St Andrew's compiled a ruthless onslaught in the second half, scoring two unanswered tries to suddenly lead 28-23, with halfback Joel Parry leading his side around the park and blindside flanker Torian Barnes a mongrel on defence and handful on attack.
Christchurch Boys' managed to close the gap to two points, before replacement STAC flanker Connor Newton broke Christchurch Boys' hearts with a sublime solo try, picking up the ball from the base of the ruck and running 60 metres to score the match clincher.
For St Andrew's College High Performance Rugby Director Rod McIntosh, the triumph has remarkably occurred in year five of his five year strategic plan.
"I've been building the programme and this team probably for this moment," said McIntosh. "We've changed a lot of the structures in the organisation, culture and it takes a while to evoke change. Christchurch is a very school dominated city and you speak to everyone and they say what school did you go to and we weren't known as a rugby school, so it's very satisfying to go from pretenders to contenders."
Saumaki was the standout performer for St Andrew's in the first half, while Parry showed exceptional leadership to guide his side to victory.
"Nobody could contain him (Saumaki) this year," said McIntosh. "He was just a lot more confident and he's usually played on the wing for us, but we knew at centre he'd hit the gain line for us and kids would be able to run off him, so he's been immense."
"The thing I love about Joel is he's a great competitor and has a big future in the game. He's worked really hard and is a really diligent kid who makes sacrifices. The boys at STAC are sometimes too nice and when I get a few rough diamonds in my outfit like Torian, he loves hurting people and so other boys feed off it. Probably his biggest attribute is his physicality, he loves running the ball, hitting rucks and making tackles."
Knowing the wind would be at their backs in the second half, there was calm in the St Andrew's huddle at the break.
"It was interesting, when we walked to our respective circles at half-time, I was just looking at the body language and they'd thrown the kitchen sink at us and we were on the ropes, but I knew we'd come out in round two," McIntosh said. "We talked about it all week because there's trying not to lose and there's playing to win which are both very different. The message was don't worry about the scoreboard, we've got this wind at our back and if we've got field position then points will come."
Christchurch Boys' coach Andy Gibson concedes the pressure applied by STAC in the second spell was too much.
"The wind definitely got stronger in the second half and they played really well with their kicking game with the wind which put us under a lot of pressure," said Gibson.
"So we were under the pump having to kick it out and if we tried to keep the ball in play we didn't have the direction needed, so they played a really well executed game plan in the second half which compacted our pressure and turned into points for them."
McIntosh says he knew Newton's run had won the game for them.
"He'll talk about that moment for the rest of his rugby career because it was a big moment in a big game and the good players step up in those times and he did that, I was stoked for him." McIntosh said.
Hamilton Boys' High claim title
In the Super Eight competition final, Hamilton Boys' High School have notched up a fourth straight title after toppling Rotorua Boys' High School 26-13 in Hamilton.
Though the number 13 is unlucky for some, Hamilton Boys' and their coach Nigel Hotham have used it as motivation this year.
"The number 13 is on our diaries, it's a massive poster in our changing room," said Hotham.
"We were sitting on 12 Super Eight titles in 14 years and this was going to be the chance to go for our 13th and take away the unluckiness of that number and so we found all these positive things around the number 13 and the only thing we talked about with it being unlucky was to try and make it unlucky for the teams we were going to come across.
The last words from the captain in the shed today was 13 will be unlucky for Rotorua today and it was amazing they even ended up on 13 points."
Hotham has been a part of Hamilton Boys' 1st XV for the past 17 years and this year's been extra special as he's been able to watch his son and halfback Noah dominate those around him. Noah was influential in the big moments throughout the final and scored an important try with a sniping run from a scrum to put Hamilton up by 11 points early in the second half.
Noah Hotham and first-five Taha Kemara are two of four Hamilton Boys' players who've been selected in the New Zealand Schools squad and Nigel Hotham says their chemistry on and off the field is unmatched.
"They've grown up together those boys and I call them boyfriend and girlfriend because they've got this uncanny knack of calling the right shots between them and working together, so I'll give that to them."
While elated with another Super Eight success, Hotham hopes his players appreciate the journey they've been on alongside their school mates.
"It is one of the special things about 1st XV rugby and they don't understand it yet, but you lose it with clubs and academies and I think you lose it at Mitre 10 Cup and Super Rugby level as it's the last time you get to play with your mates you've grown up with and there's nothing more special than that."
