Kaya 85’s Search for South Africa’s Best Schoolboy Rugby Team of 2026

Kaya has looked deeply into the structures, fabric, nooks and crannies of schoolboy rugby. Behind the mountains, along the coast, up the rivers, in suburbs, towns and townships, villages and dorpies, he has found — pound for pound — the best first XV in South Africa in 2026.

They beat the team who beat the team who beat the team…

Let me prove it to you.

Welcome to Wilgerivier, maats.

It is a combined school where the rugby journey begins in pre-primary and primary school, with the “welpies” learning the game while the girls excel on the netball court. The high school fields just four rugby teams — First XV, Second XV, Under-16 and Under-15. The First XV is coached by Nicholas Naudé and Danie van der Merwe.

Hoërskool Wilgerivier, situated in the rural northern Free State town of Frankfort, is a special place. Besides rugby, they are serious about netball, having produced Protea internationals and currently holding the South African Under-15 Fast Five title.

I wonder how many of us have even heard of them?

They do not feature in Beet’s SBR Top 80 rankings.

But they sit at No. 1 on Kaya’s 2026 rankings.

Kaya doesn’t know much, guys, but he played flank and lock (hence Kaya 85), coached and refereed, cut oranges, mixed energy drinks, bought 25 jerseys, stayed up strategising and still follows the game of rugby football as played in the schools of South Africa’s nine proud provinces.

I watch plenty of rugby because it makes me feel alive. Festival games — Easter festivals, Noord/Suid and Wildeklawer — live if possible. Under-16 games, Under-14 games if I wake up early enough, and even barefoot primary school rugby now and then. I watch the Varsity Cup, Craven Week and Grant Khomo Week, and then the Lions, Bulls, Stormers and Sharks (in that order) in the URC. Of course, there are international Test matches too.

Kaya doesn’t watch much soccer, although he did see Queens Park Rangers play at Loftus Road — on South Africa Road in West London — back in the Vinnie Jones days. Every four years he watches the World Cup semi-finals and final, and perhaps a Bafana Bafana match too.

But schoolboy rugby, my friends, is what keeps me going.

This is what we love.

And here is why Wilgerivier are No. 1.

In April 2026, Wilgerivier beat Fichardtpark of Bloemfontein 19-5.

Then, over the course of the season, the following chain of results unfolded — all of which can be checked on the SBR blog’s excellent database.

Fichardtpark beat Heidelberg Volkskool.

Heidelberg Volkskool, ranked 65th, beat Marais Viljoen and Wesvalia.

Wesvalia beat Montana.

Montana beat Oos-Moot. Sure, Kempton Park also beat Oos-Moot, and St Charles beat Kempies, but Oos-Moot beat Middelburg.

Middelburg lost to HTS Middelburg before winning the rematch.

They beat Menlopark.

Menlopark beat Helpmekaar.

Helpies beat Maritzburg College.

College beat Jeppe Boys High.

Jeppe lost to Affies and Pretoria Boys High, but they beat Garsfontein — that’s a fact.

And the Garsie Bere beat Stellenberg in the dying moments.

And, as we know, the giant-slaying Jade Brigade of Stellenberg beat Paul Roos, Grey College and Paarl Gimnasium during the 2026 season.

At the very top of this remarkable tower of results sits a little farm school in the northern Free State.

Gentlemen, may I present to you:

Wilgerivier.

They beat the team who beat the team who beat the team who beat the team… who beat Paarl Gimnasium before going on to beat everyone else.

Pound for pound, Kaya 85’s champions of South African schoolboy rugby in 2026 come not from Paarl, Pretoria or Johannesburg.

They come from Frankfort.