Premier Interschools will feature one of the oldest school derbies in the country for their season closure – Bishops vs Rondebosch, one of the most highly anticipated schoolboy games in the Western Cape.
It will be the 202nd time that these two great schools meet each other on the rugby field, the first of which was played in 1911. In 1908 they played a once-off Under-16 match. The first match between these two schools saw Bishops run rampant on the day winning the encounter 112-0 with Painton Cowen scoring 86 points in the match.
The first recorded match nearly put paid to rugby at Rondebosch, but fortunately, they continued with the rivalry in 1911. This is one of the longest-running interschool derbies in the country and because they play it twice a year, the number of games played against each other is high.
Pride and bragging rights are at stake in the leafy suburb of Rondebosch. The two schools are only about 400m apart and close to Newlands Stadium. Rondebosch has won 79 games with Bishops reaching their century of wins in the first encounter of 2018 and currently stands at 103 wins. There have been 19 draws.
Bishops started their season with five wins on the trot but came unstuck against a very good Paul Roos at the Piley Rees. From then onwards they had a stop/start season struggling to get into their rhythm in every game and had losses against Boland Landbou, Paarl Gim, Paarl Boys’ High and Wynberg, the latter which they beat earlier in the season.
Rondebosch is having a busy season so far having played 17 games, won 10, lost six and drawn one. Their only real surprise loss was against Durbanville, and their best victories were against Wynberg (twice) and a very strong Boland Landbou. They are an unpredictable team and if they gel on the day they can beat any opposition. The last derby match of the season against the old foe might just be motivation enough for them to get one over Bishops.
