Paarl Boys' High pupil in ICU after 'freak' head injury during schoolboy rugby match in Pretoria

A Paarl Boys High School student is fighting for his life in ICU following a "freak" head injury he suffered during a rugby match at an Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affies) rugby festival on Tuesday.

The 17-year-old schoolboy, Chris Jordaan Junior, was rushed to hospital and had immediate surgery after suffering bleeding to the brain, which necessitated a four-and-a-half-hour operation.

According to the pupil’s father, Chris Jordaan senior, the eighthman went down under a "normal tackle" but suffered whiplash when his head hit the ground with force during Paarl Boys' 26-19 win past Affies.

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He was then taken to Muelmed Hospital after being quickly attended to by Paarl Boys High’s travelling medical team, who rushed onto the field.

The pupil is said to be in a stable condition but hadn’t regained consciousness at the time of publication.

"He had bleeding on the brain and took quite a serious knock," the school’s First XV rugby coach, Sean Erasmus, said.

"He is in a stable condition but hasn’t woken up since the incident and we are all very concerned.

"The video doesn’t allow us to see anything [foul] on it that happened. We do see him carrying the ball and taking a bit of a knock.

"Everything looks like it was a freak accident. It doesn’t look like anything malicious or anybody went out with any intent to hurt him. It wasn’t head-to-head contact or anything like that at all.

"Our medical team that travels with the team immediately ran onto the field to help him. They stabilised him immediately and the ambulance came on and moved him as quickly as possible to hospital."

The pupil's father, Jordaan, who sounded hopeful, told News24 that his son was doing "OK"