Valiant Boishaai victorious in Paarl Derby
Sixty-two minutes in at the Faure Street Stadium, in Paarl, on Saturday: Paarl Gim 33, Paarl Boys’ High 21.
“Kobus, how did you guys get yourselves back into the game?”
With tears flowing, Kobus Wilken replied: “We (the team) knew we can’t play for ourselves. You play for them – the supporters, the school. They are us. We are them.”
After 70 minutes, the final whistle blew: Paarl Gim 33, Paarl Boys’ High 35.
The Gimmies unbeaten streak of 17 official games had come to an end. Boishaai had redeemed their 8-30 loss to their great rivals in 2024, and with that staked a claim to be the number one team in the country.
Kobus Wilken, the smallest forward for Boishaai in the Paarl Derby and King Price Derby Series clash, started the season in his school’s second team. Now, in his final game of 2025, he produced an incredible performance to influence his side’s victory, being crowned the King of the Match. His work rate, his offloads, his passion, were awesome. Behind the Boishaai badge on his chest thumped his huge heart.
Earlier in the season, Boishaai were favoured against Oakdale Landbou. Yet, they went down to The Farmers, who went on to have one of their best seasons in history. Little did Paarl Boys’ High know that they would pull off a similar upset against Paarl Gimnasium, whose 1st XV was a seemingly unstoppable points-scoring machine, one of the best in their storied history.
Boishaai had the chance to go in front in the fourth minute, through inside centre Iwan Jordaan. However, the strong Paarl breeze dragged his penalty kick wide.
Paarl Gim responded with a try 10 minutes later when Gimmies fullback, Dawid Badenhorst, received a box kick which had gone too deep. With no pressure on him, he went on a line-breaking run before passing the ball to eighthman Quintin Potgieter, who found captain Markus Muller on his outside. The SA Schools centre ran in for a try, which he then converted.
Was it the start of yet another Markus Muller show? The centre is a generational talent. The proof was clear: In 15 official games this season, he had scored 254 points at an average of 16.93 points per match. Of those, 180 points had come from tries, an average of 2.4 per game.
On Saturday, however, the dream season finally came to an end.
While it was a disappointing way to complete an otherwise perfect 2025 for Paarl Gimnasium, it was only an end to part one of the Markus Muller story. Barring any unfortunate events, he appears to have an illustrious rugby career ahead of him.
Boishaai backs Cole Moultrie and Tristan Joubert, will remember their respective 63rd and 66th minute tries for a long time to come. Their cuts inside to beat the rushing defenders enabled them to dive over the line for one of the most resilient comebacks in recent years.
On that note, another storied chapter in the epic tale of the Paarl Derby came to a close.
Scorers
Paarl Boys’ High 35 (14) – Tries: Jeneal Davids, Gershom Pieters, Kobus Wilken, Cole Moultrie, Tristan Joubert. Conversions: Iwan Jordaan (5); Paarl Gimnasium 33 (13) – Tries: Markus Muller, Hendré van der Westhuizen, Jean Dreyer. Conversions: Markus Muller (3). Penalties: Markus Muller (4).
Other Results
u19: Paarl Gimnasium II 26, Paarl Boys’ High II 25; Paarl Gimnasium III 21, Paarl Boys’ High III 20; Paarl Gimnasium IV 38, Paarl Boys’ High IV 36; Paarl Boys’ High V 32, Paarl Gimnasium V 12; Paarl Boys’ High VI 22, Paarl Gimnasium VI 20.
u16: Paarl Boys’ High 37, Paarl Gimnasium 21; Paarl Gimnasium II 19, Paarl Boys’ High II 15; Paarl Gimnasium III 15, Paarl Boys’ High III 13; Paarl Boys’ High IV 13, Paarl Gimnasium IV 10.
u15: Paarl Gimnasium 17, Paarl Boys’ High 16; Paarl Gimnasium II 19, Paarl Boys’ High II 17; Paarl Boys’ High III 22, Paarl Gimnasium III 18; Paarl Boys’ High IV 22, Paarl Gimnasium IV 5.
u14: Paarl Gimnasium 18, Paarl Boys’ High 6; Paarl Gimnasium II 31, Paarl Boys’ High II 26; Paarl Gimnasium III 23, Paarl Boys’ High III 21; Paarl Gimnasium IV 50, Paarl Boys’ High IV 5.
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