A hotly debated topic in South African schoolboy rugby is whether your rugby-playing boy must attend one of the top rugby schools in South Africa to become a Springbok in the future?
The romantics will say no and will quickly point to Springboks like Ruan Northe and several other players who hail from "lesser" schools; however, we must realise and take into account that most of those schools were top rugby schools in the past, and unfortunately, lost the race to be credited for being a current top rugby school today.
The current SA U18 teams that were selected following the Craven Week hosted in Middelburg tell a different story. The top 10 ranked schools have 33 boys selected in a group of 52 players, and the next 10 schools have 12 players in the two squads.
The South African schoolboy system is credited with being the best scouting system in the world, and some foreign scouts will not look for talent outside the top 20 schools in South Africa.
Therefore, unfortunately, if your boy is at a school outside of the Top 20, his chances of becoming part of the Springbok pathway are almost zero.
Schools represented in U18 SA Schools and U18 SA Schools "A".
Grey College (5) ranked 5
Paarl Boishaai (5) ranked 2
Paarl Gim (4) ranked 1
Affies (4) ranked 3
Oakdale (4) ranked 7
Paul Roos (3) ranked 4
Garsfontein (3) ranked 6
Westville (3) ranked 9
Stellenberg (2) ranked 14
Noordheuwel (2) ranked 15
Boland Landbou (2) ranked 16
Graeme College (2) ranked 47
DHS (1) ranked 8
Rondebosch (1) ranked 10
Wynberg (1) ranked 12
KES (1) ranked 13
Jeppe (1) ranked 17
Hilton (1) ranked 18
Maritzburg College (1) ranked 19
Northwood (1) ranked 20
Outeniqua (1) ranked 21
Queen's College (1) ranked 26
Pretoria Boys High (1) ranked 41
Milnerton (1) ranked 60
St Albans (1) ranked 72