College sport: Sky gives 1st XV games more coverage

Lucy Booth. Photo / Dean Purcell

Sky Television will be back with expanded coverage of 1st XV matches this season.

The clash between traditional rivals Wesley College and Rotorua BHS on April 28 will kick off the Rugby Channel's coverage. The schedule goes through to October, when New Zealand will play Australia in the last game of the secondary schools' Tri-Nations competition.

Sacred Heart College host St Kentigern and King's College. The traditional fixture between AGS and MAGS will be played at AGS on July 21 - five weeks after AGS have hosted King's.

The semifinals will again be played in Rotorua but the final will be played a week, rather than two days, later at a different school. The co-ed semifinals and final will remain in Rotorua under the previous format. Schools opting to play in the co-ed competition must make that call by May 1.

Rugby Channel boss Martin Crowe said it was possible to do the whole season's schedule live whereas last season some games could not be shown live because of a clash with ITM Cup and then World Cup games.

The commentary team will again be headed by Keith Quinn and Bull Allen.

Full schedule, see results.

CRICKET

AUCKLAND

One-sided victories were very much the story in the fourth round of the premier one-day championship.

After giving themselves the best possible start in having WBHS in trouble at 15/3 with the dangerous Jaycob Curtling among their early victims, KBHS were forced to take a back seat as the match quickly slipped from their grasp.

Led by returning captain Robbie O'Donnell's 116 - an innings which included only nine boundaries - and 93 from just 111 balls from Daniel Jones, WBHS piled on 224 runs in a match-winning partnership.

Chasing 277/6, the Kelston batsmen were undone by Clayton Floyd's left-arm spin. From nine overs he claimed 6-12 as KBHS were dismissed for 82 in the 32nd over.

Home advantage was not much good for St Kentigern as their young side struggled in the local derby clash with Macleans.

Led by captain David Winn, who picked up 3-23, the visitors had St Kentigern back in the shed in double-quick time after scoring 60 - a target Macleans knocked off for the loss of only two wickets.

Visiting King's were just as dominant on their trip to Avondale.

Batting first and given a flying start by Harrison Nash and Cameron Gibbons, King's piled on the runs with captain Mark Chapman hitting a 95-ball 103 including 11 boundaries. New recruit Navan Lombard was the pick of the Avondale attack with 3-43. Chasing a formidable 263/7, the home side managed just 91.

In pool B, MAGS returned to winning form with a strong all-round team effort on their trip to Rangitoto College.

Handy contributions from Amit Dhadwal, Jack Cassidy and Teja Nidamanuru got MAGS through to a useful 232. Struggling against Brett Randell's pace and Nidamanuru's spin - eight wickets for 23 between them - the hosts capitulated to be all out for 58.

Sacred Heart scored a comfortable six-wicket win in a low-scoring match with St Peter's.

Batting first, St Peter's fell for 134 with Jack Parsons (41) the only batsman to make any headway. Led by an unbeaten 43 from Glenn Phillips and Jake Faamalepe's 42, the home side won easily.

Batting first on their trip to AGS, Rosmini struggled, managing only 90. Off-spinner Jacob Reilly (4-8) was the chief destroyer.

Chasing such a modest target, the home side quickly went to work. Led by Cam Armstrong's unbeaten 57, they cruised to their target without loss in the 29th over.

WAIKATO

A hard-fought 18-run win over an unlucky Hamilton BHS Development XI allowed St Peter's School to jump to a three-point lead at the top of the table after three rounds of the division one one-day term one championship.

Batting first, St Peter's, led by a fine 84 from Sam Pulis and with good support from Eddie Walker (35), Ben Schilt (34) and a hard-hitting 24 not out from Matt Joubert, scored a challenging 217/8. Paddy Carsons, 3-30, was the best of the HBHS attack.

In reply, Hamilton were hit hard early when they lost in-form opener Carsons with a nasty cut above his eye.

Matt Lowe did his best to rally the cause with 70 from 59 balls before being bowled around his legs by off-spinner Jonathan Whitley. There was plenty of fight in the tail as Nick O'Sullivan and Jono Lush added 50 runs before O'Sullivan fell to a catch on 40. St Peter's claimed the win and retained the coveted Dave Hoskin Trophy.

There were plenty of runs as Matamata College, led by 130 from Ciaran O'Malley, piled on 314/7 - a total which included an inexcusable 47 extras.

In reply, Morrinsville College were in early trouble at 25/2 before Jake O'Connor took control and went on to score an unbeaten 99 as they reached 237 - 77 short of the target.

Hillcrest won the toss and batted first on a damp pitch but soon regretted that call as Josh Malpas soon had the top four of their batting order back in the shed.

Struggling at 34/5 as Malpas led the St Paul's attack and eventually finished with 5-30, Hillcrest rallied to reach 128. That was never enough and St Paul's, led by Freddy Walker's 31, reached the target with seven wickets in hand.

St John's College won a low-scoring affair against Cambridge High. Batting first, St John's lost their first three wickets inside four overs and were 37/4 inside 10. Sam Cooper (28) did his best to turn the innings around but he ran out of partners and the innings ended at a modest 117.

That proved beyond Cambridge as the opening attack of Sam Watson and Sam Cooper snared three wickets each after the Cambridge batting fell apart as they lost their first five wickets for 42 before the end of the ninth over.

There was some middle-order resistance but not enough to make a serious charge and the innings ended at 97 handing St John's a 20-run victory.

EQUESTRIAN

Riders made the most of perfect conditions in the Auckland SS horse trials.

Put through their paces at the Papatoetoe Pony Club's grounds in Clevedon, riders from St Cuthbert's dominated the opening dressage phase, filling the top two spots in the A-class competition.

The dressage tests were ridden early in the morning with the teams of four riders riding simultaneously. Dressage was followed by show jumping and cross country where there were two levels of competition with the A-class riders facing a higher and more technical course than the B-class.

Both groups coped very well in the showjumping test with only a few faults. The competition became more exciting with the start of the cross-country phase. Jump four, a combination fence with offset jumps took its toll on the A course while the biggest bogey for the B riders was fence nine approaching the water where a number of horses decided they were not going to get their feet wet.