College Sport: The wrap

Photo / Thinkstock

Rugby
Auckland Grammar kept the heat on St Kentigern, grinding out a 13-7 win over Kelston on Eden Park in atrocious conditions on Saturday evening.

That result leaves the defending 1A champions on 17 points, two behind the other unbeaten side, St Kentigern, as the competition breaks for Queen's Birthday weekend.

A depleted Kelston were far more competitive than in the opening three rounds, and at times showed some nice skills in the wet. First five Fa'alae Peni scored the first try between the uprights, but his Auckland Grammar counterpart, Wiseguy Faiane, hit back off a short pass by man of the match, flanker Sione Havili.

Kelston centre TJ Vaega will rue trying to pick the ball up rather than toe it ahead when a try was begging. Auckland Grammar's second try went to centre Loketi Manu off a well-placed Faiane bomb, which Kelston shelled.

Newcomers Dilworth went 2-2 after a hard-earned 7-3 win at De La Salle. Man-of-the-match No 8 Isi Manu and his loose forward mate, Jonah Mau, led the way for Dilworth. Prop Feao Tatau scored the only try after 20 minutes.

King's over-ran neighbours Otahuhu 67-3, with flanker Tom Morrison scoring two nice tries. MAGS hit their straps, decisively beating St Peter's 40-13, and lie fifth, just out of the top four. St Kentigern had their hardest match of 2015, but ultimately deserved to beat Sacred Heart 24-18. They scored the game's best try, to wing Salimoni Tokanui, from a bust by hooker Fa'a Lafaele. Flanker Jack McHugh and halfback Joe Simpkins scored tries for the visitors.

Aorere recorded a much-needed first victory, 15-7 over Tangaroa.

The North Harbour 1A competition looks tighter than ever as the competition breaks for Queen's Birthday weekend.

Westlake edged Takapuna Grammar 12-10, thanks to the boot of Sam Babb, who kicked four penalty goals to the two tries by Takapuna. Westlake were, at one stage, reduced to 13 men due to two yellow cards. They copped a third late in the game.

Massey edged Rangitoto 13-9, while Rosmini had a tough task subduing Orewa 10-0.

For the second year in a row, Rotorua BHS have taken the Chiefs Cup, convincingly beating Wesley 41-18 at the International Stadium on Friday evening. Captain Isaac Te Aute was presented with the silverware by injured Chiefs player Sonny Bill Williams.

Hayze Perham scored a brace for Rotorua, and Kaleb Trask kicked seven goals, while Wesley relied on penalty goals to Adam Pompey.

Hamilton BHS Second XV again won the Chiefs Trophy, defeating Rosehill 36-8 in the final, underlining the depth at the Waikato school.

The Counties Manukau First XV competition gets under way today, when Wesley's First and Second XVs meet each other. Rosehill, fresh from their Chiefs Trophy exploits, play Alfriston at Massey Park on Friday night. Pukekohe host Manurewa on Saturday in a rare televised fixture.

Football
Sacred Heart went to the top of the Auckland First XI premier league with a fine 4-2 win at Westlake BHS, who were coming off a 9-0 Knockout Cup victory over Onehunga last Tuesday.

Despite the terrible weather, the artificial turf at Westlake would allow for an even contest and plenty of goals. The first half provided five goals through a mix of quality finishing and poor defending by both sides. Sacred Heart opened the scoring through quick thinking from debutant goalie Stefano Lorusso as he hoofed a long ball to Dylan Bull, who chipped the goalie with a header. The lead was short-lived as Sacred Heart conceded from a set-piece, Braeden Acarapi converting for Westlake. Lucas Imrie won a penalty which Bull put away, 2-1. Imrie then put in a peach of a ball for a 3-1 lead. Bull celebrated as he appeared to get the faintest of touches with his head to secure his hat-trick before halftime. However, the ref thought differently and Bull would have to wait. Sacred Heart switched off and gave away a penalty, which Westlake captain Oscar Ramsay duly converted. Halftime 3-2, game on.

The rain continued in the second half, however the goals dried up. Alex Greive was the only scorer. At 4-2, Westlake dominated the rest of the game, apart from a disallowed goal for offside from Imrie. They hit the post twice, and made Sacred Heart look vulnerable.

In a bottom-of-the-table clash, Macleans beat King's 3-1. Captain Kieran Paterson had a goal controversially disallowed early on but slotted home a penalty after 21 minutes. King's scored a penalty five minutes before the interval, leaving the score 1-1. Both sides tried to play better football in the second half and Paterson scored a second penalty early on. Macleans extended their lead when Ben Payne scored a lovely header from a free-kick with 20 minutes to go. The Macleans' goal was never seriously under threat after that third goal and the home side deserved their 3-1 victory and the ensuing three points. This lifts Macleans up to fifth, level on points with Westlake.

Auckland Grammar and MAGS battled to a 1-1 stalemate, while the bad weather saw the Rangitoto-St Kentigern clash postponed.

League
Otahuhu held on to win a nail-biting clash against Aorere, 24-22, in last Wednesday's SAS College Rugby League game of the round in Pool C.

After falling behind 18-12 with 15 minutes remaining, Otahuhu looked set for their first loss of the season, but for the impact of hooker Phoenix Hunt, who orchestrated a comeback to get his side home. Tries to Hunt and 2014 CRL player of the year Alfred Smalley in the last 10 minutes took Otahuhu to a 24-18 lead, before a nervous ending which saw Aorere dot down with 40 seconds remaining. With the siren sounding visiting standoff Tyrone Nathan had the chance to end the game as a draw, but pushed his sideline conversion just wide, much to the relief of the big crowd in attendance at Otahuhu College.

The early exchanges had been dominated by Aorere. Fullback Lewis Soosema went over on 10 minutes, before Otahuhu hit back with tries to prop Junior Tauti and centre Raymond Taumalolo. The home side led 12-6 at the break. In the second period, Aorere were quick out of the gates once again, taking an 18-12 lead with two early tries.

Otahuhu dummy half Hunt proved a game changer, harassing the fading Aorere forwards to score a try and set up another. Jacob Tumua's late try for Aorere showcased the side's fighting character. With two games of pool play remaining, the victory should ensure Otahuhu advance to the next stage of the competition.

Defending champions Kelston took another step towards a smooth qualification from Pool A, defeating the visiting Massey 64-0. Western Springs' hopes of progressing on the other hand appear to be over, after being edged out 28-24 by MAGS.

In Pool B, St Paul's beat Papatoetoe 38-12, while Manurewa outlasted a spirited Avondale to win 30-28.

The other Pool C result saw Sir Edmund Hillary suffer a big defeat for the second week in a row, a 56-8 reverse to Southern Cross.

Basketball
In the Auckland premier boys' league, Westlake is coming off a productive weekend, having upset Rangitoto 70-62 on Monday night, and edging Liston 84-79 on Friday night.

Westlake hit their free throws down the stretch against Liston, while Adam Talma came up with some solid defensive plays. Big man Joel Coffey had a huge game on the boards, pulling down offensive rebounds when Westlake needed them and putting them in to get 12 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks. Matt Freeman had a good all-round game, scoring 34 points (13/16 free throws), 14 rebounds and three blocks. Both starting guards Logan Hunt and Alex Wheeler contributed well throughout the game.

In last Monday's clash with Auckland Grammar, which they lost 73-71, Greg Vukets had a good game with great defensive hustle, getting four steals to go with six rebounds and nine points. The starting back court of Logan Hunt and Isaac Letoa dished out 10 assists between them. Matt Freeman top-scored, netting 24 points and Thabo Manyere got his second double-double, pulling down 15 boards plus 10 points.

Westlake Year 12 student Isaac Letoa has been invited to two basketball camps in China next month.

He is one of two New Zealanders selected for the Nike All-Asia camp in Shanghai (June 8-12), then travels on to the Nike Asia-Pacific team Camp in Nanjing, along with Judd Flavell and nine other under-19 boys (June 15-19).