Thys-Koch Burden – Paarl Boys' High captain
Player Profile
There is only really one true Interschools, although many have tried to adopt the name, and that is Boishaai against Gimnasium in Paarl. Thys-Koch Burden will lead out the men in blue at Faure Street on Saturday afternoon.
Thys-Koch Burden was born in the farming town of Moorreesburg on 2 December 1987. He went to junior school in his hometown before following his brother into the hostel at Paarl Boishaai in Grade 8. His rugby talent was evident early on and he played Under-13 Craven Week for Boland. Thys-Koch has excelled at Boishaai and, now in Grade 12, he is a school prefect as well as being headboy of the hostel.
On Saturday Thys-Koch will be playing lock but his preferred position is blindside flank. A big boy at 1,90 metres and 96kgs he is your classic ball-carrying blindsider. As you would expect he defends well when required and like any good player in modern rugby can turn ball over in the tackle should the situation require him to.
One would expect any loose forward at Boishaai to cite old boy and legendary Bok skipper Corné Krige as their rugby hero but Thys-Koch will be forgiven for choosing Richie McCaw as his role model. A performance by Thys-Koch this Saturday, even half as inspirational as his hero's against Australia last week, would surely be enough to ensure victory for his team.
Boishaai have not had one of their best seasons this year and have lost a few games they would usually expect to win. That said, they have performed well in the big games, and Thys-Koch reckons the standout performance of the season to date for him was their win against Boland Landbou. They will go into the match as slight underdogs but that is a situation they will relish as over the years upsets have been the name of the game at Interschools.
Thys-Koch is playing in his second inter-schools having played flank in a losing effort last year. Having lost the last two games Boishaai are under pressure not to make it three losses in a row. Thys-Koch is feeling the pressure a bit but sounded relaxed when we spoke to him. He admitted that the week leading up to the game was hectic and that he had all but switched off to school on Monday already.
Even though academics are off the agenda this week, like many other top players he will be heading to Stellenbosch next year to further his studies and his rugby. His reputation in the rugby-mad town would surely be greatly enhanced if he arrived an Interschools winning captain!
