Captain Jack Coulthard in action for St Thomas. Photo / Brendan Biggs
These are exhilarating times in first XV rugby for the small St Thomas of Canterbury school in Christchurch.
St Thomas, who belong to the same Edmund Rice network of Catholic schools as Auckland's runaway 1A competition leaders St Peter's (where they promote the Rice ethos of compassion, dignity, service, and solidarity) have surprised in topping the round robin standings in Canterbury's Miles Toyota Championship.
To put that in a wider context, St Thomas are a year 7-13 school (total roll under 700) and this is the first time in their 61-year history that they have even made the top four.
And with St Patrick's Silverstream – more about them below - winning the round robin in Wellington, Catholic schools have topped the first XV tables in New Zealand's three biggest centres.
It is perhaps fitting that St Thomas has risen to new heights under the tutelage of one of its former pupils, former All Black and Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett, who is in his second season of coaching St Thomas after having played for them in the mid-80s.
St Thomas completed their round robin programme with a rollicking 47-33 win over Shirley Boys' High where the bonus point gave them a one-point lead over Nelson College on the table. On Saturday they will face St Bede's in the semifinals, while Nelson host Christchurch Boys High.
Hammett called his coaching role "an opportunity to give back" after a career that landed him 29 appearances for the All Blacks and a coaching CV that includes super rugby gigs with the Crusaders, Hurricanes, and Japan's Sunwolves.
He described the 2022 season as being "more than satisfying".
"To be top qualifier from the regular season rather than to just scrape in is really nice," Hammett said, adding that there was little comparison with his playing era at St Thomas
"We wore the same colour uniforms, but that was about it.
"We have always been a passionate rugby school but in my day numbers were about 200-300 and we didn't win a lot of games. We probably didn't even understand our own identity back then."
Feature of the season was beating Nelson College 33-31 in a very high-calibre contest in late July.
"Nelson was the last really big school we had never beaten after battling away for 60 years."
Stand-out players for St Thomas have been flanker and captain Jack Coulthard and Richie Tuipelehake Tupua'ilei, who can play either loosehead prop or No 8. Both last year made the New Zealand Schools Barbarians selection. Left wing Maretino Kaloudau has also been a major influence.
Hammett attributes a lot of the school's success to an engaging academy programme - particularly for its Year 13 pupils - which addresses strength and conditioning, nutrition and physiology, but with "mental skills" and fostering an awareness of how the players can affect one another being the gold nuggets of the curriculum.
This, he said, was also now paying dividends with St Thomas' basketball and football teams.
Though he has no academic background himself, Hammett has cultivated a particular interest in brain science, the evolving research in this sphere, and how physical endeavour can complement academic study with teens.
"It can be very easy to get into the 'scrolling' mindset these days so we look at what gets us away from stuff that makes us procrastinate.
"When you are engaged physically the ability to process things you have learned also speeds up, so it actually assists academic progress. We look at the research and put new things into practice every day."
In this respect, despite his vast coaching experience, Hammett said his work with schoolboys as St Thomas has done the most to make him a better coach.
"It has brought my biggest learnings. Because the boys' concentration spans are less, you have to be able to do bite-sized sessions and reviews."
For instance, as opposed to the traditional Tuesday-Thursday training sessions, at St Thomas they use no more aggregated training time, but stagger their input over the whole school week.
St Patrick's Silverstream finished four points clear at the top of the Wellington first XV standings after a 69-0 win over struggling Mana and will now face Rongotai in the semifinals, while St Pat's Wellington meet Wellington College.
Mitchell Forbes is in his first season as first XV coach, though his knowledge of Silverstream is perhaps without peer, having had four boys go through the school and having coached for eight years with U14, U15 teams as well as having been assistant coach last year, when Silverstream shared the title with Scot's College.
"We are very proud of the rugby programme we have built at the school," Forbes said. "We are not trying to take over the world but just taking the opportunity fto play as best we can."
Silverstream's solitary loss was to St Pats Wellington, the school from which they were spawned.
Of that slip-up, Forbes said: "It's not that we played poorly, it's just that we weren't there for the full 70 minutes. I'd rather lose a game like that than a finals game."
In round robin play they beat Rongotai 27-3 in a traditional midweek match. From that outing they know that Rongotai will be strong up front, and also have a formidable midfield.
However Silverstream have plenty of stars themselves. Loosehad prop Senio Sanele has been dynamic for Silverstream, and perhaps the leading prospect to progress his rugby at representative level. Sanale is both very technical and very destructive, with an amazing defensive work rate – and if needed, even an ability to kick goals.
Meanwhile No 8 Braydon Soi is one of those players with a knack of finding more time and space than anyone on the field, while Emmanuel Solomana - a former flanker turned No 8 turned second five, - has excellent skills, a prodigious boot and slick distribution on attack.
In the Auckland 1A competition, Sacred Heart beat St Kentigern 22-20 in a thriller that should secure them a top four berth – as long as they can see off fifth-placed King's College in the key contest of the last round on Saturday.
The Sacred Heart-St Kentigern match started with a melee - and ended with a joyous pitch invasion.
It was a contest which had everything, from a dramatic late 80m intercept try to Sacred Heart, to a horribly lopsided penalty count in favour of St Kentigern. And the ending was just as tense, as Sacred Heart – who had come back from a 15-20 deficit - held up ruck after ruck in front of their own posts to finally win a turnover on full-time.
St Peter's remained unbeaten at the top with a 35-23 win over Mt Albert Grammar, while Kelston's 45-13 victory over Auckland Grammar ensured them of a playoff berth.
De La Salle hold fourth place after a 43-12 win over Dilworth and being at home to Auckland Grammar gives them every chance of making the cut.
Meanwhile minnows Liston College made it two on the trot with a 35-7 win over Aorere College to move out of the bottom two for the first time all season.
In Super 8 first XV rugby, Hamilton Boys' High finished their round robin play with a 26-21 away win over Hastings Boys' High to remain unbeaten. Hamilton led 21-0 after 30 minutes, but with15 minutes left in the game it was deadlocked at 21-21 until substitute Breyton Legge forced his way over at the heart of a rolling maul for the decisive try.
The loss prevented Hastings from securing a berth in the final and a rematch with Hamilton, with Rotorua Boys' High leapfrogging them after a 26-10 away win over New Plymouth Boys' High. In the competition final on Saturday Hamilton host Rotorua at 12 noon.
Auckland 1A draw, Saturday (home team first, all 2.30pm unless stated): Liston v St Kentigern; Aorere v Kelston; Mt Albert Grammar v Dilworth; Tangaroa v St Peter's; De La Salle v Auckland Grammar; Sacred Heart v King's College, 2.40pm.
Auckand 1A points: St Peter's 46, Kelston 38, Sacred Heart 35, De La Salle 34, King's 32, St Kentigern 30, Mt Albert Grammar 23, Dilworth 20, Auckland Grammar 15, Liston 10, Tangaroa 0, Aorere 0.
Super 8 final round robin points: Hamilton 35, Rotorua 24, Hastings 22, Napier 21, Tauranga 16, Palmerston North 13, New Plymouth 6, Gisborne 1.
Canterbury Miles Toyota Championship final round robin points: St Thomas 55, Nelson College 54, Christchurch Boys' High 49, St Bede's 48, Timau 37, St Andrews 32, Shirley 30, Marlborough 30, Christ College 26, Selwyn Combined 20, Waimea Combined 10, Roncali-Aoraki 8, Rangiora 6.
Tranzit Coachlines Cup (Wellington) final round robin points: Silverstream 34, St Pat's Wellington 30, Wellington College 28, Rongotai 23, Scots 23, St Bernard's 22, Hutt International 19, Wairarapa 7, Mana 0.
North Harbour semifinals (home team first, both 12 noon): Westlake v Whangarei; Manurewa v Massey.
Otago first XV semifinals, Saturday: John McGlashan College v King's High; Southland Boys' High v Otago Boys' High