Monnas star U16 eightman Ruan Bester announced that he will represent Helpmekaar in 2026. The move follows the appointment of Tjaart van der Walt as Helpmekaar’s Director of Rugby earlier this year. Van der Walt is currently the U18 Cravenweek Head Coach. at the Lions.
Despite breaking his leg in the first match of 2025, Bester has been identified as one of the future stars of Monnas and the Lions High School rugby age group teams
Dr. Jano de Beer, a medical doctor and an alumnus of Hoërskool Monument (Monnas), he has been instrumental in the recent restructuring and enhancement of the school's rugby program, primarily through the Witbul Old Boys committee. His comment on the departure of Ruan Bester on social media is below:
“I wanted to comment on how much a school spends on a boy's development, and the money that is then owed to the school by the parents who signed the agreement. But that is irrelevant. If a boy wants to go, Monnas is not going to stop him. There was a time recently when parents and children were determining the conditions, and there was a bending over backwards to try to accommodate them, but those days are over. Monument is just too big, and its healing process is just too far advanced for them to stop themselves with trivialities. The boy will regret it; he will never get the chance to measure himself against Monnas’ legends."