R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

Wesley College: the poor cousin of Auckland's schoolboy rugby scene. Hang on a minute? The college that produced Jonah Lomu, Sitiveni Sivivatu and Casey Laulala and more than a few others. Poor cousin?
Yes, says coach Mike Tod. There's little respect for what Wesley has achieved from schools across the Manukau and Auckland City boundaries.
It doesn't matter that the school's First XV recently won the Counties Manukau competition again and finished the season scoring 780 points and conceding a measly 57.
It doesn't even matter that the talented team convincingly beat Auckland finalists De La Salle 19-3 and powerhouses St Paul's 77-0, Harbour semifinalists Massey High 75-0 and, further afield, Rotorua Boys 26-7 during the season. And the five national titles since 1990 don't seem to carry much weight.
Tod says it's frustrating not to have the reputation of other successful rugby schools.
"We feel we have a point to prove. We feel pretty isolated a lot of the time," he says. "It's been 12 years since we've been beaten here. There was a large crowd at the final against Pukekohe and they were mostly Pukekohe people turning up to see if the dream could come true." It did, 51-8.
Next month, the team goes to Rotorua for the Chiefs' franchise schools' champs. With up-and-comers like Ben Makatu, Michael Laea, Uini Atonio and Karl Tuinukuale, Tod says the other teams should be wary.
"This season, we had a very solid front row. Our other five forwards are all basically open-siders and very athletic.
"We have a good, young backline who are all basically coming back next season."
Makatu represented Fiji at the under-20 World Cup and is a "beast of a man" according to Tod.
"For a schoolboy, he's light years ahead of anyone else. We also have Michael Laea, who's in the Counties- Manukau under-20s squad [hooker]. He's the only schoolboy in the squad.
"Then we have Uini Atonio, a member of the Counties academy, and we have very high expectations of him. All three of these boys are over 100kg and very good technically at what's required of a front row. It gives the basis for a very good scrum."
Tod says three boys are also in the frame for the NZ Secondary Schools team, to be named on the final day of play at the championship, where Wesley must win against Rotorua and Hamilton to advance to the national schools finals next month.