Busy month for Paarl rugby stars

The U18 Coca-Cola® Craven Week took place from 11 to 18 July in Durban.

Both Paarl Gimnasium and Paarl Boys’ High were well-represented in the Western Province team,  with the former having 9 players in the team and the latter, 12 players. Western Province ended the week unbeaten. For the second year running they won the final match of the week. This is an achievement of which they can be very proud.

One of the highlights of the week was Ngwekazi Khanya Ncusane (Paarl Boys’ High) from Western Province being named the Coca-Cola® Hero of the day for day 5, following their final match. This prestigious award is presented on each day of the tournament in recognition of a game changing ‘hero’ moment. His hero moment came after the Lions had found their way back into the game after scoring an intercept try. The Lions kicked off and the ball moved very quickly down the Western Province backline where the big eighth man was standing on the wing. There was nothing on for him when he received the ball so he tried to make something out of nothing. Ngwekazi broke through the Lions defense and chipped the ball through for his support players, setting off a move which eventually led to him scoring the match defining try.

A special mention needs to be made of those players who have been included in the SA Schools Team that will take part in the U19 International Series against England, Wales, France and Italy from August 12 to 20 in Cape Town and Paarl. 2 players from Paarl Gimnasium form part of the team, while 8 Boys’ High players have been included. Salmaan Moerat from Paarl Boys’ High has been selected to captain the team.

While the players of Paarl Gimnasium and Paarl Boys’ High had to play together as part of a team during the Craven Week, things will be very different when these arch rivals take each other on during Interschools next weekend.

The match will take place at Faure Street Stadium and twenty odd thousand Old Boys, girls, moms, dads and fans are expected to fill the stadium to watch the famous derby between these two great schools. There are no neutrals on this day; you are either, blue and white, or green, gold and red.

Paarl Boys’ High will be keen to defend their title and have had a stellar season so far. They have won all their matches, including their other big annual clash against Grey College. If these boys keep on with the run they are having they will certainly not make things easy for Gimnasium.

Gimnasium also has an excellent season behind them, with only one loss thus far. After a tight match against Paul Roos Gimnasium earlier in the year they have gone from strength to strength.

The Interschools Derby is sure to be a nail-biter. For those of you who will not be able to be there on the day, the match will also be aired on Supersport.