Schoolboy rankings will always be judged according to the ranking that ranks your school the highest.
Our Ruggas.co.za 1stXV Rankings have been running for six years and we are happy that our ranking formula is as successful as can be. Taking into account that in 2023 our rankings, if used as a betting guideline, you would have won on average 86% of bets placed. This is not bad taking into account that we rank over 500 schools.
Paarl Gim replaced Grey College as the number one ranked 1stXV. The rest of the top 10 should not even look at any rankings as in 2024 any of these 10 schools can beat any other top 10 school. Jeppe beating Grey College just is proof of our statement. Jeppe lost to Garsfontein and Paarl Boishaai before outplaying Grey College at the Noord/Vaal Rugby Festival.
Oakdale joins Jeppe in the Top 10 as newbies replacing Hilton and Michalehouse.
Many will say EG Jansen (#11) who is unbeaten after eight matches should be in the Top 10, unfortunately, EG has not played any schools that are currently in the Top 20 and therefore will struggle to win this argument.
Newcomers to the Top 20 are Noordheuwel who leaped 10 positions to number 15 and Waterkloof who jumped two positions to number 20. Noorheuwel is now the top dog in Krugersdorp while Waterkloof is quietly building a team that will surprise a few schools that underestimate them.
The Top 50stars are Diamantveld (32), Menlopark (23), SACS (20), Westville (11) and Nelspruit (10) while Rustenburg (-16), Glenwood (-12), Marlow (-9), St Andrew's College (-9) and Stellenberg (-8) will urgently be looking to change their season's performance.
Judging the performance of the 51-100 places becomes extremely risky, as the lower you discuss the rankings it is known to become more volatile, meaning that jumping 10 positions in the Top 20 is equivalent to jumping 50 positions in the 50-100 brackets.
That said, Charlie Hofmeyr (44), Swartland (38), St Stithians (31), Daniel Pienaar (31), Middelburg HTS (29) and Jeugland (22) are the top performers in the Top 100 while Die Anker (-46), Heidelberg Volkies (-33), Secunda (-26), Parktown (-24) and Midstream (-23) is dropping at an alarming rate.
