A schoolboy season to remember
SPOTLIGHT: Paul Roos finished unbeaten for the first time in 23 years, Garsfontein rebounded to win the Noordvaal Cup, while Jeppe and Milnerton pulled off a couple of titanic upsets.
From the record-breaking victories to the clean sweeps, the unbeaten runs to the shock results, the 2024 schoolboy rugby season certainly did not disappoint.
As another action-packed campaign comes to a close, @rugby365com reflects on the biggest winners and losers, and where some of the teams might sit in the ‘unofficial’ rankings.
THE TOP DOGS
Paul Roos were hands down the best team on show in 2024.
Corné Uys’s charges finished the season unbeaten, replicating the feats of the 1991 Paul Roos outfit.
Their 15-match win-record included victories against other leading teams such as Grey College, Paarl Gym and Affies.
Following Paul Roos’ record-breaking victory against Grey on August 17, some have believed that the Bloemfontein side should drop to third or fourth in the rankings.
But while Grey suffered a shock 19-22 loss to Jeppe in March, and ultimately a 3-36 defeat at the hands of Paul Roos in Stellenbosch, they did finish the season with a solid record of 13 from 15 – a run that included a 29-27 win at Gimmies and a 31-27 victory at Affies.
Gimmies played some enterprising rugby, but will lament home losses to Paul Roos and Grey. They did manage to finish the season with a flourish, though, when they thumped Boishaai 30-8 in the annual Paarl derby.
Affies lost to Paul Roos, Grey and to Gimmies (all in Pretoria). Apart from those results, they were the leading side in Gauteng, and won 11 from 14 overall.
THE CHASING PACK
A young Boishaai side struggled for consistency, winning their first five matches before sustaining a loss to Wynberg. They managed to pull things back towards the end of the season, before ending their campaign with that big defeat to Gimmies.
Durban High School earned their place in the Top 10 on the back of a 12 from 15 record. They finished the season with an unbeaten record against their KwaZulu-Natal counterparts, and also managed to beat Jeppe.
Whether they deserve to rank higher than teams like Rondebosch, who played against three of the four top dogs and some of the country’s other leading sides, is debatable.
Rondebosch went down to Oakdale, Paul Roos, Gimmies, Boishaai and Boland Landbou. They did beat DHS 12-7, and finished the season with a southern suburbs grand slam, after beating Wynberg, SACS and a struggling Bishops outfit twice.
Waterkloof bounced back from a 24-47 loss to Paul Roos and went on to dominate the Noordvaal Cup. They appeared to be peaking at the right time, before defending champions Garsfontein burst their bubble in the decider.
Garsies lost six of their first seven games, before finding form later in the season. A big win against EG Jansen earned them home advantage for the Noordvaal Cup semifinals, and they proved too strong for their Pretoria rivals in the decider, winning 36-30.
Jeppe made rugby headlines after stunning the mighty Grey College in March.
They blew hot and cold in the ensuing months, however, losing to Garsies and Boishaai, as well as KES. They had their revenge, though, when they beat their Joburg rivals in the return fixture.
KNOCKING ON THE DOOR
EG Jansen pushed Paul Roos close earlier this season, and appeared to be finding form in the latter stages of the Noordvaal Cup, before they were blown away by Garsies.
Hilton and Northwood also showed promise, while Westville claimed a big win over Monument.
Like Jeppe, Wynberg turned heads with their 30-27 win against Boishaai – their first victory in Paarl since 1988.
They lost momentum thereafter. Looking back, they may be disappointed with a season scorecard that reads eight from 15.
Boland Landbou may have similar regrets. They were no match for the likes of Gimmies and Paul Roos, but made a clean sweep of the big schools in Cape Town’s southern suburbs.
In the Eastern Cape, Grey High School held Wynberg to a draw and were competitive in the loss to Paul Roos.
They won six of their eight matches against Eastern Cape opposition, and ended the season with a 48-27 win over Selborne College on the Kolisi Field.
While they are not yet in the Top 20 conversation, special mention should go to Milnerton and Charlie Hofmeyr in the Western Cape.
Milnerton went on a nine-game winning streak that included dramatic come-from-behind victories at Rondebosch and Bishops. Charlies finished the season with a perfect 14-from-14 record.