Christchurch Boys' High School will face Southland Boys' High School in the final of the South Island First XV championship. Photo / George Heard
The best First XV rugby sides in the South Island will vie for the title of champions at Les George Oval in Invercargill on Saturday.
Highlanders regional winners, Southland Boys’ High School, will host the Crusaders regional champions, Christchurch Boys’ High School, with the winner heading to the national Top 4 tournament in Palmerston North next month.
It’s familiar territory for Southland Boys’ coach Jason Dermody.
“Yeah, third time we’ve been in it in a row, so, yeah, I suppose we’re getting used to being in the finals,” says Dermody.
Last season, they undertook the longest road trip in schoolboy rugby – driving 977km to Nelson College. The visitors went down 47-24 to the eventual National First XV Championship runners-up. This time it’s a 15-minute drive to the venue.
Les George Oval is near Oreti Beach and is famous for its drainage. Even if the weather packs in – the surface won’t.
“Saturday looks like it’s going to be alright. You’re playing on the sandy ground, so it should be hard and fast, which will suit both teams,” Dermody said.
Hard and fast is a far cry from the bog that is the number one field at Christchurch Boys’ High School. That didn’t stop Christchurch Boys’ from dishing out a lesson in their regional final against their old foes – Christ’s College – “School” belting “College” 52-0.
The masters of the mud will find it easier to spread the ball on Saturday – and exciting backs like Cam Jones, Hanroux Wessels and Nikao Panapa will have an opportunity to showcase their running game.
“We’re looking forward to that, you know, it’s a contrast to last week,” Christchurch Boys’ head coach Pete Chaplin said.
“They were pretty cold and slightly underutilised. So, we’re looking to get those boys to have a crack.”
The hosts also have some exciting ball runners, as witnessed in their final against King’s High School last weekend. The 27-26 nail-biter was sealed by the boot of Jimmy Taylor, but the talented first five-eighths has a running game to match. The livewire pivot sparked the Southland Boys’ attack whenever it was needed and will be key to guiding his side back to the top of the South Island rankings.
As much as the conditions will suit attack, it was the home side’s defence that delivered their third straight Southern Schools Rugby Championship. King’s High School held the ball for near on 25 phases – which Southland Boys’ successfully repelled, before eventually conceding a penalty. It was a staggering defensive effort and one that would not have escaped Chaplin’s review of his side’s final opponents.
“They’ve got a pretty good pack, good set piece. They’re pretty confrontational using their forwards, and they’ve also got a pretty good operator at 10 and some strength in the back. So they’re a good side, they’ve got all the bases covered. We’re preparing accordingly,” he said.
The two teams met in a pre-season friendly at Ohoka in May, with the Christchurch boys prevailing 45-28. Both sides have played a lot of rugby since then – and a number of players have had some heavy workloads. Two rocks of the Christchurch side have been halfback Hiro Fuchigami and hooker Mac Chaplin, playing almost every minute of almost every match.
Many have also juggled midweek club rugby league commitments, with six boys selected in the Canterbury Under-18 Rugby League squad.
“The recovery for our team is really paramount,” Chaplin said.
The first-year First XV coach says his management team have worked hard to ensure no one is overdoing it, whilst still giving their boys the freedom to do what they love.
“We’ve got guys that are keen on mountain biking, we’ve got hunters, we’ve got guys that love skiing, we’ve got a whole range of boys that just like doing different things on the weekend. We encourage it for a wellbeing perspective for the boys,” Chaplin said.
The visitors will hit the road on Thursday morning for the bus ride to Invercargill, and the next leg of a journey that they hope will end in Palmerston North next month.
The school, dubbed “the factory” due to the 48 All Blacks it’s produced, has only made the Top 4 tournament once in the past decade. These opportunities are hard-won.
“I would imagine in the back of their brains, like all of us, there’s a little thing about what next? But we’ve been really firm this year around sort of laser-eyeing on our opponents on a Saturday. Working solely around that and then kind of putting that brick in the wall and then recalibrating where we’re off to next. This Saturday will be no different,” Chaplin said.
Southland were last at the national finals in 2023 – taking the title back to Invercargill for the first time ever. Dermody coached that side and says little has changed in the way his team approach the game.
“We just roll up our sleeves with the forwards and get around the corner and carry hard and go to work. We’ve got a couple of classy backs that can light us up a wee bit. We keep it pretty simple and it seems to be working,” Dermody said.
The experienced coach says his side are injury-free and he’s had the luxury of keeping a settled starting XV for the past three to four weeks going into the biggest game of the season.
“Our goal is always to be the best in the South Island, and we’ve given ourselves that opportunity. The boys will be up for it.”
While the return of schoolboy rugby to television screens has been welcomed, this weekend’s First XV feature match on Sky TV will be the North Harbour final between Westlake Boys High School and Whangārei Boys’ High School.
The South Island final will only be available on YouTube channel The Pits TV – with a passionate local commentary team.
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.