2022 School rugby
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@Left-Right-Out-0 Unless new coach Sam McNicol can work miracles, St John's, Hastings will probably finish about 8th-10th in the CNI (bottom spots), like they do most years; I've seen no signs of them being a dark horse. Some of their best players from last year have left school and they have a young, new squad. Only 6 of today's 23 were in last year's squad.
Tauranga Boys have had very mixed results - including against weaker schools - but that may be a matter of not having their top squad available for the entire preseason. Very hard to say how strong they are, based on preseason.
I understand Hastings Boys are still missing players, too, but take as many grains of salt as you like.
On 25 May, Scots College will play Napier Boys. -
@Stargazer i expect Napier to put 30+ on Scots. Hard to see any Wellington team competing with them, Hastings or Palmy
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I went to Te Awa to watch the NBHS team comprehensively and utterly destroy Wellington College. I honestly though the score was higher than the 52 – 7 reported above and suggest a closer look at the video might show it was over the sixty mark. If not then Wellington College can count themselves lucky that NBHS bombed at least four good chances of tries, usually through inaccurate passes to men with semi overlaps and in one galling instance a hungas with unmarked players outside him five metres short of the line on both sides going on his own and getting tackled!
NBHS certainly looked the much better drilled team in terms of drawing and passing, kicking when required and reasonably safe on the tackle. Some of the passing along the backline was a bit inaccurate on occasions with at least five or six passes missing their target. Did not have a programme with me but I thought the tighthead prop (who was Greg Halford’s son according to the people sitting next to me), the number 8 (who turned out to be the coach’s son) looked to be destined for higher honours whilst I though the first five did the basics well and most competently without really saying “I am a star – pick me” and the smallish starting hooker with the blond hair showed one instance of gorgeous hands and ran and bumped defenders nicely a couple of times.
The Napier scrum had the upper hand and that set the platform for the overall and overwhelming dominance they showed. I have to confess that they were helped by some instances of foolish Well Coll play like when the winger flicked a ball that was going into touch back into play over his head with his back turned to the field, end result a Napier player grabbed it and raced in for the try untouched. Similarly some wayward kicking by the Wgtn first five (yes I know I talked him up last week!) saw at least three tries scored from the Napier returns. They probably won’t get so lucky in their Super 8 games. Seeing Wgtn offering very little resistance probably saw a lessening of Napier’s urgency and intensity and with them so far from providing a decent level of opposition it was difficult to get a gauge on how good Napier could be when faced with stronger opposition. One possible cause for concern was the Napier backline did not have any large physically imposing players, oh and no Fijian wingers!
Over on the other field Hastings looked to be quite a big team size wise but it was a bit difficult to know for sure as it was about 150 metres (or way more when play was down the other end of the field) south of where I was sitting. All I know is they scored quite a number of times when I glanced down that way. Scots looked to have a couple of big players too and I got the impression that they might have been behind HBHS fitness wise but then again I was too far away to be sure about that. Having said that Scots did get at least one nice looking try that was somewhat long range. No doubt @stargazer will give us the verdict when he has had the time to thoroughly scrutinize both games.
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@Higgins Hastings look like men theyre that big. Not just big, skillful and quick right across the park. Watched the game yesterday and last week in Wellington. Front row is outstanding and the inside backs look calm and composed.
St Pats Stream look like they could push a couple of these better teams. They blew a number of chances yesterday and still put 39 on GBHS. They have a prop whose on the verge of pulling on a NZ schools jersey i believe and their 2nd 5 looks very useful. Their halfbacks and 10 look to be letting this side down with some poor passing and lack of control. The outside backs looked deadly in the 2nd half, scoring all their tries i believe - will watch the replay.
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Look what happened today in the (round 3) game between Timaru Boys and Nelson College!!
Timaru Boys High School’s First XV have won secondary schools’ rugby’s Trust Bank Cup, a South Island-wide challenge trophy, for the first time in 15 years.
The team’s co-coach, Kent Adams said Tuesday’s 25-22 win over Nelson College in Timaru was even more special because the captain and four senior players were injured, meaning it was a “new, young team out on the field”.Tuesday’s match was TBHS’s first win in the Miles Toyota Championship for secondary schools in the Crusaders region in which Nelson College are the defending champions. TBHS’s other results in the championship have been 59-19 and 16-15 losses to Christchurch Boys’ High and Shirley Boys’ High respectively.
TBHS’s first defence of The Trust Bank Cup is against Waimea Combined in Nelson on May 28.https://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/sport/300590790/big-rugby-win-for-timaru-boys-high-school
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@Stargazer Covid? OBHS were missing some players for their southern derby.
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Does anyone use the hs top 200 page as a means to see who the best players are?
Personally i think its average and to big a job for one guy. Dont get me wrong, he does well for someone who just wants to help the boys but the rankings are all over the show
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@Left-Right-Out-0 said in 2022 School rugby:
Does anyone use the hs top 200 page as a means to see who the best players are?
Personally i think its average and to big a job for one guy. Dont get me wrong, he does well for someone who just wants to help the boys but the rankings are all over the show
Herschel is finishing up after this season. I've never joined his website myself, but like anyone, it is only his opinion, and we all look for different things in players. To his credit, he watches heaps of games so will include players from lesser rugby schools. I'll usually watch his youtube videos.
Francis Manuleleua (King's College 2nd 5) is his no.1 player isn't he? A fair call.
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@Left-Right-Out-0 said in 2022 School rugby:
Does anyone use the hs top 200 page as a means to see who the best players are?
Personally i think its average and to big a job for one guy. Dont get me wrong, he does well for someone who just wants to help the boys but the rankings are all over the show
No, as @Bovidae says, it's just one man's opinion and he has his own preferences (I do read articles on his website). I remember when he just started (years ago), he said something about using some kind of rating system (from the US?, from basketball?) and I remember shaking my head hearing the few things he said about it, but he has never been willing to explain (again) what it is. I appreciate his involvement and posting clips from games, but his player ratings are meaningless to me. It doesn't mean he's wrong, just as it doesn't mean he's right.
When I post scores on the Fern, I rarely get them from him, because usually I either watch the games (live or online) or get scores from schools' social media. It's more work, but Herschel gets them wrong sometimes (he often gets them from people posting comments on his FB page).
One thing I really disagree with, and many other visitors to his FB page (including parents and teachers) is that he has been actively promoting players going from smaller schools to richer schools and basically giving players false expectations that there is a pot of gold at the other end of the rainbow.
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I hear you both. I too read his articles but often am left scratching my head. Example, his teams of the week. There were some hugle impressive scores and individual players last weekend and then i see some of his picks for team of the week and i just laugh. Picking players from Wellington College and St Pats Town, both of whom got thumped and looked awful (i watched both games) stinks of favouritism.
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Fixtures - Sat 21 May 2022
Preseason/traditionals:- Rotorua BHS v St John's (Hamilton) - 11.30am (Moascar Cup)
- Palmerston North BHS v St Pat's Silverstream - 12.00pm - livestream: https://sideline.live/play/17076
Harbour 1A
Round 3- Westlake BHS v Orewa College - Orewa College defaulted
- Rosmini College v Takapuna Grammar - 12.00pm
- Rangitoto College v Massey HS - 12.00pm
- Manurewa HS v Whangarei BHS - 12.00pm
Auckland 1A
Round 2- Mt Albert Grammar v St Kentigern - 2.30pm
- Tangaroa College v Aorere College - 2.30pm
- De La Salle College v Kings College - 2.30pm - livestream: https://sideline.live/play/17039
- Dilworth School v Liston College - 2.30pm
- St Peter's College v Kelston BHS - 2.30pm
- Auckland Grammar v Sacred Heart College - 2.30pm
Central North Island
Round 2- St Paul's Collegiate v Rathkeale College - 10.30am
- St John's (Hastings) v Feilding HS - 12.00pm
- Lindisfarne College v Wesley College - 12.10pm at Lindisfarne -
LIVE on Sky Sport 1 - Whanganui Collegiate v St Peter's Cambridge - 1.00pm
- Francis Douglas MC v St John's (Hamilton) (to be played on Sat 9 July 2022)
Super 8
Competition starts 4 June 2022
Wellington Premiership
grading games
Miles Toyota Championship
Round 3- St Andrews College v Marlborough BC - 11.00am
- Selwyn Schools Combined v Roncalli Combined - 1.00pm
- St Bede's College v Christ’s College - 2.45pm
- Shirley BHS v Rangiora HS - 2.45pm
- Christchurch BHS v St Thomas College - 2.45pm
Bye: Waimea Combined
Otago Schools (Division 1)
Round 1- Waiktaki BHS v Otago BHS - 12.45pm (postponed game from 14 May 2022)
Round 2
- John McGlashan College v St Kevin's College - 1.00pm
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@Stargazer Seeing as though there is no game for Nelson College are they now part of the Waimea Combined outfit?
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@Bovidae said in 2022 School rugby:
I'll be interested to see how St John's goes against Rotorua for a CNI vs Super 8 comparison. I expect RBHS will win easily, but if St John's has some self-belief it could be closer.
Then RBHS hosts Matamata College on Wed. That will get ugly.
Traditionally near the top of Super 8 vs the middle of CNI though.
St John's have a good side this year, with a lot of the team returning from last year, but I suspect they are under-done for such a big game.
Being a Moascar Cup game, RBHS won't take the same chances as for a friendly.
Does the Super 8 always start so late?
