The First XV season is over and the goalposts have mostly been taken down, but some players and events remain firmly etched in the memory.
Following on from our selection of 10 fullbacks previously, here are 13 players across other positions who caught they eye this year – along with some other random awards.
Alex Arnold had the ability to influence a game beyond what you normally expect of an individual player and was the heart and soul of his team, whether playing as lock or flanker. Hamilton Boys’ High School looked a significantly different team when Arnold was playing this season.
Not only a Super Rugby Pacific talent as a 16-year-old centre, but also a budding teen heart-throb, as evidenced by his burgeoning female fan club following on the sidelines. Matt Fleming was at the same time a heart-breaker for other First XV teams with his ability to carve them to pieces.
He had the distinction of scoring in both the North Harbour final and the Blues region final, with his tries often works of art. He will be huge next season.
The precocious first five-eighths couldn’t quite follow in the footsteps of Todd Miller, Ben Atiga and Nico Stanley by being selected for New Zealand Schools as a Year 11 – but nobody could have complained if he had. Fletcher Cooper scored a mammoth 234 points for the Wellington Premiership winners, breaking the previous record of 233 points set by future All Black Simon Mannix in 1989.
He demonstrates a maturity well beyond his years and is proficient at kicking with both feet. His late drop goal in a quagmire from 35m to clinch a 16-15 triumph over Wellington College on June 12 is the stuff of legend. In the coming two seasons, Cooper could surpass Murray Tocker’s record total of 601 points for Silverstream. Tocker later won eight Jubilee Cups as both a player and coach with Marist St Pat’s and also played for Wellington and Hawke’s Bay.
West Auckland’s version of Richie McCaw – a flanker with a huge workrate on attack and defence. His commitment was often dangerously unwavering.
King’s fans often call him “Yo-Yo” but nobody had Johan Schaumkell on a string. A quality openside flanker, a real physical specimen with speed to burn and a keen eye for the tryline. Played his 50th First XV match for King’s in the 1A final and was given the tribute of a haka from the team. He already looks like an NPC player.
While it was his fellow St Kent’s front-rower Luke Makata who got the headlines by winning a Blues scholarship, it was bulldozing prop Grant-Faiva who racked up the tries all season. He scored at least 13 of them – it could have been more, his college wasn’t always the sharpest with scoresheets – including two in the final. Very mobile for a big lad.
The pugnacious, pint-sized openside was among the heartiest tacklers in the country. His deceptive speed and grift both over the ball and in possession of it often caused consternation for opponents.
There were impressive No 8s just about everywhere you looked this season, from Cruiz Simpson (Sacred Heart) to Satali Asolelei Fretton (Kelston), Brock Reid (Whangārei Boys’), Travis Findlay (Westlake), Bishop Neal (St Thomas of Canterbury) and Rupeni Raviyawa (Feilding). But Te Ariki Rogers was a bit special, even at the younger end of the spectrum, as the National Top Four-winning captain with two tries in the final.
The strapping lock or loose forward earned a special gold cap by playing more than 40 games for the Nelson College First XV, quadrupling the number of games required for a regulation cap. Inspirational in skippering Nelson College to glory in the 99th annual Quadrangular Tournament at Christ’s College.
The bigger the occasion, the better Jimmy Taylor becomes. Scaling the heights of his 2023 National Top Four-winning exploits was just about impossible, but with a last-ditch drop goal to win the Freeman Roofing Southern Schools Championship final against King’s High School, and an imperious display against Christchurch Boys’ High School in the South Island final, Taylor proved he was no one-hit wonder. His brothers Harry and Jack Taylor play in the NPC for Otago and Southland, respectively, with Jack Taylor recently winning the Ranfurly Shield. Taylor is also known for giving one of the most charmingly laconic media interviews in the country.
The jaw-droppingly devastating No 8 – a prized New Zealand Warriors recruit – almost won games single-handedly in the Miles Toyota Premiership. Case in point: the three tries he scored against unblemished round-robin front-runners Marlborough Boys’ College and two in a quarter-final against Christ’s College, where otherwise his teammates wobbled.
The 2025 New Zealand Schools prop became the first Hastings player since 2017 National Top Four-winning captain Kianu Kereru-Symes to play more than 50 games for his First XV. A bulldozer with a jet engine, Isi Qaranivalu terrified opponents with his stampeding surges and proved a sturdy scrummager too.
She may not qualify for any rides with height restrictions at Disneyland, but this undersized winger for the Wellington Under-16 team plays both rugby union and league with the fierce ambition of a used car salesman. She displays an intensity akin to a salesman who, upon discovering that the person they had charmed lacks sufficient credit to complete the sale, snarls with the kind of contempt usually reserved for politicians disparaging their rivals during debates.
Try of the year – Matt Fleming (Westlake)
Fleming gave a brilliant impersonation of Warriors star Dallin Watene-Zelezniak with his North Harbour final try against Whangārei Boys’. But in terms of climactic impact, King’s College winger Spencer Capper forcing his way over in the corner to sideline delirium in stoppage time to earn a semifinal draw against Auckland Grammar was not only Houdini-like, but more dramatic than a World Cup final three-way handshake. Highly commended: Southland Boys’ Ezekiel Hammond-Siolo’s try which won the South Island final against Christchurch Boys’.
King’s sub Spencer Capper looked destined to do the business for his team with a stoppage-time match-saving try for a second successive week in the Blues region final. Then out of nowhere came diminutive Westlake halfback Levi Leith to shovel him into touch 2m short of the line and prompt the final whistle. Electric stuff. Worthy mention: Klinique Ratima from Hamilton Girls’ absolutely flattened Manukura’s Kingston-Ryze Akuhata-Brown Taiapa in the National Top Four girls’ final.
Remedial chanting award
With so many Auckland First XV schoolboys on the sideline mindlessly chanting “Big, Big Scrum” week after week, year after year, is it any wonder that the coalition Government is pushing through education reform? How about chants of “Big, Big Lineout” or “Big, Big Clearance” next year?
Worst scrum
In defence of Auckland, at least their schools can cheer at scrum time, unlike Scots College in Wellington. The 2023 Wellington Premiership winners were so weak in this facet this year that they even defaulted an eagerly anticipated fixture against Wellington College.
Upset of the year
Dunstan High School stunned Otago Boys’ High School early in the Freeman Roofing Southern Schools Championship and then didn’t win another game. Worthy mention: Liston College imposing the only defeat of the year on King’s College, 27-24.
Best scoreboard
Most revered was Sacred Heart’s flash, imposing new electronic scoreboard. But there’s nothing like homespun ingenuity when something goes wrong with this newfangled stuff. When King’s College’s electronic scoreboard wasn’t functioning at the start of the season, they reverted to a small, old-school hand-flipped cricket scoreboard hanging off ladder rungs and it not only did the job, it looked super quaint.
Battler of the year
Sturdy Whanganui Collegiate prop Rory Nugent-O’Leary played nearly half a game against Christ’s College without a pair of shorts. Still, it never did Superman any harm.
Best 9-10 combination
Marco Miln played as both halfback and first five-eighths for King’s College as match-day needs required. He was only once on a losing team and made enough of an impression in the process to gain selection for New Zealand Schools.
Best twin pack
Kelston Boys High School’s Talbot twins, Flynn Talbot (halfback) and Max Talbot (first five-eighths), made a tidy inside-back combination, with the bonus of Max Talbot being pretty sharp with his left boot. Normally you might refer to them as a 9-10 combination, but as it happened, Flynn Talbot played most of the season in the No 23 shirt, after the No 9 shirt got ripped and Kelston somehow couldn’t manage a replacement. Ones to watch next season.
Gear change award
Special mention to Liston College’s Year 13 lock Tyler Gear. Gear never made the wider Blues U18 squad but neither did he slip a cog all season in a well-performing XV. Indeed, Gear was this year capped (made 18 starts) for Liston in First V basketball, First XI cricket and First XV rugby. To get capped in three premier sports is a bit special and the sign of a genuine all-rounder.
Service to First XV award
Shane Young, the Westlake Boys team manager, is retiring after 21 years with the side. He’s not leaving Westlake, he’s still deputy principal there, but will be missed on Saturdays. During his tenure, Westlake won 14 titles (including one shared).
Longest grass
They don’t usually let the grass grow under their feet at Hamilton Boys’ High School. But back in June when they hosted Rotorua Boys’, the grass on Hamilton’s No 1 pitch was so long in the northwestern corner that some wondered whether Tom Phillips could have been hiding out there.
Referee of the year
Ollie Michie is a charming Wellington College teacher aide, from the stable of doyen David Walsh, who struggles with severe diabetes. He’s also a premier official of growing repute and refereed the Hurricanes regional final between Fielding High School and Hastings Boys’ High School, a cracking spectacle that featured 78 points.
Auckland referee
Ben Mclauchlan refereed the 1A final so seamlessly you barely noticed him, which is the biggest compliment you can pay a ref. Incidentally, he’s also a level 4 basketball referee and touch referee, so knows his way around a whistle. Of course, as a referee appointments administrator, he probably keeps a keen eye on the upcoming fixtures list.
Best fans
The likes of Sacred Heart, St Kentigern and King’s College all have an abundance of ultra fans. But spare a thought for Auckland Grammar’s Augusta Army, who weekly fill a vacuum by bringing sideline character and passion to a school which is otherwise curiously shy about publicly embracing its great heritage in First XV rugby.
Coach of the year
Daniel Morath and Rory Lord did a sterling job to push usually unfancied Liston College to the cusp of a top-four berth. But in terms of significantly improving a team and affecting their performance week on week, over the course of a whole season, honours must go to Auckland Grammar’s Dave Askew.
Best first XV promotion
Feilding High School’s budgie smugglers were top drawer. Confidence always starts with good undies, and Feilding’s rugby fraternity had a keen undie-standing of what works promotion-wise.
