Rotorua Boys' kick off with Cup defence

CHIEFS CUP: The Rotorua Boys' High School 1st XV rugby team face off against Manurewa High School today. Pictured is Rotorua Boys' captain Isaac Te Aute (centre). PHOTO/BEN FRASER

The Rotorua Boys' High School first XV rugby team will play a match in South Auckland today as they look to grow as a team ahead of another big season.

Boys' High fell one win short of making the National Top 4 competition last season, reserved for the best rugby schools in the country.

This year they begin their season by trying to defend their Chiefs Cup title, before contesting the Super 8 competition in the coming months.

They defeated Cambridge High School 46-0 in their first pool game in the Chiefs Cup last weekend.

Today they travel to South Auckland to play Manurewa High School in the second of three pool matches in the Chiefs Cup.

"Traditionally Manurewa are a big, strong side and they will have full support at home, so we are expecting a really tough battle," Ngarimu Simpkins, the Rotorua Boys' High School first XV coach, said.

"We are just taking one game at a time. We have a lot of potential but our focus at present is the Chiefs Cup and growing as a team."

He said the Super 8 and Top 4 competitions would come later but were big targets for the school.

Simpkins said they had managed to keep a lot of quality players at the school this year, including last year's captain Isaac Te Aute, who has returned for Year 14 studies this year.

"It is a new-look side but we have held on to a lot of experience."

If Rotorua Boys' High win their next two games they will qualify for the final of the 2015 Chiefs Cup.