The Victorious 32

Having a season of victories, as it did last year, is achievement enough but it has carried on with 10 successive wins this season.

The last time anybody beat Paarl Boys' High's 1st XV was in the last match of 2014 when they played in Big Schools Final of Media 24's Competition. The winners?

Hoër Landbouskool Marlow. The match was played at Marlow on the banks of the Great Fish River, just outside Cradock. Paarl Boys' High led 10-6 when Marlow's big eighthman Luigy van Jaarsveld went over for the winning try. Boys' High scored two tries to one but lost that one 11-10. This year's flyhalf, Rayhaan Lombaard, was the fullback in that side.

Then came 2015 and a great season, when Boys' High played 22 matches and won them all.

Richard Visagie, a former provincial player himself and long involved in Boys' High and Western Province rugby, praises the great job the management team has been doing.

He also praises the SA Schools and other Craven Week players who have been in these sides.

These are the players he has been talking about:

South African Schools: Manuel Ras, Ruben de Villiers, Salmaan Moerat

South African Schools A: Tyreeq February, Khanya Ncusane

Craven Week: Ruben de Villiers, Tyreeq February, Wikus Groenewald, Leo Kruger, Salmaan Moerat, Khanya Ncusane, Manuel Rass

Academy Week: Charl Serdyn, Bradley Thain

It is a feat when one considers the calibre of the opposition. Of the 10 teams Boys' High have played this year, four are  ranked on the FNB Top 20 and three others are in the pressure group just below the Top 20.

2015's Beaten Opponents

Framesby, 39-3

Boland Landbou, 10-0

Diamantveld, 22-12

St John’s College, 52-0

Monument, 25-20

Garsfontein, 32-9

Outeniqua, 23-17

HTS Louis Botha, 26-7

Dr EG Jansen, 19-14

Grey (Bloem), 21-19

Rondebosch, 34-10

Boland Landbou, 29-24

Bishops, 12-7

Tygerberg, 43-7

Wynberg, 62-14

Paul Roos, 29-10

SACS, 30-11

Paarl Gim, 16-10

Oakdale, 25-19

Drostdy, 17-12

Outeniqua (Steinhoff Final), 30-28

Of those opponents, 12 were in the 2015 Top 20 at the end of the season.

2016's Beaten Opponents

Die Brandwag, 48-3

Stellenberg, 20-0

Golden Lions XV, 54-0

Helpmekaar, 24-17

Nelspruit, 17-11

Outeniqua, 29-27

Bishops, 58-12

Wynberg, 48-7

Waterkloof, 51-5

Affies, 29-25

Stellenberg, 41-3