Less than a year ago, SA Rugby Magazine published an article on Josh Neill, the Rondebosch Boys High, Western Province and SA Schools Under 18 loose-forward.
It read: “Neill enjoyed a remarkable 2024 season for Western Province U18 and South Africa U18. Neill scored a brace of tries in both of WP’s opening two games at the U18 Craven Week [against the Sharks and Eastern Province], helping his side to the unofficial ‘final’ where they defeated Free State.
“His standout performances in Krugersdorp saw him named in the SA Schools side, and he was also included in the SA U18 squad for the International Series in August, ending the season on a high with a man-of-the-match display in a 39-14 win over England U18.”
Neill would make the SA U18s again in 2025 after he captained, in 2023, WP’s U16 at the Grant Khomo Rugby Week as a No 8, and played for the WP U16 cricket side.
Player-of-the-match performance
On Friday night, SA Rugby Magazine again applauded Neill. Only this time it was because of his player-of-the-match performance for Ireland against Italy in Cork in the U20 Six Nations.
Ireland won 30-27, with Neill’s second-half try crucial in the result.
Neill matriculated at Rondebosch Boys High in 2025, having decided to further his sporting career in Ireland, courtesy of qualification through Irish grandparents.
He is only 18 years old.
His 20-year-old brother, Jordan Neill, captained the school’s 1st Cricket XI in his matric year and was picked to play for Ireland U19s, on tour to South Africa while still in matric in Cape Town.
Jordan has played six T20s, two Test matches, and one ODI for Ireland.
Both brothers made a decision they said that extended sport. They wanted to move to Ireland post their matric years.
Sought after in SA
Both were sought after in South Africa in their respective codes, but they turned down all the advances.
The Stormers, who have signed the best of the local youth talent in the past two seasons, including Paarl Gim midfielder Markus Muller and SA U20 World Championship-winning captain and Proteas U19 cricket captain Riley Norton, made every attempt to keep the younger Neill in Cape Town.
The decision was bigger than rugby, but for Ireland it’s a decision that, for now, benefits their rugby big time.
Neill, who has signed for Leinster, scored a try on debut in an Ireland U20 pre-tournament match against Italy, and has played three matches for Ireland’s U20s in the past month.
He played for SA U18s in 2024 and 2025.
South Africa’s powerful school sporting system is responsible for several players seeking an international future elsewhere, particularly in cricket and rugby.
America’s top strike bowler at the current T20 World Cup, Shadley van Schalkwyk, was schooled at Wynberg Boys High in Cape Town, albeit some time ago, and the Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, England, and Scotland’s national and youth cricket teams regularly feature South African schoolboy products.
Neill, from a rugby perspective, is a big loss because he made the decision in his Grade 11 year that his rugby future would be in Ireland.
Gem of a talent
Rondebosch Boys High director of rugby Clinton van Rensburg, formerly of the Sharks, who enjoyed a season with Ulster in 1998, said Ireland had secured a gem of a talent in Neill.
He spoke of Neill’s leadership qualities, his ability to read lineouts, and his explosiveness.
Rondebosch Boys High is renowned for producing many sporting stars for South Africa and other countries, and Dion O’Cuinneagain, a former Bosch Old Boy, captained the Springboks Sevens in the late 1990s before moving to Ulster in Northern Ireland.
O’Cuinneagain, a doctor, captained Ireland in 2000 against the Springboks in Dublin and returned to South Africa on retirement to continue his medical practice. He lives in Cape Town.
CJ Stander is the most recent South African-born-and-raised rugby star for Ireland. He played 50 Tests for Ireland, 150 matches for Munster, and represented the British & Irish Lions.
He retired at 30 and moved back to South Africa for family reasons. He lives in Paarl.
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