Neighbours Meet in Newlands

SCHOOLS PREVIEW: Newlands and Rondebosch are adjacent Cape Town suburbs - SACS are in Newlands, Rondebosch Boys' High, unsurprisingly, in Rondebosch.

SACS are "above the line", Rondebosch "below the line". They have been playing each other for over a century - starting back when SACS were "in town" before their move out to leafy Newlands in 1960 when it was 130 years old.

SACS and Rondebosch play each other home and away, as they have done for years and enjoy doing. They have large, enthusiastic crowds which would be the envy of some professional teams. It may not have the structure and intensity of the Paarl Interschools, but it will have the redeeming feature of being fun.

Season So Far

SACS have won five of their nine matches, Rondebosch seven out of 10. Each has played four teams ranked on the Top 20 but neither is so ranked.

Results against Common Opponents

Durbanville: SACS won 17-13; Rondebosch won 30-15

Kingswood: SACS won 17-10; Rondebosch won 15-10

Maritzburg College: SACS won 35-7; Rondebosch won 41-3

Paarl Gim: SACS lost 54-38; Rondebosch lost 69-28

It would seem that the prospect is a close encounter on a wet morning in Newlands

Teams

SACS: 15 Ross Letcher, 14 Matthew Hayes, 13 Robin Aspeling, 12 Fabrice Nahimana, 11 Cameron Abegglen, 10 Dean Reich, 9 Thurston Cloete, 8 Lukhanyo Gqokoma, 7 Jean Minnaar, 6 Craig Bylin (captain), 5 Justin Thomas, 4 Storm Balchin, 3 Joshua Barrett, 2 Anathi Kailpa, 1 Ethan Burger

Rondebosch: 15 Dalvon Blood, 14 Thoubaan Gabriels, 13 Jordan Collier, 12 Ross Stone, 11 Jonathan Jollivet de Oliveira, 10 Conor van Eden, 9 Jaco Barnard, 8 Johan Strauss, 7 Joshua King, 6 Justin Reynolds (captain), 5 Ra'ees Sallie, 4 Matt Gray, 3 David Ige, 2 Troy Fisher, 1 Seth Christian

Date: 2 June 2018

First XV kick-off: 12.00

Venue: Memorial A Field at SACS

Expected weather conditions: Rain with a high of 16°C and a low of 11°C - great for the drought but not so great for rugby.

Rugby Programme

Memorial A

09.30: 3rd XV

10.45: 2nd XV

12.00: 1st XV

Memorial B

08.00: 4th XV

09.10: Under-16B

10.20: Under-16A

De Villiers A

08.00: Under-15B

09.05: Under-15A

10.10: 5th XV

De Villiers B

08.00: Under-15D

09.05: Under-15C

Junior School A

09.05: Under-14B

10.10: Under-14A

Junior School B

08.00: Under-14C

09.15: Under-14D vs Westerford