Rugby: Solid defence wins it for Boys' High

Rotorua Boys' High School first XV player Ma'ake Taulahi runs the ball up during their win against Wesley College on Saturday. Photo / Ben Fraser

Rotorua Boys' High School are through to the top eight schools in the country after defeating Wesley College 19-8 in Rotorua.

Two busloads of Wesley College supporters arrived at Rotorua Boys' on Saturday to cheer home their first XV side.

Despite plenty of vocal support, the Auckland school struggled to find a way through Rotorua Boys' line.

Rotorua's defence, combined with a standout performance from first-five Ma'ake Taulahi, was enough to secure them the home victory and a place in the final eight. They will travel to Hamilton this weekend to play Hamilton Boys' High School with the winner advancing to the national top four competition in Rotorua.

"Barging through to the top eight is obviously an awesome achievement for these boys, I'm really proud of them," Rotorua Boys' coach Bruce Buckton said. "It was a typical battle between Wesley and Boys' High with lots of passion and lots of support, from both sides. It is tough and you have to bag those wins."

Buckton said a great performance from Taulahi and a solid team effort in defence got them over the line.

"[Wesley] made a few metres but we were not allowing them to make too much."

The Rotorua Boys' rugby pitch was in near perfect condition on Saturday, despite being completely flooded earlier in the week.

Wesley College began the better of the two sides, earning an early penalty converted by Aria Cerei.

Rotorua Boys' worked their way into the game though and scored the opener after first-five Taulahi took on the line and broke it. He was brought down close to the tryline before feeding the ball to big No 8 Viliame Tosi.

Tosi, who is only in Year 11 but was perhaps the biggest player on the pitch, carried two defenders over the tryline to score the opener.

Rotorua Boys' jumped out to a nine-point lead when Taulahi tore through the Wesley defence again. Taulahi received the ball from a lineout and raced 30m to score a fine individual try.

Wesley closed the gap before halftime when prop Jarred Adams barged over from close range. Wesley then saved what looked to be a certain try to keep the scores close at halftime.

After the break, Wesley made their intentions clear by dominating field possession for the opening 15 minutes.

Despite pinning Rotorua Boys' in their own 22m, Wesley could not find a way through the defence. Rotorua Boys' finally managed to get out of their own half and Taulahi scored the final try of the game. He received the ball from a scrum and ran a good line to score under the posts.

Coach Buckton said they had achieved all their major goals this year - finishing in the top four in the Super 8, holding on to the Chris Grinter Trophy against Wesley and having individual players gain representative success. He said it would be a great bonus to win this weekend and advance to the top four in Rotorua.

Rotorua Boys' have won one and lost one against Hamilton Boys' this year.

Result

Rotorua Boys' High School 19 (Ma'ake Taulahi 2, Viliame Tosi tries; Nerehana Tarei 2 con)
Wesley College 8 (Jarred Adams try; Aria Cerei pen)