Westlake centre Matt Fleming gets a pass away under pressure against Hamilton Boys' High. Photo / Bruce Holloway
OPINION
Bruce Holloway and Adam Julian
Reigning national First XV rugby champions Hamilton Boys’ High will head to the Sanix World Youth Tournament in Fukuoka, Japan, on Easter Monday relieved to still have the Moascar Cup safely tucked away in their trophy cabinet over the school holidays.
In this year’s first defence of the cup – schoolboy rugby’s answer to the Ranfurly Shield – Hamilton were pushed to the limit by a dogged Westlake Boys’ High School team before holding on for a 10-8 win.
Westlake came within a penalty of securing a rare Maadi Cup (rowing) and Moascar Cup double for any school – and penalty was perhaps the operative word for a game where the ref dished out more than an Auckland Transport parking officer working the Princes St beat.
But if the match was a stop-start affair with a very short highlights reel, there was still much to admire about the grafting manner in which both teams cancelled each other out in a compelling heavyweight contest.
In this battle of lost opportunities, for once the answer was not blowing in the wind, as both teams spent most of their time defending when assisted by the breeze.
Westlake really applied the pressure in the final five minutes as they went in search of an upset victory.
New Hamilton Boys’ High coach Cam Moorby was happy to pocket his first competitive win at the helm, after years of being an assistant to Nigel Hotham and Greg Kirkham.
“Westlake have been the biggest improvers in New Zealand schoolboy rugby over the past five years and this match was a reflection of that,” Moorby said.
“This was a hell of a game to have at this stage of the season. There was a lot of intense pressure out there and we are very pleased with the win.
“Having the Moascar Cup on the line certainly changes the way you play and the nature of the game.
“It wasn’t perfect but we are proud to have defended it. And we are lucky to have had a game like that so early in the season.”
Westlake coach Rob Mildenhall was just as deferential post-match.
“Hamilton Boys’ High have been the gold standard in schoolboy rugby for quite a while, with physical forwards and excellent defence,” he said.
“This was a step-up from pre-season games and all about trying to win. Both teams were very good on defence and went looking for wide open spaces, but there were none. It all came down to errors.”
It looked plain sailing for Hamilton in the 13th minute when centre Ollie Guerin – a New Zealand Secondary schools rep last year – broke down the left to score under the posts, with Jackson Botherway converting.
But it would be another 37 minutes of play before they could add further points (also through Botherway’s boot).
Westlake staged a stirring fightback. First five-eighths Ollie Davies got his team on the board with a penalty and Westlake pushed hard to draw level with a grim assault on Hamilton’s goal-line.
With four minutes remaining, Westlake flanker Arlo Leith scored through a pile of bodies to reduce the margin to two points, but the conversion from out wide missed.
For two teams with a reputation for creative flowing rugby this was a relatively dour affair, though it is unusual to have a match with so much at stake contested in mid-April.
Hamilton Boys’ High were without inspirational skipper Alex Arnold, after he broke his collarbone in an earlier pre-season match against St Kentigern (where Hamilton lost 22-19), and then lost another lock, Caleb Puamau early to injury.
But prop Liam Van Der Heyden led the pack with some charging runs, Kent Mills had a huge game at lock and loosies Caleb Grice and Tim Foote were prominent.
For Westlake, Niko Jelas, playing at fullback this year as opposed to centre, caught the eye with some goose-stepping runs. Lock Harry Cornelius was the key man at lineout time, while Jano Peens, Jeremiah Samoa, Kaiva Tulimanu earned their corn in the tight.
Previously Westlake had lost 35-17 to Hastings Boys’ High, but beat St Peter’s College 22-14 to reclaim the Hugh McGahan Cup in their annual pre-season fixture.
Westlake Boys’ High have enjoyed four tenures with the Moascar Cup – but more uniquely have lost the trophy with their first defence after each success.
They defeated Mount Albert Grammar School 10-4 to win the Moascar Cup for the first time in 1976, but lost the next game to the Sir Graham Henry-coached Auckland Grammar.
In 1977, Westlake defeated St Peter’s College 10-6, but surrendered the prize to Kelston Boys’ High (winners of their first Auckland title that season) in their first defence.
In 1989, Westlake defeated Tauranga Boys’ College 11-4, only to lose again to Kelston.
Then in the 2023 National Top Four semifinal, Westlake prised the Moascar Cup from Tauranga Boys’ College 43-40, only to slip to Southland Boys’ High 32-29 in the final.
The Sanix World Rugby Youth Invitational Tournament, to give it its full name, is an international schools event that the Japan Rugby Football Union hosts annually at the Global Arena in Munakata City, in the Fukuoka prefecture.
It is considered the premier global schools rugby tournament (although the World Schools Festival will challenge it in coming years).
Hamilton will face three Japanese teams in pool play as they seek to add to titles won in 2010, 2011, 2014, and 2023.
Moorby is being assisted this season by two other school old boys who played under Hotham and Kirkham between 2007-2013, in Jonnie Te Ruki and Te Raina Richards-Coxhead.
Moorby knows the Sanix ropes well. He first attended the tournament playing as a hooker in 2011, then returned as a very young coaching assistant in 2014 and again in 2023.
Hamilton will be back in New Zealand on May 7 with their next Moascar Cup challenge coming from Wellington College, in what is a new fixture on the school’s calendar.
Meanwhile, Westlake next face Liston College – and on that front Moorby is tipping Liston as a team set to surprise some of the bigger Auckland schools this season.
Hamilton beat Liston 46-15 at Waitematā Rugby Club in pre-season, but Moorby was highly impressed by their organisation and talent.
On April 26, Tangaroa College will once again face Botany Downs Secondary College in a 1A-1B promotion-relegation match ( noon, Tangaroa College).
In a matching contest last year, Botany beat Tangaroa 31-0 in the promotion decider to realise an eight-year dream and ascend to the 1A ranks for the first time. However, they finished bottom of the 1A competition in 2024, while Tangaroa won the 1B title. Auckland’s 1A competition begins on Saturday, May 3.
Palmerston North Boys’ High were too slick for St Paul’s Collegiate, with a 59-12 pre-season win in Hamilton after leading 26-0 at half time.
In the very first minute, Manaia Rudolph crossed for a try with more following from Hunter Kennedy (2), Jamie Viljoen, Cole Cullen, Wills Madden, Ollie Read, Cayden Pardy and Eric Miller.
Palmerston North have had a mixed pre-season, with an 85-10 away win over Rongotai College but then a 34-15 loss to Lindisfarne College.
Meanwhile, Feilding High School hooker Alani Fakava played his 60th match for the First XV in a 38-24 win over Wellington champions St Patrick’s College, Silverstream, on Saturday.
Fakava turned 18 in the middle of June so is eligible to return for a Year 14 – and he would have to in order to pass the Feilding First XV games record holder, Josiah Maraku, who made 100 appearances between 2014 and 2018.
Maraku debuted off the bench as a Year 9 student and has kicked on to become a professional initially with Manawatū (13 games) and now with Lyon (58 games) in France.
Feilding, third in New Zealand in 2024, have also beaten New Plymouth Boys’ High School (24-0) and Wellington College (31-10) in a strong start to their pre-season.
Elsewhere in pre-season matches, St John’s College (Hamilton) were beaten 64-7 by Rotorua Boys’ High School, but beat Kelston Boys’ High School 15-5.
Southland Boys’ High beat Rosmini College 36-19 and St Thomas of Canterbury College beat Auckland’s St Peter’s College 36-21.
On Friday Hastings Boys’ High beat Kelston Boys’ High 20-11 to retain the RG Sturch Cup. Hastings play Sacred Heart at noon, Wednesday, in Taupō.
Sherwin Stowers has succeeded Mark Selwyn as Sacred Heart College’s First XV coach and will be supported by assistant coaches Karl Pokino, Ben Bacon, and Shaun Simpson.
Stowers played for the All Blacks Sevens team that won gold at the 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games and represented the Blues and Counties Manukau Steelers over a nine-year pro career. Selwyn, a former Steeler, has been appointed Steelers academy and pathways manager.
St Thomas of Canterbury College have a new coaching group this season, headed by Kieran Coll, last year’s New Zealand Secondary Schools coach and former Crusaders U20 defence coach.
Also on board are Ged Robinson, former Hurricanes, Highlanders, Crusaders, and Rebels super rugby player and Burnside Division 1 coach; Chris Leader, the school’s sevens head coach; and Craig Sneddon, previously head coach of Otago Spirit women’s team, Otago B Rugby coach and Highlanders U18 coach.
Former All Black and Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett, who had coached St Thomas of Canterbury College’s First XV for the past four years, has taken the post of head of rugby at Christchurch Football Club.
Leo Crowley, who coached Wellington to the 2022 NPC title, is doing Francis Douglas College, while Christchurch Boys’ have included England, Crusaders, and Canterbury halfback Willie Heinz.
In February, defending Auckland 1A and Blues champions Kelston advertised for a new head coach, with Matt Howling on record as wanting to focus solely on his role as the school’s rugby director. While applications were advertised to close on February 21, the school has yet to announce any new appointment.
Stephen Jones, at one time the record cap holder for Wales and now a coach, will be guest speaker at a pre-match (11.30am-1.30pm) buffet function at King’s College prior to the annual Kirkpatrick-Fitzpatrick Cup being contested with Sacred Heart on May 10.
First-five Jones played more than 100 times for Wales and had six games for the British and Irish Lions, and with 970 international points, is still eighth on the list of leading rugby test point scorers.
At the end of the 2012–13 season, Jones retired from playing and moved into coaching; today he is is now an assistant coach with Moana Pasifika. Tickets are $75.
Only a handful of top players will tour New Zealand next month to face the All Blacks.