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Great players, teams and matches

 

Picture: Martin Ashworth Photography, from the Michaelhouse Facebook page


I have often confessed that sometimes I’m a terrible hypocrite in these weekly meaningless rants of mine on the state of schools rugby in the country.

I accept that I shouldn’t be condemning the professionalisation of schools rugby programmes and then enjoy watching the top schools teams play so damn much. And I should also admit that I know those teams have almost all been assembled by recruiting players from other schools, far and wide.

I’m against professionalisation because it’s sometimes uneducational. It’s based on winning as the dominant value, which doesn’t leave room for teaching the other valuable lessons that sport is supposed to do. And I disapprove of recruitment because, while it may be good for individual children, it’s leaving a desert out there and the game is dying everywhere but in the strongest rugby schools.

The problem is that those practices work. The schools that employ them produce fantastic rugby teams, and out of them will come the professional players that we are prepared to pay money to watch, and the Springboks that we want so badly to beat the rest of the world.

I spent most of Monday in front of the TV watching the SuperSport Schools streaming of the Wildeklawer Festival. There were no bad teams there, and the top five or six were incredibly good. I’ve been at schools rugby games for over 30 years, and I can’t think of many better players and teams, or better matches than the last few in Kimberly on Monday.

The teams on show were predominantly made up of white boys – which won’t please some – but there were a sprinkling of players of colour and they were all among the best on the field in their respective matches. That’s the product of effective recruitment. The schools identify the best of the burgeoning talent among the black players in the land and take them in, give them the best coaching and conditioning and turn them into superstars.

It's great player development in action and it will ensure a pool of excellent players of colour for the unions to recruit from. It’s not transformation, really, but it makes for good rugby watching.

Ranking of schools is another part of the problem – they make a race out of something that shouldn’t be one – but the rankers do get the top nine or 10 schools right. That’s not difficult to do, and those 10 are usually at the Wildeklawer, and they play among each other, making the pecking order clearer after a weekend like this one.

Enough of that. I’m tabling my objections and reflecting on those excellent games in Kimberley.

After the weekend no-one can argue that Paarl Gim, Grey College, Garsfontein, Affies, Paul Roos and Paarl Boys’ High are solidly the top six in the land. And Paarl Gim, after beating Grey College, are on the top of the pile.

But the boys don’t play for ranking positions, they play to express themselves and exercise their talents, and for the joy of winning. Two teams of players who do that invariably produce great games, and we had quite a few of those over the weekend.

The Garsfontein vs Paul Roos Gim game, won 20-18 by Garsfontein was a cracker, as was Paarl Gimnasium’s 22-17 win over Grey College.

Garsfontein’s victory means that they are unbeaten so far. They beat Affies early on and drew with Paarl Boys and have announced themselves as firmly in the top echelon of schools.

Paarl Gim’s win over Grey College was their second in succession – they beat them at the Monument Centenary Festival last year. That’s not something that happens often and it makes them the top ranked school in the land, for now, although they did lose to Affies at the North South Festival last month.

Affies and Paarl Boys’ High were the only others to win both games at Wildeklaver. Affies beat Oakdale and Glenwood, while Booishaai beat Maritzburg College and Monument.

In other action at the weekend KES and Jeppe both had good wins – 29-0 vs Parktown and 36-12 vs Pretoria Boys’ High, respectively – setting up next weekend’s derby clash at Jeppe nicely.

Hilton beat Michaelhouse 31-17 in the big Midlands derby and Grey High ended Rondebosch’s run of wins, beating them 21-7 at the Selborne 150th festival. The hosts won both their matches there – 47-7 vs St Andrew’s and 20-19 vs Kingswood, as did Brandwag of Uitenhage.

There are some big clashes ahead this weekend. Paarl Gim’s number one spot will be challenged when they host Paul Roos, Grey High face Wynberg and Bishops take on near neighbours, SACS. In KZN, Westville host Glenwood, Michaelhouse host Kearsney and DHS face Hilton.

Graeme College and St Andrew’s meet in a Grahamstown derby. And Grey College will be looking to bounce back when they travel to Selborne College.

 

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