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Historic preview: Paarl Gym vs Affies

affies rugby

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The third Premier Interschools game of the season is a real mouth-watering derby as two North and South giants come together for their fifth official Interschools. Before this annual fixture was introduced in 2017, the two schools did not regularly get to play each other and only duelled on the odd occasion at festivals. Since their first encounter in 1967, they only played 20 games in 56 years with Paarl Gim winning 11, Affies seven and two draws. This year the giant from the North travels down to the beautiful Paarl to challenge the hosts at their fortress at Jan Kriel grounds. Paarl Gym will look to avenge their loss of last year and keep their dominance over their rivals from Pretoria.

Scores through the Years:

Year Affies Paarl Gim
1967 0 11
1972 0 19
1973 3 38
1976 10 3
1979 3 23
1999 19 11
2002 24 20
2005 18 38
2006 17 17
2007 13 8
2008 3 21
2009 16 22
2011 59 6
2012 27 20
2014 7 40
2015 22 22
2017 33 35
2018 21 41
2019 19 46
2022 29 26

 

Affies 2023 Season:

Affies has five games under the belt thus far and started off with three victories in a row. They then stumbled against Paarl Boys High as well as neighbors Garsfontein in their last two games. They will want to get back to winning ways against Paarl Gym this weekend.

 

Date Opponents For Against
2023/03/11 Diamantveld 27 0
2023/03/18 Helpmekaar 41 33
2023/03/31 DHS 25 24
2023/04/04 HJS Paarl 19 26
2023/04/15 Garsfontein 38 45

 

Paarl Gim 2023 Season:

Paarl Gim have also had five matches this year and impressed with their ability to fight back in tough games to close it. Against both Stellenberg and Wynberg they were under pressure at some point during the game, but managed to absorb it and come out on top. The one loss was against a very good Grey College at the North/South festival, but they seem to be back on track.

 

Date Opponents For Against
2023/03/18 Potchefstroom Gimnasium 83 3
2023/03/24 Stellenberg 24 23
2023/03/31 Grey College 12 33
2023/04/03 KES 49 19
2023/04/15 Wynberg BHS 33 11

 

Rugby at Affies

Affies is regarded as one of the top rugby schools in South Africa. They have produced a host of Springbok players in the past and continue to supply loads of talent in the SA Schools and SA Academy sides. Affies also have many players at every provincial level of rugby.

They are fortunate to have a huge talent pool in the school culminating in real depth. There are more than ten senior teams each year, and teams as far as G-teams are filled at each age group.

Each year Affies challenge the country’s leading rugby schools like Grey College (Bloem), Maritzburg College, Glenwood High School, KES and many more. At these derby matches, each and every team gets an opportunity to take the field for the Red, Yellow and Green. Over the last few decades Affies have produced top quality players such as Louis Schmidt, Wynand Olivier, Fourie du Preez and former Blue Bulls captain Pierre Spies (also an Affies choir boy) to name but a few. Perhaps Affies’ most unknown star was Francois Swart who played fly-half for Die Witbulle (the school’s first team) alongside scrum-half Fourie du Preez. The formidable duo played for the Blue Bulls and were fast becoming the next Springbok half-back pair. Tragically Swart died in 2004 and since then Affies hosted an under-15 rugby tournament in the Easter Holidays bearing the name of Francois Swart. The long standing legacy of Affies rugby grows as each year passes and upcoming stars are still being produced. Prolific batsman AB de Villiers is also a product of Affies and played in the No 10 Witbulle jersey in his matric year.

Affies Springboks

Player Debut Year
Louis Schmidt 1958
Tonie Roux 1969
Pierre Edwards 1980
Grant Esterhuizen 2000
Fourie du Preez 2004
Wynand Olivier 2006
Pierre Spies 2006
Dean Greyling 2011
Ivan van Zyl 2018
RG Snyman 2018

 

Rugby at Paarl Gimnasium

Paarl Gim is without a doubt one of the Big Five rugby schools in South Africa. To date they have produced 25 Springboks of which 23 have been capped in Tests for South Africa.

The inception of rugby at the school was in 1902 and in the early years no strict age-groups were defined. The school operated as a rugby club resulting in the staff frequently turning out in the colours of the school. The headmaster back then, FC Wahl, also captained the school’s 1st XV!.

Their biggest rival is Paarl Boys’ High which is situated in the Southern Paarl. Their annual Interschools have the unofficial title of “Biggest Interschools” in South Africa. In 2012, while still at school, their captain and pivot Handré Pollard represented South Africa at the U20 World Cup tournament with aplomb. Called up for the injured Johan Goosen, Pollard played a vital role in SA winning the final against New Zealand. He again represented SA U20 in 2013 and captained the side in 2014. Paarl Gim’s latest contribution to the Springbok family is Grant Williams, who was capped in 2022.

Paarl Gim Springboks

Bok No Name
94 Japie le Roux
103 Pietie le Roux
110 Steve Joubert
195 Pierre de Villiers
203 JC van der Westhuizen
301 Jan Pickard
340 Hugo van Zyl
398 Wynand Mans
535 Schalk Burger snr
552 Kobus Burger
585 Kobus Wiese
595 Balie Swart
625 Mornay Visser
652 Pieter Rossouw
690 De Wet Barry
693 Louis Koen
699 Chris Rossouw
711 Marius Joubert
735 Jean de Villiers
754 Schalk Burger jnr
810 Ashley Johnson
853 Lourens Adriaanse
857 Handré Pollard
891 Louis Schreuder
929 Grant Williams

 

premier interschools netball

Netball:   Paarl Gym vs Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool

The netball and rugby derbies will be broadcast live on Saturday, 22 April at 11h00 and  13h00 on SuperSport Schools (channel 216)

Media release issued by Terras Communications on behalf of Premier Interschools.

For press assistance contact Lauren Terras on +27 82 785 2644 or e-mail lauren@terrascomms.com . For further information on Terras Communications visit www.terrascomms.com

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