In 2011 Paarl Gymnasium (PG) will host the 19th under 16 rugby national schools tournament. The format has been changed to include hockey and netball – and will be spread over a 5 day period. 26 of the country’s top schools will be participating in the rugby tournament. The tournament will take place from 1 – 6 April 2011.
Traditionally school tournaments have only been focused on the under 18 level. The format of this tournament however gives the players a chance to compete with other top schools in different provinces on a level closely resembling provincial clashes – as most of the teams participating have a fairly large proportion of players who already have provincial experience. Nationally a much bigger focus has been placed by the SA Rugby Union on the under 16 level – with not only the Grant Khomo week, but also the selection of an under 16 national practice group. It is widely recognized that under 16 is a watershed year in the development of a rugby player’s career. This tournament is therefore a very important building block in their career.
Of the 18 players who have been selected to be part of the national under 16 group for 2010, 70% come from schools who will be participating in the PG tournament of 2011.
If South African school rugby power can be measured by the FNB Top 20 (2010) list, the top 5 schools will all be present at the Paarl Gymnasium tournament and 10 of the top 13 ranking schools will participate.
(1.Grey College Bloemfontein, 2.Paarl Gymnasium, 3.Paul Roos Gymnasium, 4.Affies, 5.Monument)
Expected highlights at the tournament are the Paarl Gymnasium vs Grey College (18h45) and the Paul Roos vs Glenwood (14h25), HJS vs Waterkloof (16h35) and Affies vs Outeniqua (17h40) games on the Saturday. Paul Roos and Grey then have another tough game on the Monday against Waterkloof (16h35) and Monument (15h30), with the local side HJS taking on Glenwood (14h25). The Gymnasium / Michaelhouse match will be played under floodlights at 18h45.
The tournament concludes on Monday with Grey vs Waterkloof (11h15), Affies vs Glenwood (10h10), Boland Landbou vs Brits (10h10), HJS vs EG Jansen (11h15), Paul Roos vs Rustenberg (11h15) and Paarl Gymnasium vs Monument at 12h20.
For a complete program, click HERE
The PG under 16 tournament is the first and still the only event of its kind in South Africa and its long term goal is to grow this into the most prestigious national under 16 schools tournament – with eventually an international flavour with some of the top international rugby, hockey and netball schools participating. A Uruguayan team participated with great success in the 2010 tournament. The interest of the participating teams is, therefore, unsurpassed as can be seen yearly in the growing numbers of applications to be part of the tournament. Windhoek Gymnasium, the top rugby school in Namibia, will also be participating in the tournament.
The facts that Paarl is one of the jewels of the Cape Winelands from a tourism perspective and that Paarl Boys High hosts an under 15 tournament at the same time, contributes to the event growing into a tournament similar in scope and extent to the well known Easter Schools Festival tournaments in Gauteng.
The tournament is organized by volunteers and teaching staff of Paarl Gymnasium. Louis Koen (ex rugby Springbok) is Ex Officio as sport organizer at PG, part of the organizing committee.
PG endeavours every year to include one or more sport celebrities in the tournament by involving them with the opening ceremony as well as at some of the evening ceremonies. Previous guests have been e.g. Jake White and other Springboks. With the present focus on the Varsity Cup, PG has asked Chean Roux (coach of the Maties) to host the opening ceremony on Saturday morning at 08h00.
The participating teams will also be introduced on Saturday evening at 19h00 to representatives of the Investec International Rugby Academy and will also have access to a kicking clinic hosted by Louis Koen on Monday from 08h00 – 10h00.