Nine of the ten international teams that will represent the Rest of The World at the World Schools Rugby Festival were announced today at Paul Roos Gymnasium by former Paul Roos and Saracens back row Ernst Joubert with 5 different nations being represented.
Four of those nine sides will come from New Zealand, home of the current World Champions and Number one ranked team in World Rugby.
An Africa Pacific team will be selected in a Barbarians style and will be coached by some of the world’s best talent. It will be the second appearance for them at the Festival.
In addition to this there will be a USA Schools XV made up from the rising talent from across the whole county.
The same is applicable to an Italian All Stars XV in a bid to strengthen the Rest of the World contingent at the Festival.
Hartpury College, an affiliated school with Gloucester Rugby in England will play for the second year in a row as will New South Wales Cavaliers from Australia.
Hartpury produced 11 schoolboy internationals last season and Wayne Thompson, head coach of the team doesn’t see any where better in the world to test his players.
“We wanted to be tested by the best, and what better way to test the players than in South Africa? To be tested, you have to travel and experience different cultures and this tournament offers exactly that” said Thompson.
The tournament is played in a ‘Ryder Cup’ style points scoring system that last year was dominated by the South African schools who won 18-2.
There will be one more international team revealed in due course but here are the teams that will be competing below:
Rest of the World
Christchurch Boys’ High School (New Zealand)
Napier Boys’ High School (New Zealand)
Hartpury College (England)
Africa Pacific Select XV (Invitational)
Southland Boys’ High School (New Zealand)
John McClashan (New Zealand)
New South Wales Cavaliers (Australia)
USA Schools XV (USA)
Italian All Stars XV (Italy)
South African Schools Teams
Paul Roos Gymnasium
Afrikaans Hoër Seunskool (Affies)
Boland Landbou
Glenwood High School
Grey College
Hilton College
Monument High School
Paarl Gimnasium
SACS High School
Invitational XV
