Schools rugby set for another twin-cities cliffhanger

Big prop Angus Brown in his 40th 1st XV match for Napier Boys' High School. NBHS beat Palmerston North 16-14 on Saturday. Photo / Ian Cooper

Now-veteran rugby coach Brendon Ratcliffe saw one of the most satisfying wins of his career as the Napier Boys' High School 1st XV kept alive their national schools title hopes with a 1ast-second 16-14 win over Palmerston North BHS in Napier on Saturday.

The win took Napier into a match against Hastings BHS in Hastings this Saturday for a place in the Hurricanes Region final which will decide the region's team for the national 1st XV Top Four championship playoffs next month.

Hastings are effectively reigning national champions, with the Covid-19 pandemic cancelling the top four playoffs since HBHS beat Auckland school King's College in the final in 2019, while Napier last reached the Top Four the previous year.

With each side scoring one try in the first half on Saturday, and the visitors leading 8-7 at halftime, the future for both sides hinged on the boot of Napier first five-eighths Cory Berkett who never missed a shot.

He landed a penalty goal from 45 metres eight minutes from the end, and, after seeing PNBHS regain the lead with a goal of its own, slotted the match-winner on the final whistle from about 35m for a personal match total of 11 points.

Home team prop Tasman Soanai opened the scoring with a try to which PNBHS replied with a penalty to fullback Sam Coles. PNBHS took the lead with a try to left wing Aaron Chistenson just before halftime.

PNBHS led 11-10 and spent considerable time in Napier's half entering the last minute before Berkett kicked the big one with perfect timing on the wind behind.

It was also a big day for prop Gus Brown, making his 40th Napier 1st XV appearance across three seasons.

It was second time around for the two schools, with Napier having scored a last-minute try in June to beat PNBHS in the schools' annual Polson Banner match, this year a feature of the school's 150th anniversary celebrations in Napier.

Ratcliffe's coaching career goes back almost 30 years to when he applied at the age of 22 to be the Hawke's Bay union's development officer, for 150 schools and at least 25 clubs from Akitio in the south to Nuhaka in the north. He coached the Hawke's Bay Magpies for three years, starting in the second division in 2004, followed by a title-winning unbeaten run a year later, and for one year returned to the top level in an expanded NPC Division one in 2006.

As NBHS coach for five years, he described Saturday's satisfaction as "more relief", after three weeks off, reckoning it was not the best performance of the year for a side he believes has what it takes to claim the national title.

"Been in the game a long time, you lose some you thought you should have won, and win some you could have lost," he said. "On another day it could have been a win to Palmy."

Meanwhile, in Hawke's Bay secondary schools finals, Hastings BHS Red beat Napier BHS Hostel 43-5 to claim Division 2 honours, and Hastings BHS Div 3 Red beat Lindisfarne College 21-10 in the Division 3 match.

The Division 1 final, which doesn't include the 1st XV who play in such wider competitions as Super 8, is expected to be a curtainraiser to the Hawke's Bay Magpies' Ranfurly Shield defence and Bunnings NPC match against North Harbour at McLean Park, Napier, on Saturday.