Rugby: Hamilton Boys’ High win World Schools Festival Cup

Hamilton Boys' High School celebrate winning the 1st XV Championships. Photosport

Hamilton Boys’ High can lay claim to being the best schoolboy rugby team on the planet after winning the World Schools Festival Cup in Thailand, beating South Africa’s Grey College 22-10 in the final on Saturday.

It is Hamilton Boys’ High’s fourth global schoolboy trophy, having previously won the Sanix World Rugby youth tournament three times in 2010, 2011 and 2014. (The Sanix tournament was last played in 2019 before the COVID pandemic.)

Elite schools from New Zealand, England, South Africa, Ireland, Wales and Fiji contested the World Schools Festival at The Pattana Sports Resort in Thailand.

Hamilton Boys, the reigning New Zealand schoolboy champions, had earlier ruthlessly disposed of England’s Millfield 14-0 in the semifinals.

Grey College, from Bloemfontein, are widely considered to be one of the world’s powerhouses of schoolboy rugby and advanced to the final by claiming a last-gasp victory over back-to-back Welsh champions Cardiff and Vale College on Thursday.

But they were well beaten by Hamilton Boys.

Playing into the wind, Hamilton eked out a 5-0 halftime lead through sub Alex Pitts-Brown brilliantly dotting down in the corner under pressure. Further tries to Payton Spencer and co-captain Aki Tuivailala, and a Spencer penalty took them out to a 22-0 lead before Grey scored two late consolation tries.

HBHS World Schools Festival Cup final squad: 1 Raharuhi Palmer, 2 Tom McCarthy, 3 Will Martin, 4 Christian MacEwan, 5 Tama Hodgson, 6 Liam Sturm, 7 Liam Anderson, 8 Oli Mathis, 9 Mac Russ, 10 Wyndham Patuawa, 11 Zach Coffey, 12 Hiraka Waitai-Haenga, 13 Aki Tuivailala, 14 Caelys Putoko, 15 Payton Spencer.

Substitutes: l6 lnga Kokohu, 17 Breyton Legge, 18 Jake Rabarts, 19 Josh Syme, 20 Jamie Brewer, 21 Patty Kailahi, 22 Mitch Swann, 23 Alex Pitts-Brown, 24 Dupre Marshall, 25 Kurtis Hana, 26 Rangiwai Lunjivich.

Head Coach: Nigel Hotham