By Willem Louw in ssschoolsplus/Rugby/Featured Rugby/News at 2024/03/13
With an illustrious 158 year rugby heritage, each season holds a profound significance for the Paul Roos Gimnasium first XV.
Named in honour of the captain of the first South African touring side in 1906, Paul Roos. This was also the first side to be called the Springboks.
Roos, a man who was also the school’s rector, the Stellenbosch institution has long remained a cornerstone of schoolboy rugby in South Africa, standing shoulder to shoulder with the nation’s top sides.
This enduring legacy is underscored by their prestigious alumni, among whom are an impressive list of 54 Springboks which are claimed by the school.
With a steadfast commitment to upholding the esteemed Paul Roos legacy, every match holds significant weight for the team.
“Every opponent on our fixture list poses a challenge,” Corné Uys, the first team head coach, told Superspport Schools. “There are no easy games, and underestimating any of our opponents is out of the question.
Uys spearheads the management team for a third consecutive year since assuming the revered role in 2022. The school deeply intertwined with its rugby programme, has witnessed an upward trajectory under his leadership.
Under his tutelage, Paul Roos has produced leading players on the youth stage, like Jurenzo Julius, who claimed bronze with the Baby Boks last year in the World Rugby u20 Championship. He’ll return to the event in 2024, while their first XV includes dual SA Schools’ star Riley Norton, who is available for SA Schools selection again this year, having achieved the spectacular double in his grade 11 year.
Norton, Oliver Reid, Truspe Schoeman, Reuben Kruger, Samuel Badenhorst and Keenan Stoffels all served the Maroon Machine well in 2023. Their experience will, undoubtedly, fortify the Paul Roos squad.
Badenhorst is another player who made his presence felt on the field last year. He is shaping up to be a phenomenal players, and he is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Jan “Boland” Coetzee, the Western Province and Springbok great.
Badenhorst also earned his SA colours in 2023 as part of the SA u18 Sevens squad that claimed bronze at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad and Tobago.
Young guns, like Altus Rabe, Gert Kemp, Luke Kent, Luchwayito Mbliswana, Junaid Coetzee, Jordan Steenkamp and Mat Kleyn, are all moving up in the age grading since representing Paul Roos in the Western Province teams.
As is the tradition, their season comes to a close when they take on their arch-rivals from Bloemfontein, Grey College. This year the Grey Boys will make the trip down to Stellenbosch where the Maroon Machine will be primed to avenge their 20-28 loss in Bloemfontein in 2023.
See graphic for fixtures.
