August 19 sees the big farmers’ derby between Boland Landbou from Paarl and Oakdale from Riversdale. These two schools regularly produce teams of outstanding quality from a very small player pool. This all comes down to the commitment of these players to their team and their school.
Boland Landbou is having a great season so far winning 11 out of 14 games. Their best three victories came against Bishops, Paarl Boys’ High and Paul Roos in the local Western Province league derbies. They have not won against Paarl Boys’ since 2009 and then beating them at home was a great achievement.
Oakdale is not having one of their best seasons but they do tend to surprise on any given day. Having played 14 games with only four wins and one draw, losing nine games is not the regular performance one would expect from them. They are fighting with their backs against the wall having lost their last four encounters and a win against their old rivals Boland Landbou might just salvage an average season.
Both schools are rarely out of the top 20 rankings and have produced numerous Craven Week players for their two provinces. Interschools are usually a very close affair with neither team having a clear upper hand. The last 10 years is a testament to this as both teams have won five games so far. Oakdale won the last encounter in 2022 at the home of Boland Landbou to even up the scores having lost both the 2018 and 2019 encounters.
While they have played each other on an irregular basis pre-1992, the two schools have been playing each other on an annual basis since 1992 and this year they will meet for the 29th time. The first couple of matches were very close and home ground advantage was a huge factor. It was only in 2001 that an away team won for the first time when Boland Landbou, with Derick Hougaard at pivot, took the honours 15-0 in Riversdale.
For the next eight years, Boland dominated the Interschools and Oakdale could only win once in 2005 with the score of 8-6 in a very hard-fought game in Riversdale. The 2009 Interschools at Oakdale was abandoned due to the swine flu outbreak. At the moment Boland holds the overall upper hand by winning 17 of the games while Oakdale has won 10 with one draw.