a school with 249 boys having an average of more than 90% and one boy failing would rank lower academically than a school with 250 passes mostly with averages between 50% and 60%? PRG has built an extraordinary academic record over the past few years (e.g., if you want to be in the top 20 at the end of matric, you simply have to have an average of above 90%). The rugby-playing and sport-playing groups are also not mutually-exclusive – there are many academic top achievers who play first team rugby (and/or other sports) and even pursue both professional sport and degrees simultaneously after school. When I was in PRG (granted, this was not yesterday), the school was not at all focused on matric results (or even your marks at school, per se): they wanted to prepare you to achieve after school – be that in further studies or in sport. This has also worked pretty well for them, with more than a quarter of all Chancellor’s Medals (awarded to the best-performing final year students at Stellenbosch University) being awarded to PRG Old Boys (far and away more than any other school).
@yesnomaybe (Comment #24)
I found your comments about the DOR qualities most interesting. Thank you for sharing.
There are obviously a lot of other ingredients that lay the foundation for success in the role as well.
For example at one of the KZN schools I was told that the DOR failed due to not being able to articulate.
Personally I feel that although you can cut your teeth at a smaller school, at a big school like Berg, experience counts a lot. The DOR has to have been there and done that in order to know what he wants or does not want. Otherwise a lot of time, energy and especially resources can be wasted learning the ropes.
We will play anyone, anywhere.
The previous Headmaster at Grey High, Neil Crawford, was super passionate about the game. He would bend over backwards to ensure that the first side were ultra competitive & if there were weaknesses he would go out of his way to ensure that those holes were plugged whether it was recruitment/pro coaching, etc. This can be seen by the rankings over the years when he was in charge. At the same time Wynberg’s headmaster, as good as he was as an educator, wasn’t as passionate about the game so therefore Bergs rugby results were super inconsistent. Some good years & some shocking years for e.g. between 2015 & 2017 they weren’t ranked in the Top 50, however, the Hockey & Cricket results were outstanding. The incoming headmaster in 2016 changed this by appointing a DOR in Craig Childs who was super passionate about Wynberg & things started to turn & the consistency improved tenfold. I know that Grey have their own DOR, however their are more questions then answers on the appt. A DOR doesn’t have to be the most knowledgable about rugby as their are lots of consultants out there but he needs to be super passionate about his school & he needs to work damn hard at ensuring that recruitment is on point. WRT players leaving to other schools, if the parents move then there is not much to be said, however, if its not that & the boy is already on a bursary, I would invoice the other school to pay back the investment that the school has already invested in the kid, for e.g. hostel fees/school fees etc. Call it a transfer fee & they might think twice with regards to taking that boy.
Ek dink dat PRG te sterk gaan wees vir Grey high en ek voorspel n 20 punt wen vir PRG …
@PRondersteuner (Comment #20)
Yes jy is reg.
Perhaps I should clarify. I have absolutely no problem with teachers being 1st XV coaches. There are plenty of great examples of this, including some of the best to ever coach in SA schoolboy rugby. My point is that some schools seem to have consolidated and professionalized their rugby over the last few years, in a good way. Wynberg is a great example of this. In my entire school career, not once did Grey PE lose to Wynberg at 1st XV level. Now it is common for Wynberg to beat Grey PE home and away. I think the derby had been going for 16 years at that point. Good on Wynberg for all they have done in the last 10 years. Grey seem to have taken their foot off the gas a bit and I think the rugby across the board has suffered and is contunuing to suffer with players leaving every year for schools in Durban or Cape Town. That shouldn’t happen at a school like Grey PE. If we are going to continue actually competing against the schools we play against – Paul Roos, Grey College, Wynberg etc, Grey will need a similar approach. There is no shortage of talent in the area. Cricket at Grey has always had a very professional approach and had both teachers and pro coaches involved. As a result, Grey has always been in the top 5, having produced the most SA schools crickerters in SA. We cannot therefore be proud when it comes to rugby and think we have to do it differently because its rugby.
@Smallies (Comment #7)
2014 het Grey PE op Markotter vir PRG 28-26 gewen na PRG 26-0 voor was met 10/15 min oor. Toe was Curwin Bosch Gr11. Tussen hom en Keanu Vers het hulle alles misgeskop behalwe die laaste strafskop om te wen. Hein Kriek was PRG se afrigter en het daardie jaar ‘n squad system probeer. Toe hy al die reserwes opstuur, val PRG plat.
OP het teen SWD in Middelburg in die CW finaal gespeel. Ek dink Gelant en Libbok het toe vir SWD gespeel. Jeremy Ward was ook in OP span
@Snelvuur (Comment #18)
I can’t agree with you regarding Paul Roos ranking higher academically compared to certain other all boy schools specifically. I’ve seen the academic ranking list published in January, however it is a generally assumed fact that schools are first and foremost ranked on their matric PASS RATE (and go and ask any school head master he/she will tell you matric pass rate is the most important, because boys are by default bloody lazy to study) and based on that there were only 5 public all boys schools (as per that very January list) that achieved a 100% matric pass rate in 2023, SACS, KES, Oakdale, Boland Landbou and Affies. Unfortunately Paul Roos was not one of them. You can convince me of many things, but on this one I will not agree with you.
@OUD ANKER (Comment #17)
Well, yes, some coaches do not have an understanding that these guys are still schoolboys, but this should not discredit the practice as a whole. Take Paul Roos as an example – most of the teams are not coached by teachers: most teams from the first team to the u14G side have an outside coach (some professional coaches, some rugby players who coach in their spare time and some students who earn extra money coaching). Despite this, Paul Roos was the 7th best performing academic school on this site’s ranking on last year’s matric results, third among boys’ schools and above both of the schools you referred to using teachers as coaches. It’s true, you don’t necessarily need professional coaches to be successful (although, one should also bear in mind that, in some cases, teachers coaching teams earn extra for their coaching, and some transition from teaching into the professional game, e.g., Hein Kriek), but I think you do need the best possible coaches – whether they are teaches or not. At school level “best” necessarily implies that there needs to be some sort of balance struck between sport and academics. I’m just challenging the thesis that teachers are more likely to strike this balance than the right outside coaches.
@Smallies (Comment #6)
I agree with you 100%. A school is in the first place an academic educational institution and I’ve seen many a time (not all of them obviously) that professional coaches don’t care about academics, those A team players might as well be professional players, they spend more time in the gym and on the practice fields than in the class room. If that is your rugby model, fine, but I do prefer the way certain schools do it using teachers as coaches AND looking at Grey and Affies (also full time teachers coaching the 1st team and all the teams as a matter of fact) you don’t necessarily need professional coaches to be successful.
Die rankings is glad nie n goeie ding nie. Ek weet nie of Corne Uys n onderwyser is of nie maar hy is n baie goeie afrigter. PRG behoort Grey High te klop. Dis nie die span wat destyds teen Curwin Bosch hulle verloor het nie.
@Kaya 85 (Comment #12)
The main regions of towns are Humansdorp/Jeffreys (1 known school playing rugby in Nico Malan), Uitenhage (4 schools), PE (+/- 8) , Grahamstown (3)..with smaller towns like Cradock and Graaff-Reinett, etc which have at most 2 rugby playing schools…not many schools really.
@Kaya 85 (Comment #13)
Florida,they were heavy shoppers a few years ago,has gone of the boil lately though
@BoishaaiPa (Comment #10)
The 7 Lions area teams would be I’m guestimating…Monnas, Helpies, Jeppe, KES, Marais Viljoen, Noordheuwel…and ….?
@BoishaaiPa (Comment #10)
Are u including the full Eastern Cape in that?
@BoishaaiPa (Comment #8)
Ek weet van daai een😂😂 maar hulle het gewen in 2014 teen SWD
@Kaya 85 (Comment #5)
EP has 7 schools ranked in Top 50 over 14 years…same as Lions schools…the latter has probably got three times the number of rugby playing schools in their region.
@Kaya 85 (Comment #5)
Think you might have a slight misconception of EP schools strenghts…Grey PE ranked no 7 in overall stats from 2010 to 2023. Have been in top 10 over the years.Look right at the bottom of this page.
@Smallies (Comment #7)
EP lost 95-5 to WP with Bosch in the team.
@Kaya 85 (Comment #5)
Weren’t they ranked nr 1 when Curwin Bosch was in Matric,I know EP won the Craven week that year 2015 I think
@Ryan (Comment #4)
I am a big supporter of teachers being coaches ,it is one of the hallmarks of Grey kollege rugby the 1st team head coach is always a teacher at the school Dries van der Waal ,Ingo Machts,Wessel Du Plessis and now coach Jannie ,I think they understand a teenage boy much better than any professional coach ever can….
@Ryan (Comment #4)
Wishful thinking….should never be out of the top 10?? ….top 25-30 more likely if you are lucky, and fortunate, and the wind’s in your favour. I don’t recall Grey High School, PE/Gceberha EVER having a top 10 team.
I’m not slighting the school itself though, because from what I’ve seen it might be one of the very best of the best.
This weekend will be a tough assignment for Grey, but hopefully they’ll be up for the challenge, as they usually are against Paul Roos. I feel Grey has struggled quite a lot since 2020 and has somewhat lost their rugby identity. Theoretically, Grey should have the pick of most of the best rugby players from PE to George, yet, almost every year some of the most talented players end up leaving to top 5 rugby schools. Case in point is a now u16 boy who last year, as an u15 played as the starting flyhalf for an unbeaten EP u16 side. He is now at Paul Roos. To add to this, Grey have, in the last 5 years opted to go away from pro-coaches, and indstead have their 1st XV coaches be teachers at the school. This is perfectly fine if it works, but when it doesn’t its always almost the case that the teacher ends up leaving, which has a knock on effect on both sport an academics. The Greg Miller, Rory Duncan, Brent Janse Van Rensberg era results speak for themselves. Grey PE will need to decide what kind of rugby school they want to be over the next 5 years, or they may regularly find themselves out of the top 25, when in reality, they shouldn’t ever be out of the top 10.
Saying they are “the number 1 ranked team in the country” is a misleading comment, needing qualification and clarification.
The “reigning” number 1 team, based on the whole 2023 season is of course Grey College.
The ‘current’ team leading the rankings AT THIS MOMENT, i.e. this week, might be Paul Roos. Using some formulas or Elo ratings this is useful but the official designation of number 1 is very much still up for grabs…Paarl Gim, Grey and Paul Roos all contenders. PRG is unbeaten of course and look very mean and scary I will concede.
The score on Saturday will depend on whether the Grey forwards can man up again. They were involved in a very physical match last week which was full of big hits in close quarters (2 Grey Props were replaced, both with what looked like serious injuries). Berg definitely had the upper hand in the scrums, although, it was evident from the first & the last scrums of the day, they were not really allowed to gain dominance. The plan of keeping it narrow worked like a charm for Grey. The continuous pick & go’s amongst the forwards clearly frustrated the Berg as they were starved of possession throughout the game. I presume they will try & do it again this week but there is no doubt that Roos will have seen the video & come up with their own plan to disrupt them as much as possible.
Grey showed a lot of character & discipline throughout the match but you would expect nothing less from a school with immense pride. Hopefully they in a good head space this week & physically their forwards didn’t take too much of a knock last week as it does not get any easier.
Prediction Roos by 20
Just want to give props to a few grade 11 players in PRG’s team that I am properly excited about. First, man of the match against Paarl Boys’, Gert Kemp. Very different to the rest of PRG’s loose trio – he is quick and quite an abrasive runner (this quality he shares with Norton and, especially, Kruger). Second, Altus Rabe, who I genuinely think is one of the form hookers in SA. He is a different sort of hooker to most other schoolboy hookers: quick (he chased down BHS’ winger to make a try-saving tackle!) and extremely skillful with ball in hand, with a strong pass to both sides. If anything, I think he is most comparable to someone like Schalk Brits. The rest of the forwards are, as the article puts it, massive – both in size and work-rate (special mention to Truspe Schoeman in this regard). The backs have not yet fired on all cylinders, and I think Sam Badenhorst (who was subbed off before halftime against BHS) could be a massive loss (depending on the extent of the injury). They won’t underestimate Grey PE at all, however – the Kolisi field is not the easiest place to travel to!