Bishops Platinum Blue 2018 full mag crop

BISHOPS RUGBY SINCE 1861
seeking to become a “Rugby
School” like some of these rivals,
chasing national rankings. That
never has and never will be the
ethos of the Diocesan College.
However, if we are to keep our
heads above water, it is critical
that we benefit from a natural
intake of rugby talent from our
feeder schools. Bishops Prep,
quite obviously, sits at the top of
that list and the College needs to
concussions than any other
school in the WP Premier A
League. Are our boys more
vulnerable than others to the
physical impact of this contact
sport, or could there be another
reason for these skewed
statistics? Bishops is one of only
three Premier A schools that
runs a concussion programme
from school – but when we look
at the trends over the past couple
“This year, for the first time in 30 years, Bishops has
struggled to put out three U14 teams each Saturday.”
Above: With dwindling numbers of boys
playing rugby, could well-attended
derbies against traditional rivals be a
thing of the past?
holding our own against our
local rivals in the southern
suburbs – but the same cannot
be said of our record against the
‘Boland’ schools. A sobering
statistic is that in our four
matches against Paul Roos, Paarl
Boys, Paarl Gym and Landbou
this year, Bishops won seven out
of 66 games! Having said that, I
do not believe that we should be
work as closely as possible with
our colleagues down at Fir Road
to facilitate this process. Wet
Pups (Western Province Prep
School) is our other major feeder
– but that, clearly, is less of a
‘controllable’ for us. It is a wellknown
fact that most of the
“successful” age groups in the
past were a combination of
strong Wet Pups and Bishops
Prep teams coming through to
the College.
If, for whatever reason, rugby
loses momentum in our two
feeder schools, then I believe
that Bishops would need to be a
little more flexible in our
admissions policy, insofar as the
applications we receive from
talented players in other schools.
We do not want, nor can we
afford, to embark on the
exorbitant recruitment drives of
some of our state school rivals
– but that is exactly what we
would be faced with, in order
to survive.
Concussion concerns
Anecdotal evidence suggests that
Bishops suffers more
of years, it is interesting to note
the curious spike in concussions
during the exam periods and in
the weeks before fixtures against
the Paarl schools! As coaches, we
joke about the so-called “N1
Fever” that lays low our lads
before these fixtures – but what
is no laughing matter, is the
concern that boys seem to be
capable of manipulating their
baseline tests in order to miss
exams and/or matches against
these Paarl opponents. If Bishops
is to remain with the Impact
programme, run internally
through our BSU (Bishops
Support Unit), then far tighter
control of the baseline testing
needs to take place.
The “cry wolf” scenario that
seems to have crept in could
have disastrous consequences.
The importance of team
sports
This year, for the first time in
30 years (according to our
veteran U14 coach, Phil Court!),
Bishops has struggled to put out
three U14 teams each Saturday.
While injuries have certainly
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