It may still be early in the season, but two of South Africa’s top school teams will already square off this Saturday.

The Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool will travel to Stellenbosch for the first time since 2015 to face Paul Roos Gimnasium in a King Price Derby Series clash.

In 2015, the main match of Paul Roos’s rugby day, celebrating its 150th anniversary, was this very fixture.

“It is a major occasion when two schools with such rich histories and so many boys come up against each other. This interschools just make sense. The whole event is something special,” said Corné Uys, head coach of Paul Roos.

The first teams have, however, met every year since 2022 at the Noord/Suid or Wildeklawer tournaments. This year, 31 rugby matches and 17 hockey matches will take place during the interschools event.

Both schools’ first teams are regarded by experts as among the favourites to finish at least in the top three school teams in the country this year.

The team from the Eikestad had three players last year – Lehan Barnard (hooker), Travis Pheiffer (flyhalf), and Tiaan Basson (centre), who were included in SA Rugby’s u17 High Performance group.

Affies’ captain and lock, Martin van Niekerk, as well as the lively hooker, Carl Els, were also part of the national group. The duel at hooker between Els and Barnard should therefore be one of the highlights.

The home side’s captain, Basson, will have to be contained at inside centre by Affies. Last year, he represented the Western Province XV at Craven Week and also made a name for himself as an exchange student at Cheltenham College in England.

Affies’ Wit Bulle beat Waterkloof 34–20 last week in their first outing of the season. Paul Roos kicked off their season with a 24–7 victory over HTS Drostdy and also beat Wynberg Boys’ High 15–5 earlier this week during the WP Rugby Day.

The latter match was only 20 minutes per half, and no place-kicking was allowed.

In 2015, Paul Roos won 29–12 with Damian Willemse at flyhalf, while Ruan de Swardt was his direct opponent. Willemse has since helped the Springboks win two World Cups, while De Swardt has represented the Proteas on the cricket field.

“Home-ground advantage will definitely play a role. The team that controls the set pieces and dominates at the breakdowns on the day will walk off as victors,” said Ruan Jacobs, head coach of Affies.

The teams:

Paul Roos Gimnasium: 15 Kyle Snyers, 14 Tevez Cupido, 13 Jean Hamman, 12 Tiaan Basson (captain), 11 Cadynn Samuels, 10 Travis Pheiffer, 9 Jaeden Powell, 8 Werner de Bruin, 7 Gerard Bekker, 6 Christian le Roux, 5 Sebastian Cilliers, 4 Stef de Villiers, 3 Zak Steyn, 2 Lehan Barnard, 1 Thomas Meyer.

Affies: 15 Kyle van Staden, 14 Dandré Brink, 13 Estian Marx, 12 Juan Ferreira, 11 Joshua Gouws, 10 Reuben Smith, 9 Fourie Roberts, 8 Janno Geyser, 7 Caleb Pretorius, 6 Lohan Bitzer, 5 Reubenne Vlok, 4 Martin van Niekerk (captain), 3 Hannes Nagel, 2 Carl Els, 1 Francois de Beer.

Kick-Off: 12:30