Paarl Boys’ High reign supreme
• Boishaai thrash unbeaten Grey College in interschools fixture
Paarl Boys’ High confirmed their status as the No 1 rugby school in the country when they smashed closest challengers Grey College 46-31 in Bloemfontein for the second time in three years on Saturday.
Paarl Boys High confirmed their status as the No 1 rugby school in the country when they smashed closest challengers Grey College 46-31 in Bloemfontein for the second time in three years on Saturday.
About 800 Paarl pupils made the trip to the Free State to swell the crowd to 13,000. The boys from the Boland (also known as Boishaai), who have not lost a game locally since 2014, made it a first yet hat-trick of wins in this annual interschools fixture dating back to 1950.
College came into the encounter unbeaten this season having seen off top opposition and were favourites to make it win number eight, but a secondhalf meltdown from the home side consigned that record to the scrap heap.
In all, 11 tries were scored, eight going the way of the visitors, five of them dotted down in the second half.
Grey were ahead at halftime, but Boishaai upped the ante and were in a league of their own in the final 35 minutes of the 70-minute match. Their forwards fired while the back seven excelled on attack. It was a more direct approach that set the ball rolling.
College were off-colour protecting their ball and could not live with the tempo in the face of the onslaught. While College tried to make a fist of it after falling behind, they seemed one step too slow.
Hooker Wilhelm Barnard scored the first try for Boishaai, then it was the turn of flanker Vian Fourie to cross over the whitewash. The third unconverted try of the first half went the way of star fullback Thaakir Abrahams. Second-half tries were scored by backs Luka Ferreria, Abner van Reenen (2) and Le Roux Malan. Captain and eighthman Francke Horn also went over for the visitors.
“We worked hard for this result,” said winning coach Sean Erasmus. “It was a team effort as is always the case.
“We were slow out of the blocks and I thought we kicked away possession too often, which allowed College to hurt us from the back.
“The message at the break was to hold on to the ball and build an innings and we did this exceptionally well. You could see the boys growing in confidence and when they scored the first try, I felt that the game was there to be won.
“It was a bit of a try-frenzy out there to which our rivals had no answer to. So much travelling this season made the win that much more special,” said Erasmus.
“We were in New Zealand for a couple of weeks and got back home for one day before hitting the road to play in a festival.
“Then we were at Wildeklawer Week before making the bus trip to Bloemfontein. It is a different ball game at this level of the game now.”
Boishaai will be back in action on Saturday away to Rondebosch Boys High in a Western Province Under-19A Premier League clash.