2023 School Rugby
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Amongst the many prestigious winners of the Moascar Cup the mighty Okaihau District High School stands out as my favourite.
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In the past the schools tended to play against other schools from their own region, hence the list of Northland schools in the 1950s and 1960s.
Another interesting point is that two more recent previous holders no longer exist anymore - Church College and St Stephen's.
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Played in sunny and hot conditions (for winter).
Hamilton BHS 64 - 14 New Plymouth BHS (HT: 40-7)
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@Stargazer Coaching. HBHS doesn't usually have the best athletes but are always very fit and well-drilled. There are a few players from out of Hamilton (greater Waikato, Northland) but the scholarships were usually for a Fijian (e.g., Reece, Narawa), and there are none of those in the team.
They only have 3 Super 8 home games and others are against the other top schools (Rotorua and Hastings).
BTW, they actually released a team list on their FB page before the game.
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Coaching, yes. They put a lot of their school budget into that, which other schools might spend on, you know, teaching.
But also a couple of other factors greatly help Hamilton BHS.
Sheer size. Some of the Super 8 are big too, but not all. Hamilton BHS is three times the size of Hastings BHS, for example, and twice the size of Rotorua BHS.
The lack of alternatives for good rugby boys in the Waikato. St John's is something of an alternative, but you have to accept being "Catholic" and they are only recently any good. The other good rugby schools in the area are all private. The other big state schools in the area have very poor rugby programs for their size. Cambridge, for example, don't produce anything like what they should.
A HBHS "ballot" for out of zone boys that magically has every good rugby boy selected. That combined with an aggressive targeting of young rugby boys to go to HBHS, means that they hoover up from the whole province.
Success breeds success, so the likes of Warren Gatland choose to send their sons there, when he could afford a private school.
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Coaching, yes. They put a lot of their school budget into that, which other schools might spend on, you know, teaching.
But also a couple of other factors greatly help Hamilton BHS.
Sheer size. Some of the Super 8 are big too, but not all. Hamilton BHS is three times the size of Hastings BHS, for example, and twice the size of Rotorua BHS.
The lack of alternatives for good rugby boys in the Waikato. St John's is something of an alternative, but you have to accept being "Catholic" and they are only recently any good. The other good rugby schools in the area are all private. The other big state schools in the area have very poor rugby programs for their size. Cambridge, for example, don't produce anything like what they should.
A HBHS "ballot" for out of zone boys that magically has every good rugby boy selected. That combined with an aggressive targeting of young rugby boys to go to HBHS, means that they hoover up from the whole province.
Success breeds success, so the likes of Warren Gatland choose to send their sons there, when he could afford a private school.
@Chester-Draws You've hit the nail on the head!
Also, Nigel Hotham builds a great rapport with his players. They are very loyal to him and want to play for him. I'm sure this helps with culture and consequently results.
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Hastings Boys' (with the same acronym HBHS) have also had great coaches and again this year, but a much smaller budget and a much smaller player pool. They've done pretty well the last few years with two Top 4 titles, but it's clear they have a much tougher job getting there than schools like Hamilton Boys with all their resources.
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Coaching, yes. They put a lot of their school budget into that, which other schools might spend on, you know, teaching.
But also a couple of other factors greatly help Hamilton BHS.
Sheer size. Some of the Super 8 are big too, but not all. Hamilton BHS is three times the size of Hastings BHS, for example, and twice the size of Rotorua BHS.
The lack of alternatives for good rugby boys in the Waikato. St John's is something of an alternative, but you have to accept being "Catholic" and they are only recently any good. The other good rugby schools in the area are all private. The other big state schools in the area have very poor rugby programs for their size. Cambridge, for example, don't produce anything like what they should.
A HBHS "ballot" for out of zone boys that magically has every good rugby boy selected. That combined with an aggressive targeting of young rugby boys to go to HBHS, means that they hoover up from the whole province.
Success breeds success, so the likes of Warren Gatland choose to send their sons there, when he could afford a private school.
@Chester-Draws said in 2023 School Rugby:
Success breeds success, so the likes of Warren Gatland choose to send their sons there, when he could afford a private school.
The former definitely helps. On the latter, Warren went to HBHS himself so it's not that unusual that his son also went to the same school.
It's not all about rugby, although the code gets the most media attention. The football team have won the National competition in the last decade and there has been Maadi Cup success in the rowing.
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I've never thought about it before but Ham Boys really does have a much larger catchment area than the other Super 8 teams. I guess Tauranga and Palmy would have the next biggest catchment areas. Although Napier is essentially a single boys school with a boarding hostel in one city, to contrast with Hastings which has two other boys schools (which TBF probably attract some Napier peeps) and previously had competition with Te Aute.
Edit: Not to take away from Hamilton's success as they clearly have a great rugby programme, and no longer need to rely on bent refs to win like in 2004 or 2005.
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I've never thought about it before but Ham Boys really does have a much larger catchment area than the other Super 8 teams. I guess Tauranga and Palmy would have the next biggest catchment areas. Although Napier is essentially a single boys school with a boarding hostel in one city, to contrast with Hastings which has two other boys schools (which TBF probably attract some Napier peeps) and previously had competition with Te Aute.
Edit: Not to take away from Hamilton's success as they clearly have a great rugby programme, and no longer need to rely on bent refs to win like in 2004 or 2005.
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Yes Tauranga Boy's College should do better, given its size and lack of alternatives. But I suspect that Tauranga isn't a city that has a a rugby population in the way that the Waikato does.
I don't really follow them much, but how are they on sports like football and cricket, which I would expect them to be better at?
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@Chester-Draws said in 2023 School Rugby:
Success breeds success, so the likes of Warren Gatland choose to send their sons there, when he could afford a private school.
The former definitely helps. On the latter, Warren went to HBHS himself so it's not that unusual that his son also went to the same school.
It's not all about rugby, although the code gets the most media attention. The football team have won the National competition in the last decade and there has been Maadi Cup success in the rowing.
@Bovidae said in 2023 School Rugby:
It's not all about rugby, although the code gets the most media attention. The football team have won the National competition in the last decade and there has been Maadi Cup success in the rowing.
When I was, briefly, at Hamilton BHS, the rowing team were considered the golden boys -- much more than the rugby team.
There was much jubilation this year from the vast bulk of spectators at the Maadi Cup when -- after HBHS were very poor sports having won the Boys' 8s -- it was found out that they didn't win.
In contrast, mostly people don't get so worked up about their rugby team. We'd all like to beat them, but not with the same distain. We want to beat them because they are the best.
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Yes Tauranga Boy's College should do better, given its size and lack of alternatives. But I suspect that Tauranga isn't a city that has a a rugby population in the way that the Waikato does.
I don't really follow them much, but how are they on sports like football and cricket, which I would expect them to be better at?
@Chester-Draws said in 2023 School Rugby:
I don't really follow them much, but how are they on sports like football and cricket, which I would expect them to be better at?
TBC are the dominant cricket school in the Super 8.
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Fixtures - Saturday 27 May 2023
Auckland 1A
Round 4- Auckland Grammar School v St Kentigern - 2.30pm
- Mt Albert Grammar School v Kelston BHS - 2.30pm
- St Paul's College v De La Salle College - 2.30pm
- King's College v Dilworth School - 2.30pm
- Tangaroa College v Liston College - 2.30pm
- Sacred Heart College v St Peter's College - 2.30pm
Harbour 1A
Round 5- Rosmini College v Westlake BHS - 12.00pm
- Massey HS v Rangitoto College - 12.00pm
- Takapuna Grammar v Orewa College - 12.00pm
- Whangarei BHS v Manurewa HS - 12.00pm
Central North Island
Round 3- Whanganui Collegiate School v St John's, Hastings - 11.00am
- St Paul's Collegiate v Wesley College - 12.00pm
- Feilding HS v St Peter's Cambridge - 11.00am
- Lindisfarne College v St John's College, Hamilton - 12.00pm
- Francis Douglas MC v Rathkeale College - 11.00am
Super 8
Round 2- Rotorua BHS v Napier BHS - 12.00pm (livestream link below)
- Gisborne BHS v Palmerston North BHS - 12.00pm (livestream link below)
Wellington Premiership
Round 2- St Bernard's College v Mana College - 12.30pm
- Wairarapa College v St Pat's Town - 1.00pm
- Scots College v Wellington College - 2.30pm
- Rongotai College v Hutt International BS - 2.30pm
- Tawa College v St Pat's Silverstream - 2.30pm
Miles Toyota Premiership
Round 3- Christ's College v Timaru BHS - played on Friday 26 May 2023
- Shirley BHS v Selwyn Schools Combined - 1.00pm
- St Bede's College v St Thomas of Canterbury College - 2.45pm
- St Andrews College v Christchurch BHS - 2.45pm
- Nelson College v Marlborough Boys College - to be played on Thursday 1 June 2023
Otago Schools Rugby Championship (Division 1) - part 1
Round 4- Southland BHS v King's HS - 12.45pm
- Wakatipu HS v Waitaki BHS - 12.45pm
- John McGlashan College v Otago BHS - 12.45
Rotorua BHS v Napier BHS - 12.00pm
Gisborne BHS v Palmerston North BHS - 12.00pm
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I went along to watch the CNI match between St Paul's and Wesley. It was a game in which the lead changed three times and St Paul's ended up winning 16-12 despite only scoring one try to Wesley's two. Wesley have some big, athletic players but were guilty of trying to run over the opposition instead of between them too often, and also paid for some ill-discipline when on attack. St Paul's finally took the lead from a 50 m penalty from their captain and 1st 5 (Michael Robinson). He later added another long-range penalty. I heard a parent say he is from Whangarei.
I'll be interested to see how many of these players make the Chiefs U18s.
This was in their match programme.
