Theo Garrun Talking Schoolboy rugby

  I found the Golden Lions Schools teams for the upcoming youth weeks, released this week, disturbing. I have no reason to doubt the honesty of the selectors, and the players named are the best in their positions, I’m sure. But the picture painted is a very sad one. What it shows is that schools rugby in the province has all but died. People at schools are screaming bias and unfair treatment on social media. I can’t comment on that, but I do believe that an organisation that exists to promote rugby at schools in its region has done the game harm with this selection. In short – there were 115 boys named (in the five squads of 23). And 93 percent of them come from five schools, Monument (25), Helpmekaar (23), Noordheuwel (20), KES (19) and Jeppe (19). There are three players from Northcliff, two from St John’s, and one each from Parktown, Linden and Dinamika. That’s out of 40 rugby-playing schools in the province. I spoke to one of the teachers at Jeppe who is on the committee ...