In our first ever Thursday Throwback series we start off with looking back the Grey College rugby team of 2007.

Personally we feel that this could be one of the best, if not the best ever starting XV produced by a school, when it comes to looking back at historical teams this is a great starting point.

THE PLAYERS

The sheer number of players within this legendary team who went on to play professionally defies belief, we have all seen outstanding school teams over the years but not many members of the starting 15 went on to higher honours.

The team was led by legendary centre Robert Ebersohn who was a huge talent and ran circles around his opposition throughout the year, the interplay between him and twin brother Sias at pivot was a sight to behold. Both went on to play at Super Rugby level but it must be said that they did not become the world beaters everyone assumed they still have had highly respectable careers.

Lappies Labuschange the rugged loose-forward went on to represent the Bulls at Super Rugby level before moving to the Sunwolves where after a few years he managed to qualify for Japan, representing them in the 2019 rugby world cup.

Frankie Herne the hooker went on to represent the Pumas over 100 times at Currie Cup level and was further included in a SA Presidents XV to tour Georgia.

Coenie Oosthuizen was one of the players of this golden generation to go all the way to the top, becoming a Springbok in 2012 and going on to represent his country 30 times. Coenie was one of the best school props we have ever seen and did some real damage to his opponents.

Boom Prinsloo was another product of this legendary team, he represented South Africa as a Blitzbok and was a stalwart of the Cheetahs in the Super Rugby competition before moving onto the Bulls.

Finally we have George Whitehead who was a points scoring machine for the team. Whitehead in our opinion has always been an extremely underrated player and deserved far more recognition for this talents. His career has been that of a journeyman having represented no less than 6 teams in South Africa during his career.

THE STATS

Jawdropping can be the only way to describe the stats of the 2007 Grey College rugby team.

The average score against their opponents was a staggering 55 – 9. Now when you consider they play most of the top teams in the country, that shows how scarily good this team was.

INTERNATIONALS

Adriaan Thesinger – Germany

Coenie Oosthuizen – SA Schools and Springboks

Boom Prinsloo – Blitzbokke

Sakkie Muller – SA Schools

Roelof Pienaar – SA Schools

Headley Smith – SA Schools

Robert Ebersohn – SA Schools, Baby Boks

Sias Ebersohn – Baby Boks

Zane Botha – Baby Boks

Hendrik van der Merwe – Germany

GREY COLLEGE RUGBY TEAM 2007 RESULTS: