My chirp the other day about the unfairness of Western Province having two teams in each of the Craven, under-18 Academy and Grant Khomo Weeks, met with the expected disdain from people south of the Great Karoo, and the issue quickly pivoted to the real injustice in schools interprovincial rugby: the continued inclusion of players from the three Paarl schools – Boys High Gimansium and Boland Landbou – and Stellenbosch’s Paul Roos Gimnasium in the Western Province teams. The two issues are tied together. The inclusion of multiple WP teams in the Youth Weeks is being justified on the grounds of the excellence of the schools and the number of good players produced, yet the four consistently top schools are actually in the Boland region, and they contribute the majority of the players to the province teams, year after year. It’s a matter that has been raised many times, including by me, and I’ve been castigated for raising the same old issue over and over, implying that because i...
What's happened, happening and going to happen on our school rugby fields