School rankings – August 10
OPINION: The schoolboy rugby season is drawing to a close.
While the Noordvaal Cup will continue for the next three weeks, we will publish our final rankings next Sunday after the highly anticipated Paul Roos Gimnasium vs Grey College derby.
The remaining Noordvaal Cup matches will not affect the rankings, as all the relevant top teams have already played each other once or twice this season.
With the KZN and Eastern Cape schools also wrapped up their seasons this weekend, our final rankings on 17 August will present the complete Top 50 National Rankings for 2025.
However, the outcome of the Grey vs Paul Roos clash could influence the final order, which is why we are holding off until then. The Maroon Machine heads to Bloemfontein for South Africa’s second-largest rugby derby — a clash between two of the country’s great Springbok factories!
This week, some schools had to play without their SA Schools stars during their derby fixtures this week.
The derby of the weekend belonged to the “farm boys” of Oakdale and Boland Landbou. Oakdale went down 34–27, and while they might point out that they were missing six SA Schools players, Boland themselves were without one SA U18 representative.
But as the legendary Oom Boy Louw famously said: “Look at the scoreboard!” Well done to Boland Landbou — you deserved that win, and it has certainly impacted Oakdale’s ranking this week.
The surprise result of the weekend came from Milnerton, who edged Stellenberg 14–12.
Outeniqua’s Kwaggas had to dig deep to secure an 8–5 victory over Durbanville.
In KZN, DHS once again proved their class, putting in a dominant performance to beat KES 52–19. Maritzburg College also outplayed Glenwood and cemented their place in the Top 20.
In the Eastern Free State, Voortrekker Bethlehem delivered a top-quality performance, narrowly defeating Welkom Gimnasium 13–12 in a hard-fought contest.
Up north, Jeppe recorded a solid 23–12 win over Parktown, while the Wit Bulle made it clear to Rustenburg who’s in charge during their Noordvaal Cup encounter.
Noordheuwel suffered a surprise defeat to Menlopark, while the Nelspruit Rhinos ended their challenging season on a high note with their second win (home and away) over EG Jansen.
In Pretoria, Affies faced Pretoria Boys High in a classic derby. Affies came out on top against a Boys High team that had a respectable season, further justifying their place in the national Top 5.
Next Sunday, we’ll reveal the final 2025 Top 50 Schoolboy Rugby Rankings.
Let us know in the comments what you think of the rankings.
And as the legendary Oom Zanberg Jansen used to say: “Nag, ou grote!”
