The big Interschools

It's the first Saturday in August and so it is the Interschools. This is the big one, what you mean when you say Interschools - Paarl Boys' High vs Paarl Gimnasium, Boishaai vs Gimmies, Galpil vs Bloedwors.

It is hard to imagine a more passionate schoolboy rugby encounter anywhere in the world. The divide between the two schools in a pleasant Boland down is a huge chasm. Paarl is split wide apart, and everything is separate, pre-parties and postparties, ground accommodation, colour. It's green for Gim, blue for Boys' High - and don't make a mistake.

The only contact is on the field of play, and the field of play is not just a rugby field. There are other sports and activities.

There are Old Boys' Reunions, the Great Brag that builds up 'gees' for the occasion and the traditional ceremony in which fathers cap their sons. There are singsongs, Old Boys' matches, Golden Oldies matches, the primary schools are involved as well as La Rochelle for the girls' activities. There is golf, hockey, chess and netball.

It completely absorbs both schools for the whole of the week.

There will be a huge crowd - 20 000 or more - at the stadium in Faure Street. People will come from far and wide and the interest in the match will stretch far beyond the borders of South Africa. And it will be televised.

It is not just about the rugby match, only mainly so. If you say Boishaai or Gimmies won Interschools, you mean that the first team won. If the first team wins, everybody wins.

It's a difficult game to predict. It always is but even more so this year when the teams are ranked 1 and 2 in the country with so little to separate them. At the moment Boys' High are ranked No.1 on the FNB Top 20 with Paarl Gim ranked No.2 after being No.1 for most of the season.

This century Gimmies have had the better, winning eight of 11, Boishaai two with a draw. But all of that is irrelevant. We can look at other bits of history and personality but in the end it all comes down to 70 minutes on match day.

Results against Common Opponents

Affies: Boishaai lost 22-14, Gimmies 27-20

Bishops: Boishaai won 80-5, Gimmies 57-3

Boland Landbou: Boishaai won 20-10, Gimmies 38-13

Grey Bloem: Boishaai won 28-18, Gimmies 45-29

Oakdale: Boishaai won 22-7, Gimmies 25-15

Outeniqua: Boishaai won 33-26; Gimmies drew 17-17

Paul Roos: Boishaai 22-17, Gimmies 28-8

Rondebosch: Boishaai won 24-3, Gimmies 38-8

SACS: Boishaai won 19-10, Gimmies 28-13

Waterkloof: Boishaai won 19-18, Gimmies 38-11

Wynberg: Boishaai won 12-6, Gimmies, 14-10

There is not much to choose.

Representative Players

Gimmies have the most talked-about player in the Western Province - Handré Pollard. He was a star for the victorious SA Under-20 side at the IRB's Junior World Championship but then he had a terrible opening match at Craven Week when was injured and in fact has not played since then, but he is a flyhalf with every skill a flyhalf should have, and he is back from injury and down to play.

Paarl Gim have two players in the SA Schools team to play three Tests later this month - Pollard and lock JD Schickerling.

The following went to Craven Week with the Western Province team:

Paarl Boys' High: Pieter Schoonraad, Sebastian Ferreira, Liam Hendricks, Craig Corbett, Wesley Adonis, Burger van Niekerk. And Jean-Luc du Plessis went to Craven Week in Pollard's place when Pollard was injured.

Paarl Gim: Wesley Cupido, Grant Hermanus, Handré Pollard (captain), Rikus Bothma, Jacques Vermeulen, JD Schickerling, Craig Cooper.

In addition, the following went to the Academy Week:

Paarl Boys' High: Michael van Tonder, who is not in Saturday's team, Jean-Luc du Plessis, Dewald Naudé

Paarl Gim: Lotter Pretorius, Ollie Regue, Hennie Botha

That means that 19 players from the two schools represented Western Province in the recent holidays.

Prediction: That would be silly. It would be silly in years when a winner seems obvious and far too silly in this close year for a prediction. The conflict bteween the two outstanding packs of rugged schoolboys could be decisive.

The teams

Paarl Gim. 15 Dawie Dyason, 14 Grant Hermanus, 13 Wesley Cupido, 12 Altus Momsen, 11 Loek van der Merwe, 10 Handré Pollard (captain), 9 Lotter Pretorius, 8 Rikus Bothma, 7 Corné Cooper, 6 Jacques Vermeulen, 5 Hennie Botha (vice-captain), 4 JD Schickerling, 3 Stephan Morkel, 2 Evan Macdonald, 1 Ollie Regue

Coach: Christoff Lötter

Paarl Boys' High. 15 Darian Hock, 14 Tiaan Mouton, 13 Dewald Naudé, 12 Henri Nimb, 11 Dante van der Merwe, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Pieter Schoonraad, 8 Johan Botha, 7 Jeandré Brink, 6 Derek Taylor, 5 Sebastian Ferreira, 4 Burger van Niekerk, 3 Liam Hendricks, 2 Craig Corbett (captain), 1 Wesley Adonis

Coaches. Elmo Wolfaardt, Gerrie Visser, Pierre Ribbens

Date: Saturday, 4 August 2012

1st XV kick-off: 16.00

Venue: Faure Street Stadium, Paarl

Expected weather conditions: Partly cloudy with a high of 19C, dropping to 5C, light wind.

Referee: Quinton Immelman (Western Province Referees' Society)

Television broadcasts:

Saturday, 4 August 2012: Supersport 1 at 19.30

Tuesday, 7 August 2012: Supersport 1 at 13.30

Wednesday, 8 August 2012: Supersport 1 at 08.30

Thursday, 9 August 2012: Supersport 1 at 05.00

Rugby Programme

Friday, 3 August 2012

A Field

14.00: Under-19D

15.10: Under-14A

16.15: Under-19C

B Field

14.00: Under-16B

16.20: Under-19F

15.10: Under-19E

C Field

16.20: Under-16C

15.10: Under-6D

D Field

14.00: Under-14B

15.00: Under-14C

16.00: Under-14D

E Field

16.00: Under-15B

15.00: Under-15C

14.00: Under-15D

 

Saturday's Rugby Programme

12.05. Under-15A

13.15. Under-16A

14.35. 2nd XV

16.00. 1st XV

Results Down the Years:

1915: Boys' High won 10-0

1916: Gim won 7-5

1917: Gim won 3-0

1918: Gim won 3-0

1919: Gim won 9-0

1920: Gim won 20-0

1921: Draw 6-6

1922: Draw 3-3

1923: Boys' High won 3-0

1924: Boys' High won 13-5

1925: Boys' High won 7-3

1926: Boys' High won 6-5

1927: Gim won 5-3

1928: No match

1929: Draw 3-3

1930: Boys' High won 5-3

1931: Gim won 6-0

1932: Gim won 7-3

1933: Boys' High won 3-0

1934: Boys' High won 5-4

1935: Draw 0-0

1936: Gim won 11-6

1937: Gim won 5-3

1938: Gim won 5-3

1939: Gim won 9-8

1940: Draw 3-3

1941: Gim won 6-0

1942: Draw 0-0

1943: Gim won 9-6

1944: Boys' High won 6-0

1945: Boys' High won 14-6

1946: Draw 3-3

1947: Boys' High won 8-3

1948: Draw 3-3

1949: Gim won 9-3

1950: Boys' High won 6-3

1951: Boys' High won 6-0

1952: Boys' High won 11-0

1953: Boys' High won 6-5

1956: Gim won 6-3

1957: Gim won 5-3

1958: Gim won 11-0

1959: Boys' High won 11-3

1960: Gim won 9-3

1961: Boys' High won 6-0

1962: Boys' High won 6-0

1963: Boys' High won 8-0

1964: Gim won 9-8

1965: Gim won 11-0

1966: Gim won 8-0

1967: Gim won 8-6

1968: Gim won 3-0

1969: Boys' High won 8-5

1970: Gim won 19-8

1971: Boys' High won 11-6

1972: Boys' High won 6-3

1973: Boys' High won 19-6

1974: Gim won 9-3

1975: Boys' High won 3-0

1976: Gim won 8-6

1977: Boys' High won 15-6

1978: Gim won 13-10

1979: Gim won 12-6

1980: Gim won 9-3

1981: Gim won 12-0

1982: Boys' High won 16-15

1983: Gim won 15-6

1984: Gim won 10-4

1985: Boys' High won 16-6

1986: Draw 0-0

1987: Boys' High won 15-7

1988: Draw 6-6

1989: Gim won 15-4

1990: Boys' High won 10-6

1991: Boys' High won 8-4

1992: Gim won 20-15

1993: Boys' High won 19-17

1994: Boys' High won 11-6

1995: Boys' High won 17-3

1996: Gim won 18-16

1997: Gim won 13-10

1998: Boys' High won 16-5

1999: Gim won 13-6

2000: Boys' High won 15-7

2001: Gim won 13-6

2002: Gim won 15-0

2003: Boys' High won 25-6

2004: Gim won 13-3

2005: Gim won 22-10

2006: Gim won 23-17

2007: Gim won 10-0

2008: Gim won 35-8

2009: Boys' High won 24-12

2010: Draw 19-19

2011: Gim won 22-19