This weekend sees the start of the various schoolboy rugby league matches with the highlight being the current top four ranked schools that will clash in Paarl – Paarl Gimnasium will take on Paul Roos Gimnasium and Paarl Boys High will take on Grey College in what will surely be very tightly contested matches.
Paarl Gimnasium is currently in superb form having played three matches so far this season beating Grey College at the Monnas Festival 18-16, thrashing Garsfontein 84-0 and cantering home 52-5 against Helpmekaar in the recent and very successful Barloworld Noord Suid Festival.
It’s really not easy to single out players to watch in the Paarl Gimnasium team, as they are all excelling in their positions and playing well-structured and patient rugby with defensive skills that have not yet been matched or beaten this season. That being said it is expected that the solid albeit light pack of forwards will again provide very good ball to the speedy backline. Liam Koen who very calmly and efficiently directs the game from the No 10 position, should also get the very dangerous attacking centre pair going again.
Paul Roos Gimnasium on the other hand opted not to play in the Barloworld Noord Suid Festival and only played one match against Boland Landbou at the Farm in Agter Paarl beating the farm boys with a convincing score of 45-21. This makes Paul Roos the “dark horse” for this weekend’s match in terms of what could be seen and learnt of the team compared to the three matches played by Paarl Gimnasium. However, one player that stood out was Lomwabu Mfikili a very sturdy, strong and speedy centre that carved the Boland Landbou defence into pieces and scored most of the tries. He will certainly be a centre role player in the Paul Roos game plan for Saturday.
The scoreboard between the two teams the past four years have been in favour of Paarl Gimnasium which won two of the three matches played (no match was played in 2020 due to COVID) and it is expected that Paarl Gimnasium will notch another win this Saturday, as they are playing rugby on a different level and is currently the team to beat in SA.
Article by Francois du Toit