KEY POINTS:
De La Salle College maintained their lead at the top of Auckland's senior 1A rugby competition with an emphatic 29-0 win over Auckland Grammar.
De La Salle scored five tries, four in the second half, to keep a three-point lead over MAGS, who had an easy 72-0 win
over Papatoetoe.
Auckland Grammar competed gamely in the first half playing into the wind. However, it only seemed a matter of time before De La Salle would convert their dominance into points.
In the second half, De La Salle's intensity and pace proved too much.
First five Kelekolio Hifo had a welcome return to form, crossing the line twice and being a constant threat to the opposition.
He was awarded player of the day. Other try scorers were lock Mark Sopoaga and centre Etuate Lolohea.
King's defeated Sacred Heart 15-9 after Sacred Heart led 6-0 at halftime from two James Semple penalties.
The big King's forward pack applied pressure early in the second half and Josh Eden-Whaitiri crossed to take the lead 7-6.
The middle stages of the half saw King's dominate territory and possession though the Sacred Heart defence was equal to the task.
Some exciting breaks saw Sacred Heart apply pressure and they took the lead through a dropped goal.
With five minutes to go, King's pressure paid off with a try by George Lewis in the corner. Eden-Whaitiri then added a late penalty.
St Paul's maintained their third place on the table with a 36-23 win over St Peter's.
Tamaki College led Kelston 13-3 at halftime and ran out the winners 25-10.
Tamaki played with the wind first half and gradually applied pressure through an excellent kick and chase game.
They attacked both through the forwards and out wide and collected points from two Afa Pakalani penalties either side of a converted try to George Moala. Kelston replied with a penalty.
A solo long range try by Pakalani early in the second half proved the decisive moment. It was duly converted by Semisi Ahoafi and gave Tamaki a 20-3 lead with 30 minutes to go into the wind.
Kelston created some good chances, but often the last pass went astray.
Tamaki hooker Jonathan Pongi finished the scoring for Tamaki with a try from close range after a good buildup. Kelston scored under the posts right on fulltime. Tamaki kept their perfect away-from-home record.
With a very long history between Takapuna Grammar and Westlake Boys, this North Harbour clash was always going to be a big one.
Westlake scored a converted try in the opening minutes and it looked like another walkover for the top-ranked side. But Takapuna Grammar fought back hard and levelled the scores at 7-all going into the second half.
Hard running attacks and solid defence by both teams meant that most of the second half was played in the middle of the field with neither side gaining the upper hand until Takapuna's Ben Blucher slotted an excellent 45m penalty kick to give Takapuna a 10-7 victory on their home field.
Wesley College played Manurewa 1st XV in a battle of supremacy in Counties Manukau secondary school rugby in a game played before a sizeable crowd at Wesley.
The powerful Wesley pack took control from the outset. Counties Academy hooker Sione Angaaelangi scored four tries and Heremaia Pene one, with Wesley winning convincingly 29-0.
Basketball
Dilworth's top scorer in their 97-66 win over Avondale College in the premier boys competition was David Dyer with 37 points.
He was well supported by Lydon Aoake on 19 points with Toni Pulu and Michael Lolesi each scoring 14 points.
Westlake led for most of their 76-71 win over Northcote College. Northcote clawed back the lead with five minutes left but Westlake hit a couple of three pointers to take the lead back. Andrew Stanton was the top points scorer for Northcote, and Robert Loe for Westlake Boys.
In the girls competition, Avondale College beat Auckland Girls Grammar 80-57. Ann-Helen Rasmussen was top scorer for Avondale and Tyla Tariau for Auckland Girls Grammar.
Epsom Girls have justified their return to premier grade with their three victories in the league, their latest 70-52 over Rosehill College.
Curling
Epsom Girls 1 defeated Epsom Girls 3 1-0, the game being conceded by the No 3 team when one of their players was injured and they chose not to carry on with three players as allowed by the rules.
Birkenhead Mixed 2 defeated Birkenhead Mixed 1 8-1. The number 2 team showed the advantage of players competing on a regular basis in club competition.
The closest match of the evening saw Auckland Girls 2 defeat Massey High Shooters 6-5. Auckland Girls, led by Alice Davies, got off to a good start with a single on the first end. However, Massey retaliated with a triple on the 2nd to take the lead 3-1.
Auckland Girls then proceeded to claw back, taking a single on the 3rd and stealing deuces on the 4th and 5th ends to be 6-3 up going into the last end.
However, the Massey team of Ailene Ryan, Hope Phillips and Billie Neville-Sergeant did not give up and finished the game on a high by scoring a deuce and taking the game to within one point.
Henderson High is leading the Mixed Division, Auckland Girls 2 and Birkenhead Girls 1 are tied for the lead in Pool A, Epsom Girls 1 are leading Pool B, Long Bay College are leading Boys Pool A, and Kelston Boys Blue are leading Pool B.
League
The Auckland secondary schools finals are tonight at Mt Smart Stadium No 2 ground. There are four finals starting at 4pm with the Steve Kearney Cup for the 3rd and 4th playoff of the premier grade.
At 5.15pm, the final of the Under-15 9-a-side Graham Lowe Cup will be between Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate and Papakura High School. Southern Cross Campus will then play Western Springs College in the final of the College A Under-85kg V & G Fagan Cup at 6.15pm. (Southern Cross Campus are defending champions of this title.)
The grand final for the University Shield will see St Paul's A play St Paul's B at 7.30pm. St Paul's have shone out over the past 10 years as the premier league school in the country.
They have produced many NZ Warriors and NRL stars and tonight they prove their supremacy in the Auckland competition by having two teams in the final.
Soccer
Mt Albert Grammar continued on their winning ways with another exhibition 4-0 home win over bottom-placed Avondale College.
MAGS took 58 seconds to score, straight from the kick-off, a Pomare Te Anau cross being nodded home by Mark Withers at the near post.
With many more goal scoring opportunities going begging, Milosh Nickolic scored the second courtesy of good work by Withers, who robbed the big Avondale centre back Sam Drey and fed Nickolic in the 40th minute.
The third goal was worth waiting for - ace winger Pomare Te Anau cut inside from the left wing, beat two defenders and hammered a piledriver into the back of the net past a helpless goalkeeper in the 73rd minute.
Four minutes later, the fourth and final goal was scored as Nikolic and Withers combined on the back of the penalty area and Withers tapped the ball home
Westlake answered all their critics with a fine 2-0 win against King's and the manner of their performance should have brought many more goals. Simon King (man of the match) netted once in each half (30 mins and 60 mins) to seal a convincing win over King's.
Hamish Foy also forced the ball over the line for a third goal on 70 minutes only to see the goal disallowed for a foul on the goalkeeper. This was an allround good team performance well led by captain Michael Halliday.
At the end of a double round robin, the placings for the North Harbour premier girls grade have now been determined.
Takapuna Grammar 1st XI has taken out the top placing with five wins and one loss (to Westlake Girls), Westlake Girls is 2nd , Long Bay 1st XI 3rd and Rangitoto 1st XI 4th.
Because of Mt Albert Grammar closing due to no power, the finals for the top four Central Zone Premier teams have now been deferred to July 18 to allow time for Mt Albert Grammar to play Diocesan on June 27.
Avondale College beat Epsom Girls Grammar meaning Avondale will be playing for 1st/2nd place and Epsom Girls 3rd/4th place. Diocesan 1st XI will be looking at winning their semifinals so that they can try to hold their title from 2006.
Squash
National champions and the Auckland secondary school Intercollegiate champions, Auckland Grammar, won the premier boys competition. Second went to St Kentigern College with Mt Albert Grammar third.
In the premier girls, there was a countback with each team having a loss and a win during their playoff rounds.
The final outcome was the national and Auckland SS intercollegiate champions, St Cuthbert's, winning by one game from Diocesan. Epsom Girls Grammar was third, followed by St Cuthbert's B, Howick College and then Westlake Girls High.
Table Tennis
Week eight saw the final round of competition for the Interschools A premier grade. Teams met in a series of play-off matches to determine the final placings for the competition.
Macleans College A dominated the play-off for first and second in the competition, winning 5-2 over Auckland Grammar.
Terry Zeng and Steven Zeng both won two singles, and combined to win the doubles for Macleans A.
Oliver Scarlett and Yohei Takuma won one singles each for Auckland Grammar.
St Kentigern reversed their round robin loss to Mt Roskill Grammar, winning 5-2 in the play-off for third and fourth.
Avondale College defeated Macleans B in a close-fought match 4-3 to determine fifth and sixth placings.
Mt Albert Grammar had a bye and finished in seventh place.
As a result of their final placings, Macleans A, Auckland Grammar, St Kentigern and Mt Roskill Grammar will be invited to the 2007 New Zealand secondary schools championships to be held in Christchurch in August.
