Pedigree, heritage and tradition will be the highlight when the Premier Interschools game between Paarl Boys’ High and Grey College kicks off in Paarl this weekend.
Paarl Boys’ High (1868) and Grey College (1855) are amongst the oldest rugby schools in South Africa. They first played each other in 1950 and did not have a regular annual fixture due to the distance between the schools. Grey and Paarl Boys’ High (also known as Boishaai) played each other 21 times from 1950 up to 1995 and since then it became an annual event. In total they have played 47 matches with Grey having won 36, Paarl Boys’ winning nine and having two draws.
The 2020 fixture did not happen due to the Covid pandemic, but they did get to play each other in 2021, just before all rugby was shut down again. Since 2011 the Paarl outfit has been much more competitive than the earlier years having been on the winning end of four of their nine wins with one draw in this period.
Paarl Boishaai's head coach, Sean Erasmus must have the best winning record against Grey College in recent history having coached Paarl Boishaai to three consecutive wins from 2015 to 2017. Erasmus was first appointed at Boishaai in 2014 and left to join the Emirates Lions' coaching staff at the end of 2018. However, Erasmus returned in 2022 and lost 12-21 in a match that the Boishaai supporters will still claim that they could have if .....
Grey is back to their best this season seemingly unstoppable at the moment. They swept away most opposition but had a fight on their hands against Outeniqua in George before eventually overcoming the strong Kwagga side by two points. They have hardly moved into top gear this season and perhaps Paarl Boys can put up some resistance this coming weekend. Grey has played ten games thus far and remains unbeaten.
Paarl Boys’ High School has overcome some big names this season like Affies and Selborne, but this year’s team seems to blow hot and cold during a game. There seems to be a kink in the Paarl Boys' forward armour this year as their line-outs have been very poor and not on par with such a top team. If they do not find the answer for their line-out problems it is going to be a very long day in Paarl against a Grey team that will punish any mistakes. They have a very potent back three and if they can get some decent ball to their backs, they could cause some problems for Grey.