The Western/Southern Cape and some will argue that the Paarl region has produced the top 1stXV teams recently, and apart from Paarl Boishaai, all of the superstars will be on display with several “dream teams” waiting in the dark.
On Friday, the dream team of Drostdy HTS will travel down the road to Stellenbosch to face a formidable Paul Roos. Drostdy had a good start to their season at their own rugby festival and will make sure that nobody will forget that Paul Roos escaped 25-20 in 2025.
Paul Roos will bank on their U17 and U18 stars up front, Thomas Meyer, Lehan Barnard, Werner de Bruin, while the bling of Travis Pheiffer and Tiaan Basson at the back guarantees a lot of smiles on Saturday; however, despite only having Amayo Egbujor as a member of the EPD squads this group has upset several top schools during their underage years and their supporters are expecting a lot from this squad.
13 March 2026
Milnerton vs SACS
Paul Roos vs Drostdy HTS
On Saturday, Boland Landbou will host the newly promoted Durbanville in a match that is expected to supply a lot of sparks, and definately not the sparks you get in your birthday ice cream at the Spur. Boland Landbou’s planned season opener against Grey High was cancelled, while it will also be Durbanville’s first outing of 2026. This could be a very interesting fixture, with Boland Landbou reportedly good enough to edge their guests during the final quarter of the match.
At the Farm in Riversdal, the big boys of Oakdale will be ready for their first scalp of the season. Both teams played at the 2025 Global Schools Challenge, and admittedly, despite the results, Oakdale looked the better side. Oakdale has more than double the EPD representatives, with Jacobus de Villiers leading this massive pack, which is said to be the biggest, meanest and best pack of forwards in 2026.
With all of that said, it will be Oakdale’s first full match outing while Grey College already disposed of Trio (48-12) and Welkom Gim (109-03) during the past two weeks. The big pack of Oakdale against the fifteen boys gameplan from Grey College, with Lamla Mgedezi ready to pounce, and suddenly the pendulum is moving towards Grey College.
The final "big" match of this weekend will be the “dream team” of Stellenberg hosting the “much hyped” Paarl Gimnasium. Stellenberg had a good 71-00 win over Tygerberg, while it will be Paarl Gim’s first outing. Paarl Gim cruised to a 39-17 win over Stellenberg; however, remember the names of Ethan van Biljon and the menace Juvan Burden, who both, when performing, can turn a match on its head. However, remember that the talent Paarl Gim has in their senior group, combined with their already proven and brilliant coaching staff, could make for a long and quiet afternoon in Durbanville. Despite having a lot of respect for what Duppie and his staff achieved at Stellenberg, I can not see an upset.
14 March 2026
Boland Landbou vs Durbanville
Bishops vs Worcester Gim
Oakdale vs Grey College
Outeniqua vs Nico Malan
St Benedict's vs Melkbosstrand
Stellenberg vs Paarl Gim
Strand vs Bishops
Swartland vs Bellville
Wynberg vs Strand