Cape schools continue to dominate in 2025

SPOTLIGHT: Paarl Boys finished the 2025 schools’ season at the top of the South African rugby pyramid, while Garsfontein, Westville, and Graeme College lit up the regional leagues.

As the schoolboy rugby season draws to a close, it’s worth reflecting on the collective and individual highlights.

Centre Markus Muller (who scored 36 tries over the course of the season for Paarl Gymnasium), prop Jordan Jooste (Paarl Boys), centre Ethan Adams (Grey College), loose forward Jacobus de Villiers (Oakdale) and fullback Zekhethelo Siyaya (Westville) are just some of the players who may go on to bigger and better things in the years to come.

As far as team results are concerned, the Western Cape juggernauts made another big statement in 2025.

The top dogs

Paarl Gymnasium have been one of the most consistent teams on show in recent years – and certainly took things further in 2025, when they beat Grey College in Bloemfontein.

Meanwhile, Boishaai fought back from a disappointing 2024 campaign to top the unofficial schools’ rankings in 2025.

Sean Erasmus’ charges won 15 out of 16 matches over the course of the season – a run that included wins against Grey College and Paul Roos.

Gimmies went into the annual derby at Faure Street – which doubled as a national final – as favourites.

But on the day, Boishaai won 35-33 to atone for last year’s loss, and finish the season as South Africa’s leading schools’ team.

Grey College and Paul Roos may be disappointed with how the season turned out – but only in the context of their previous campaigns.

It’s not often that Grey loses two matches in a season, and rarer still that they lose one at home. The 31-43 defeat to Gimmies marked their first loss in Bloemfontein in eight years.

Nevertheless, they finished with an impressive record of 13 from 15, which is similar to Gimmies’ return – although the Paarl outfit drew one result, against Affies.

The chasing pack

Paul Roos won all 15 matches in 2024, and a younger and less experienced combination took some time to find its feet in 2025.

In the end, the Stellenbosch outfit finished with an 11 from 16 record, which included losses to other leading sides like Gimmies, Boishaai, Grey College, Affies and Oakdale.

Affies won 13 out of 16, drawing 16-16 with Gimmies in Paarl and beating Paul Roos at the Wildeklawer festival.

If not for the 17-25 loss to Boishaai and a 37-42 defeat to Grey College (in Bloem), the Pretoria outfit may have challenged for top spot.

Oakdale had a season to remember, beating Paul Roos and Boishaai.

Their season was bookended by some disappointing results, though, such as the 7-10 loss to Rondebosch and the 27-34 defeat to Boland Landbou – the latter marking their only loss on the farm in 2025.

Nevertheless, Oakdale still finished the season with a 10 from 15 record.

Regional leaders

While Affies are the reigning Kings of the North, Garsfontein continue to dominate the Noordvaal Cup.

Garsies beat Helpmekaar 30-19 in last week’s final to claim their third-successive Noordvaal Cup title.

Special mention should go to Helpmekaar, who enjoyed one of their better campaigns in the region and across the country – beating Bishops and Wynberg earlier in the season.

Noordheuwel and Menlopark also had their moments in 2025, but struggled for consistency.

Durban High School managed to build on a successful 2024 season, winning 15 out of 17.

DHS lost to Gimmies and Westville, with the latter going on to finish their season unbeaten.

Westville won all 15 of their matches – a run that included victories against EG Jansen, KES and a monumental 33-28 result against DHS.

Diamantveld dominated most of the central region battles, finishing with an overall record of 17 from 20.

While the Kimberley outfit lost to Affies, Rustenburg and Waterkloof, they did manage to claim the interprovincial scalps of Framesby, Welkom Gym and Martizburg College.

Down in the Eastern Cape, Brandwag, Graeme and Queen’s all enjoyed a consistent run.

Graeme finished the season with a 14 from 18 record, which included wins against Brandwag and Queen’s. Brandwag won 16 out of 19, and Queen’s 16 out of 20.

Further west, Wynberg emerged as the leading side in Cape Town’s southern suburbs after maintaining an unbeaten record across home and away matches against Bishops, Rondebosch and SACS.