Many an aficionado will tell you that one of the major attractions of the schoolboy game down south is that the competition between the top sides is so close that, on any given day, just about any side could beat any other, whatever the form book says. Saturday proved this contention, although many of the teams were a few players short as it was Maties Entrance exam day.

Two results in particular stand out. Firstly, Western Province Craven Week-loaded Paul Roos shredded the more fancied Bishops 43-15, delivering in the process one of its finest performances in years, an agonising week or so later than it really mattered. The Young Maties’ dominance started in the front row and worked its way back as they amassed six scintillating tries, most of them coming after the Platinum Blues had fought back resolutely to trail narrowly 10-14 early in the second half. JP Lewis led the way, trebling his yield for 2011 with two touchdowns, but this was really a team effort to savour.

Kuils River was the unlikely venue for a truly astonishing upset. De Kuilen’s 1st XV has hardly been setting off the fireworks in this, the school’s 50th year, but they recorded what must be the biggest win in the institution’s proud history when they downed high-riding super league side Rondebosch 14-13. This achievement could not have gone the way of a more likable and dedicated group of youngsters and their indefatigable mentor Kuyper Albertyn. Viva, Kuile !

The Paarl Boys’ High – Oakdale fixture is covered more fully in a separate article, but suffice it to say that the visitors took Boishaai on from the start – even leading 23-20 at water-time - and it was only a quickfire brace of tries midway through the second period that ensured a 39-33 home triumph.

Boland Landbou might still have had memories of their stunning victory over Selborne College floating around in their minds on Saturday morning. Not any more. HTS Drostdy suddenly put it all together down at the Farm, outplaying their hosts on the way to a convincing 31-10 victory.

In the other matches involving super league sides Paarl Gym went down to Outeniqua 11-16 up in George, Wynberg were kept honest away to Stellenberg before winning 34-24 and SACS put Tuesday’s loss behind them in style, goring hosts Brackenfell 66-13.

Other matches in Eagles’ territory saw Oudtshoorn sneak a 32-30 home victory over Punt in an eight-try extravaganza, Langenhoven Gym prevail against PW Botha 20-12 and the Dasse of Langenhoven High return from Beaufort West with a convincing 38-13 win against Sentraal.

Not unexpectedly, the Boland programme also threw up a few surprising results. For a start Robertson, one of just two top-level schools in the Western Cape with a 100% win record, finally had their colours lowered by Stellenbosch 23-17 down in the Eikestad. What makes the result just that little more surprising is that the Red Wine Boys led 17-13 at half-time after playing into a stiff breeze, plus they outscored their hosts by three tries to two.

The big local (sort-of) derby in Porterville saw their Bulle outlast Dirkie Uys, the Moorreesburg Tigers, 28-22 after having established a commanding 21-3 first half ascendancy.

Not many people would have expected Piketberg to get the better of tough Augsburg Gym, even on home turf, but win they did 19-8, probably the most interesting result in the province.

Hugenote started the run-in to Interschools with a confident 26-0 win over Charlie Hofmeyr, but their opponents on 20 August in Malmesbury, Swartland, notched up an 18-10 success of their own, away to Strand.

Montagu held off Overberg 13-10 in a close-fought encounter in muscadel territory, while Worcester Gym’s home defeat to Durbanville means that the Durbies alone have a 100 record this side of the Eastern Cape border. Not to be overlooked, nuggety little Labori pulled off an eye-opener, 17-10 against hosts Monument Park.

All too predictably their four Craven Week caps ran in nine tries between them as Schoonspruit lambasted luckless hosts Vredenburg 55-3. Centre Anzo Stubbs and no 8 Ludio Williams both notched hat-tricks. Vredendal also enjoyed their home match against Clanwilliam Secondary, running in eight tries in their 46-3 romp. The Bredasdorp – Swellendam game was postponed to early next week.

In the Western Province super league Bellville vanquished neighbours HTS 33-22, DF Malan edged in 9-8 against Jan van Riebeeck and Tygerberg gave Campbell College of Belfast something to think about, crushing the tourists 54-31. Like that’s anything new. Oh, and just for the record, Primrose RFC 1st XV were whacked 41-10 by Boishaai 3rds, who also rolled Porterville 1st XV on Thursday.

As the UK sides arrive for their holidays in the sun there are sure to be plenty of midweek matches for a while. Boland fixtures tabled for this week include Hexvallei at home to Montana on Tuesday and Wednesday encounters Worcester Gym vs Klein Nederburg and New Orleans vs Schoonspruit, the latter scheduled for the Boy Louw grounds in Paarl. On Thursday Bristol Grammar School continue their tour with a game against Swartland.

Looking ahead, the big one seems to be HTS Drostdy’s trip to Paarl Gym.

By Tony Stoops