First XV Rugby: All you need to know about the weekend's best matches and players

Want to know who the next Beauden Barrett or Kieran Read will be? In his weekly column for the Herald, schoolboy rugby expert Herschel Fruean singles out the best first XV matches of the weekend, and some rising stars to watch. Fruean will travel New Zealand looking for the best talent the country has to offer, preview the big games every Friday, provide a wrap of all the results on Sunday, and rank the top 15 first XV teams (based on their performances throughout the season) every Monday morning.

Last week's power rankings:

1. Hastings Boys' High School
2. Otago Boys' High School
3. Hamilton Boys' High School
4. King's College
5. St Kentigerns College
6. Auckland Grammar School
7. Sacred Heart College
8. Rotorua Boys' High School
9. Nelson College
10. Scots College
11. St Bedes College
12. St Peter's College
13. Christchurch Boys' High School
14. Kelston Boys' High School
15. De La Salle College

Midweek matches

First off, on Tuesday, Lindisfarne College and Rathkeale College played their Central North Island game - a makeup match from earlier on in the year.

In the running for the top four, Lindisfarne made no mistake about how important the game was for them, starting strong and eventually taking the clash 52-5.

The big matches kicked off on Wednesday.

The Polson Banner was put up between Napier Boys' High School and Palmerston North Boys' High School.

Both teams went out with game plans in mind but with wild weather turning the fields into 100-metre mudslides, they ended up only focusing on the fundamentals of rugby - not dropping the ball.

The first points came early for Napier Boys', with Jack Sheridan at centre finding a gap in the midfield to score a 40-metre try.

But Palmy Boys' worked through the forwards to recycle quick ball as they saw open gaps appearing.

Palmy Boys' fullback Ruben Love started to take control of the game and created space.

And as much as Napier Boys' kept creeping back into the match, Palmy Boys' managed to stay ahead and finish the game with a 24-15 victory.

Down in Wellington, plenty was on the line in the traditional game between Rongotai College and St Patrick's Silverstream with a home semi-final up for grabs.

In the 60th game between the two Wellington power house schools, it was Rongotai College this time who took to the field as underdogs.

But with all the mud, wind and rain, it was more about who could stay mentally focused and override the chaos around them.

Silverstream prop Mike Felix opened the game by scoring a solid try after forcing his way over the line. However, the second half was all Rongotai College.

Silverstream's Rocco Berry tried his best to keep things going in the second half but Rongotai College made things hard for them.

Trevhall Tolova'a-Uele at halfback for Rongotai College controlled a lot of running and made sure that all the forwards were in the right places with plenty of support.

Keeping Silverstream scoreless in the second half, Rongotai College closed out the game, winning 10-5.

This weekend's games

The games to watch out for this weekend are pretty simple, because they all have huge importance to the season and how the National top four might look in September.

My picks for the top four this year are for the Blues Region King's College, Chiefs Region Hamilton Boys' High School, Hurricanes Region Hastings Boys' High School and the South Island Region Otago Boys' High School.

Saturday, 3 August: 12pm: Hastings Boys' High School v Hamilton Boys' High School

Hamilton Boys' host Hastings Boys' in what is the last game of the Super 8 regular season.

If Hastings Boys' beat Hamilton Boys', and Rotorua Boys' win by four tries over New Plymouth Boys', then it will be Rotorua Boys' who will play in the Super 8 Finals against Hastings.

Rotorua Boys' have already beaten Hamilton Boys' and know they have the team to do so.

Hastings Boys' look to have a hold on the Hurricanes region right now and with Rongotai College winning Wednesday, they are looking like a confident team to top Hastings Boys'.

Palmerston North Boys' will be willing to give them a go but we saw Hastings Boys' beat them 40-7 in the Super 8.

Saturday, 3 August: 1pm: Scots College v St Patrick's College

Scots College will play St Patrick's College Town on Saturday and will be an opportunity to see if Scots can get the job done.

Saturday, 3 August: 1pm: Otago Boys' High School v Southland Boys' High School

In the South Island, Otago Boys' High School take on Southland Boys' High School.

The last time these two teams met, it took Otago Boys' 68 minutes to get Southland Boys' off their backs and it will be no different this weekend.

Should Southland Boys' win, the discussion over the best team in the South Island will be very different.

Otago Boys' have set a perfect record so far this year, but the real tests only come every three weeks.

Otago Boys' will need to show they can handle three hard games in a row in order to prove they can rank with the best in the country.

The reputation that the South Island teams bring is that they just don't match up well with the best North Island teams at Nationals. Otago Boys - or whoever is coming from the South Island - need to come ready to go.

Saturday, 3 August: 2.30pm: Sacred Heart College v St Peter's College

The Blues region last year had a shock run by St Peter's College who were not really thought of as a 1A top-four team, let alone a National level team.

But having gone on a winning streak - maybe the best of all time in New Zealand 1st XV Rugby history - they could do it again.

If St Peter's College win and Auckland Grammar lose to St Kentigern College, St Peter's College move into that fourth spot.

And judging from last year, who knows how far they can go again.