2018 School Rugby

Bovidae

A late change to the Chiefs playoff games. It's now Hamilton BHS @ New Plymouth BHS and Rotorua BHS @ Wesley College.

They have a format for the semis and RBHS pointed out the matchups were incorrect. RBHS did lose at NPBHS in the Super 8 too.

Stargazer

@bovidae Smart. So now they'll lose in Hamilton next week?

Bovidae

I hope so. NPBHS is tough at home and if it is a HBHS vs RBHS final then it should be in Hamilton as the Super 8 game was in Rotorua.

Bovidae

@stargazer said in 2018 School Rugby:

@bovidae Smart. So now they'll lose in Hamilton next week?

That didn't work out well for Rotorua.

Wesley 26 beat Rotorua BHS 21
Hamilton BHS 29 beat New Plymouth BHS 12

Bovidae

Other results

UC Final
Christchurch BHS 18 v Christ's College 18 (CBHS win on more tries rule)

Hurricanes Semi Finals
Hastings BHS 31 v St Pats Silverstream 14
Napier BHS 31 v St Pats Town 14

The Hawke's Bay mob will be happy.

Stargazer

@bovidae said in 2018 School Rugby:

Other results

UC Final
Christchurch BHS 18 v Christ's College 18 (CBHS win on more tries rule)

Hurricanes Semi Finals
Hastings BHS 31 v St Pats Silverstream 14
Napier BHS 31 v St Pats Town 14

The Hawke's Bay mob will be happy.

Yessssssss, Hawke's Bay guaranteed the Hurricanes spot in the National Top 4! Looking at those full time scores, very convincing wins over the Wellington schools as well. Next weekend's Hurricanes final between Napier and Hastings will - I think - be televised. Can't wait.

Nepia

@bovidae Nice. Take that you Hurricanes sons of bitches! Stop overlooking our talent for all your crap Wellingtonians.

/Rant finished :winking_face:

JK

Blues Top 4 playoffs

Westlake 53 - Kataia nil

No real surprise and expecting a loss by a similar margin vs whichever Auckland team Westlake have to place next

Higgins

@stargazer said in 2018 School Rugby:

@bovidae said in 2018 School Rugby:

Other results

UC Final
Christchurch BHS 18 v Christ's College 18 (CBHS win on more tries rule)

Hurricanes Semi Finals
Hastings BHS 31 v St Pats Silverstream 14
Napier BHS 31 v St Pats Town 14

The Hawke's Bay mob will be happy.

Yessssssss, Hawke's Bay guaranteed the Hurricanes spot in the National Top 4! Looking at those full time scores, very convincing wins over the Wellington schools as well. Next weekend's Hurricanes final between Napier and Hastings will - I think - be televised. Can't wait.

Scheduled for the Showgrounds (or whatever it is called now) in Palm Nth this coming Saturday but speaking to a Hastings official after the game discussions and negotiations for a venue change were already underway and a decision was expected with an hour or so. Have not yet been made privy to that decision but it seems eminently sensible to have it staged up home. However it if is scheduled to be televised (game is supposed to be the curtainraiser to a 'Poo Mitre10 Cup game) then both teams owe it to their jersey sponsors to take that option.

Stargazer

@higgins I can understand them not moving it to the Sunday, to make it the opposite of a curtain raiser to the Magpies game, because that would rob the winner of a recovery day before the Nationals, but it would have been great to have it played on the new turf of McLean Park.

Nepia

Would be funny to play a game between the two HB teams in the Poo. But if it's to be televised then as @Higgins notes then they probably have to play it then for sponsors etc.

mimic

@jk said in 2018 School Rugby:

Blues Top 4 playoffs

Westlake 53 - Kataia nil

No real surprise and expecting a loss by a similar margin vs whichever Auckland team Westlake have to place next

Westlake usually competes well against the Auckland winners.. St Peters have won by the skin of their teeth in their last two games.. I wonder if they have enough left in the tank to go further?

Bovidae

The rest of the results:

Chiefs Co-Ed Qualifier
St Peter's Cambridge 55 v Cambridge HS 7

Hurricanes Co-ed Semi-Final
Wairarapa College 38 v Manawatu College 27
Feilding HS 53 v Aotea College 10

Hurricanes Girls Final
Manukura: 38 v St Mary's College: 33 (Manukura to top 4) - St Mary's College were the defending national champs

Girls South Island Final
Southland GHS 39 v Christchurch GHS 0 (SBHS into top 4)

Highlanders co-ed Final
Gore HS: 23 v St Kevin's 20 - Winner to play Rangiora High School.

Boys South Island Final
Otago BHS 26 v Southland BHS 7 (OBHS v CBHS in the SI final)

middleman

Now that all the finalists for the top four are into their last qualifying games can I make this observation.
The Super 8 competition is at least equal if not better than any other schoolboy competition.
Both Napier and Hastings beat their Wellington opponents this year to qualify.
Top four winners for the last 2 ( or 3 ? ) years have been super 8 teams. The super 8 has no easy games and half the schools are much smaller than their Auckland Wellington and Christchurch opponents and despite rumours to the contrary there very little,if any, poaching certainly here in Hawke’s Bay.
I know every dog has his day and other teams will rise but the media coverage even locally does not give enough credit for the quality of rugby played in the Super 8 competition.

Bovidae

It will also be interesting to see how the winner of CBHS and OBHS goes in the Top 4. The SI team, SBHS in recent years, has been an easy win for whoever is drawn to play them. This year that is the Hurricanes school.

middleman

@bovidae
Agreed Bovidae. Of note is that the coach of SBHS until he took over Hastings Boys and got them to two finals was Mark Ozich who has already this season equalled Hawke’s Bays results from last year with only 2 games played.
Although SBHS didn’t fare that well when they got to the finals it was an impressive achievement to even get there.
When you look above NZ 20s it surprising how many players come from “unfashionable” schools or conversely the number that don’t come from the “ big “ schools.

Bovidae

@middleman Agree about SBHS. They've often upset CBHS or another Chch school to qualify.

Here's the winners since 2000, and you need to go back to the 3-peat CBHS teams in 2004-06 stacked with future ABs when a South Island team last won the Top 4.

2017 Hastings Boys' High School
2016 Mt Albert Grammar School
2015 Rotorua Boys' High School
2014 Scots College
2014 Hamilton Boys' High School
2013 Hamilton Boys' High School
2012 St Kentigern College
2011 Kelston Boys' High School
2010 Mt Albert Grammar School
2009 Hamilton Boys High School
2008 De La Salle
2008 Hamilton Boys High School
2007 Gisborne Boys High School
2006 Christchurch Boys' High School
2005 Christchurch Boys' High School
2004 Christchurch Boys' High School
2003 Rotorua Boys High School
2002 Napier Boys High School
2001 Wesley College
2000 St Peter’s College

middleman

@bovidae Thanks for that. I somehow had Hamilton winning in 2016 and yet I was there watching Mt Albert beat Hastings!!
I remember that Christchurch era as Hasting lost to them in one of the three wins.
My point of the first post was not to downplay the traditional schools success but to highlight that many of our first class players learnt their craft in unheralded schools. That CNI competition is also strong.
I read somewhere recently that from Hawke’s Bay the school with most first class players at present is Lindisfarne and they haven’t been able to beat Napier or Hastings for a long time now.

Chester Draws

@middleman said in 2018 School Rugby:

Now that all the finalists for the top four are into their last qualifying games can I make this observation.
The Super 8 competition is at least equal if not better than any other schoolboy competition.
Both Napier and Hastings beat their Wellington opponents this year to qualify.
Top four winners for the last 2 ( or 3 ? ) years have been super 8 teams. The super 8 has no easy games and half the schools are much smaller than their Auckland Wellington and Christchurch opponents and despite rumours to the contrary there very little,if any, poaching certainly here in Hawke’s Bay.
I know every dog has his day and other teams will rise but the media coverage even locally does not give enough credit for the quality of rugby played in the Super 8 competition.

The only school I can speak of is Hamilton BHS, and it poaches like crazy. Or rather recruits heaps of out of zone boys it has its eye on.

There are agents for the school directing promising youngsters at all likely venues (Roller Mills, local schools etc) -- but not staff members, because that isn't allowed. The school has a "ballot" to take out of zone boys, but every promising boy somehow, magically, makes it. Country schools have no chance holding on to their young talent.

They then don't poach much at Year 9 to 11 level -- they barely have to since most promising boys are already there. Though I've seen them take boys who otherwise they wouldn't (say expelled from another school).

At senior level they recruit to fill holes. That's how Henry Speight ended there. The rules prevent too much of that though.

That's a reason why St Paul's, St Peter's and HBHS dominate the Waikato -- they recruit the best. They also direct large resources to good training, of course.

As far as I know Hamilton don't play many boys past Year 13, as they are a good school academically, so the boys will have largely passed. I have heard it alleged that Rotorua have lots of Year 14 boys.

(One reason that so many boys from "top" schools don't make NZ Schools is that many of them are too old.)

JK

@mimic said in 2018 School Rugby:

@jk said in 2018 School Rugby:

Blues Top 4 playoffs

Westlake 53 - Kataia nil

No real surprise and expecting a loss by a similar margin vs whichever Auckland team Westlake have to place next

Westlake usually competes well against the Auckland winners.. St Peters have won by the skin of their teeth in their last two games.. I wonder if they have enough left in the tank to go further?

Never done to well from what I rememeber but could be wrong and would love to be suprised this time

The Silver Fern

2018 School Rugby