Triumph for Tauranga Boys'

Tauranga Boys' College are celebrating their greatest rugby success since their first XV held the Moascar Cup after their under-15s won the elite national tournament in Hawke's Bay beating Hamilton Boys' High 10-7 in the final.

Buoyed by a semifinal exit at the same tournament last year, Tauranga Boys' hit the Hastings tournament running, blowing away Wellington's St Pats Town 41-6 in their opening pool game.

Up against Counties' Wesley College two tries in three minutes gave them a rampaging start and they blew their rivals off the paddock, romping to a 59-5 win.

Tauranga made it three-from-three with a brutal 27-5 defeat of Bay rivals Rotorua Boys' High, setting up a quarter-finals clash with Palmerston North Boys High.

"This game was the one I was most nervous about," coach Charles Williams said.

"We played them last year and were lucky to get a win. They had also been playing well and even managed to beat eventual finalists Hamilton Boys by four points in an early match during the season."

Eventual player of the tournament Caleb Aperehama was in damaging form, often running with three Palmerston North players hanging off him, and Tauranga laid on 29 unanswered points for a comfortable win.

A narrow 12-7 halftime lead in the semifinal against Napier Boys' High caused some angst but Boys' College put points on the board at the right time to run away with it 37-12.

"By this stage we were held together with tape and some boys could not use all their limbs. However the adrenalin of playing in a final helped to numb the pain," Williams said.

Tauranga held firm in a scoreless first half. Playing with the wind in the second-half fullback Connor Fifita and first-five Rikihana Borell made sure Tauranga played at the right end of the field, with Borell giving Tauranga a 3-0 lead via a penalty before Donne atoned with a try beside the posts.

With Tauranga Boys' under-14s winning the Colquhoun Shield in Palmerston North for the third successive year, under-15 assistant coach Richard Hall said the signs for the first XV in future seasons looked promising.

"For us it was about muscling up on defence and not letting anyone cross our line, which showed in that we scored close to 200 points and had just five tries scored against us."

Tauranga Boys' under-15 results:

Pool play: bt St Pats Town 41-6, bt Wesley 59-5, bt Rotorua Boys High 27-5.

Quarter-final: bt Palmerston North BHS 29-0. Semifinal: bt Napier BHS 37-12.

Final: bt Hamilton Boys' High 10-7.