Southern Suburbs giants do battle
The first match took place all the way back in 1911, with Bishops claiming an 18-0 victory and is one of the oldest interschool derbies in the country. Throw into the equation the 400 metre distance between the schools and you have a massive contest on the cards.
With pride and bragging rights at stake, there will of course be tension but is normally a gentlemanly affair. There will be a massive crowd at Rondebosch, with lots of meetings of old friends.
This will be the second meeting between the schools this year and Rondebosch will have retrobution on their minds as they look to avenge a 23-36 loss earlier in the year.
Both schools have experienced periods of dominance in the clash with Rondebosch superior from the 50s until the late 70s. Bishops took over the dominance until the early 80s before Rondebosch ained the ascendency once again. The schools traded supremacy until the turn of the century, which saw Bishops ruling the contest for the first decade.
To date, Bishops have claimed 98 victories while Rondebosch have 72 wins of their own with 18 fixtures ending in a draw. The matches are so closely fought that the average points difference over 188 matches is a mere four points per match.
Rondebosch last tasted victory in 2013 when they claimed a 22-7 win but, since then, Bishops have made it four in a row and will be looking to complete the double for this year.
Both schools boasts two players each in the 2015 Academy Week team as well as the 2015 Craven Week, respectively. Cornel Smit and Brandon Salomo of Bishops joined Rondebosch's Ashwyn Adams and Zain Davids at the Craven Week while Imraan Andrews and Mike Mavovana were Rondebosch's Academy Week representatives and Bishop representatives came in the form of Tristan Leyds and Labelo Scott.
Bishops will feel that recent history is on their side and that they hold a psychological advantage away from home, having last tasted defeat at Rondebosch in 2000.
Teams:
Rondebosch: 15 Mike Mavovana, 14 Yaseen Jacobs, 13 Zain Davids, 12 Jamie King, 11 Ryan Klein, 10 Rory Thomson, 9 Nic Potgieter, 8 Liam Greenhalgh (captain), 7 Mojalefa Mosia, 6 Edward Stiles, 5 Garth Shenker, 4 Byron Bowes, 3 Jordan Diekmann, 2 Josh Emslie, 1 Ashwyn Adams.
Replacements: 16 Thomasz de Rosenwerth, 17 Leo Figueira, 18 Matthew Grobler, 19 Dylan le Roex, 20 Anthony Duckitt, 21 Russell Eaby, 22 Aaqil Ebrahim, 23 Amani Minani.
Bishops: 15 Tristan Leyds, 14 Seb Prentice, 13 Seb Hanekom, 12 Lubelo Scott, 11 Andre Manuel, 10 James Macdonald, 9 Brandon Salomo, 8 Francois Stassen, 7 Jarryd Lurie (captain), 6 Joel Paarwater, 5 Connor Osborne, 4 Luciano da Graca, 3 JP Smith, 2 Gregory Willcocks, 1 William Day.
Possible replacements: Avela Biko, Ross Church, Clyde de Beer, Zico Oaker, Jean Pienaar.
