This weekend, every other schoolboy game pales into insignificance when the biggest interschools rugby clash in the world takes place in Paarl between the Galpille (Paarl Boys’ High) and Bloedworse (Paarl Gim).
This is the first time this festival of sport, culminating in the First XV rugby match, has taken place since 2019. Thanks COVID!
The two schools, as well as Paarl Girls’ High, have competed against each other all week in the build up to Saturday’s A team rugby fixtures at the Faure Street stadium, which will be screened on the SuperSport Schools channels. The First XV match is this week’s Premier Interschools clash on SuperSport and will kick off at 16:00.
In my research for this piece, I watched the U/15A game from three years ago, where the bulk of Saturday’s First Teams were involved in a humdinger at Faure Street in front of what was already a large crowd for the first game of the day. Gim won in injury time, thanks to a try by current SA Schools hooker Luca Bakkes, pulling off a brilliant turnaround having gone into halftime 14 – 0 down. When anyone argues that SA schoolboy rugby is not the best in the world, I would direct them to this game as irrefutable proof that we have no equal.
A number of things struck me as these 14/15 year olds tore into each other. Firstly, the size of the kids at that age and their conditioning was eye-opening. Allied to this was the excellent coaching that had clearly been provided to the players. The only noticeable area for improvement was the lineout, with a number of skew and poor throws hampering momentum. The speed at which the game was played at that level was bewildering, as well as the control both flyhalves had at such an early age. The negative impact that COVID has had in hampering the performance of many traditionally strong schools this year has not been felt in Paarl. These kids were ready for senior rugby from an early age. Their execution of basic skills such as a catch/pass and ball retention would be the envy of many a First XV in 2022!
Gim went into that game in 2019 having won all 16 of their matches, with centre Logan Opperman having scored 22 tries in the process. He is unfortunately not involved on Saturday due to injury. Boishaai had a record of P13 W9 D2 L2, but they were full value for their two-try lead at the break. The standout player was Matthew Fick, who capped his promise shown back then by being named as the SA Schools openside flank this year, and has recently signed with the Sharks from 2023.
Gim scored first in the second half to reduce the deficit to 14 – 7, star flyhalf Liam Koen slotting the conversion from the corner. His #siegegunboot (Andy Capostagno’s go to term) was ridiculous for his age. His kicks at goal sailed over the top of the uprights and his exits from kickoffs went deep into the Boishaai half. At the risk of being controversial, I believe his inclusion this weekend on his return from injury may suit Boishaai. Koen’s replacement, Kyle Smith, has a better all round game than the son of the former Bok. But I digress.
With little under ten minutes to play, inspirational Boishaai hooker, the current First XV captain Juan Smal, was shown a controversial yellow card for an infringement at the ruck around the halfway line. This proved to be the turning point in the game. Gim scored shortly after this via a snipe at the base of a ruck from another future star, SA Schools A scrumhalf Emrique Liedeman. The scores were level with three minutes to go to set up a grand stand finish.
In the final minute, Koen put in a massive hit on Boishaai centre Luke Carew and when Gim turned the ball over they worked their way into the Boishaai 22m before Bakkes hit a great line on the shoulder of the first receiver to go over and break the hearts of the team in Blue, Black and White. The match finished with Koen’s conversion making it 21 – 14.
This result augured well for Gim, who won the main game 18 – 17 later in the day, to break a 4 match losing streak in the biggest match of all.
Paarl Gim 2022 season
Paarl Gim were predicted to be the No. 1 school in the country when the season started back in March. They hit the ground running but were shocked by Affies in Pretoria and Paul Roos at home, although they did beat Grey College in between those defeats. The strength of this side is perhaps shown by the fact that they have scored 50+ points on 5 occasions, heading into their final game of the season. They have been especially ruthless against their Southern Suburbs opponents. All this counts for nothing if they don’t do the job on Saturday.
SA reps – 4 (Luca Bakkes, Keanu Coetzee, Danio Botha and Emrique Liedeman)
Boishaai 2022 season
Boishaai also started the season well until they were on the end of one of the shocks of the 2022 season by losing at home to Rondebosch! They recovered to beat Maritzburg College and Monnas comfortably at Wildeklawer but then would have been disappointed in losing to Grey College in Bloem, especially as they were leading at half-time. They have been unbeaten since then and scored a comfortable win over Paul Roos away from home with 14 men for 50 minutes of the game. They still have to play Outeniqua next week but their season will be judged on their performance on Saturday.
SA reps – 4 (Matthew Fick, Thurlon Williams, Shah-Jehaan and Jameel de Jongh)
Last 6 results
The competitiveness of this fixture over the years is neatly illustrated by the fact that over the last 6 matches, Boishaai have won 4, with these victories bookended by Gim wins. The aggregate score of 116 – 103 in favour of Boishaai over this period shows just how keenly contested this game always is.
Prediction
At the risk of being non-committal, this match is too close to call, both sides having brilliant players through their spine. As always, the game will be decided up front, and Paarl Gim may have the upper hand here. Their entire tight five represented either the WP or WP XV team at Craven Week. The return of Juan Smal to Boishaai’s pack will not be insignificant though. It may be apocryphal, but I have heard that tough-tackling Boishaai flank Divan Fuller had the choice between playing at Craven Week and playing Interschools and he chose Interschools as he still has 2023 to make his mark at the prestigious week.
Both sides have exciting backlines who will look to give the ball air in front of what will surely be a record crowd, having been starved of this clash for three long years. It is going to be a classic, of that we can all agree. In keeping with this season’s theme of surprise results I am going for the men from the south of Paarl to get the win.
Prediction: Paarl Boys’ High by 1 point