2023 School Rugby
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The World Schools Festival will be held from 12 to 17 December 2023. They'll add more competitions to the Cup competition, but no further explanation yet, than this:
We are planning to go bigger and even better in 2023 and adding 3 new 8 team competition categories for U18s men and women to compete. These new competitions will be added to the WSF week, alongside the Cup competition, and ensure more opportunities for schools and teams to participate
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Results - Saturday 20 May 2023
Auckland 1A
Round 3- St Kentigern 17 - 10 De La Salle College
- Liston College 9 - 5 Kelston BHS
- Sacred Heart College 36 - 7 St Paul's College
- Mt Albert Grammar School 17 - 15 King's College
- Dilworth School 10 - 31 St Peter's College
- Auckland Grammar School 44 - 0 Tangaroa College
Harbour 1A
Round 4- Massey HS 10 - 8 Rosmini College
- Westlake BHS 68 - 7 Takapuna Grammar
- Rangitoto College 3 - 24 Whangarei BHS
- Orewa College 23 - 3 Manurewa HS
Central North Island
Round 2- St John's College, Hamilton 34 - 17 Francis Douglas MC
- St Peter's Cambridge 12 - 36 Whanganui Collegiate School
- Wesley College 58 - 0 Lindisfarne College
- Feilding HS 34 - 13 St John's, Hastings
- Rathkeale College 20 - 28 St Paul's Collegiate
Super 8
Round 1- Gisborne BHS 5 - 29 Napier BHs
Wellington Premiership
Round 1- St Pat's Silverstream 47 - 5 Wairarapa College
- Tawa College 10 - 36 Rongotai College
- Mana College 5 - 87 Scots College
- Hutt International BS 11 - 7 St Bernard's College
Miles Toyota Premiership
Round 2- Christchurch BHS 10 - 14 Nelson College
- Marlborough Boys College 8 - 22 St Andrews College
- Timaru BHS 17 - 24 St Bede's College
- Selwyn Schools Combined 8 - 11 Christ’s College
- Shirley BHS 26 - 39 St Thomas of Canterbury College
Otago Schools Rugby Championship (Division 1) - part 1
Round 3- King's HS 12 - 21 Otago BHS
- Waitaki BHS 12 - 38 John McGlashan College
- Wakatipu HS 10 - 55 Southland BHS
The CNI results aren't the official results (not published yet). -
@Stargazer That Feilding result looks to be a bit of a surprise considering Feilding had been going good in their pre-season games.
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There may be more games, but these are the ones I've been able to find:
Mid-week fixtures: 22 - 26 May 2023
Tuesday 23 May 2023
Sports exchange
Hutt International BS v Rathkeale College - 1.00pm
Thursday 25 May 2023
Super 8 (part of sports exchange)
Round 1
Hamilton BHS v New Plymouth BHS
Friday 26 May 2023
Miles Toyota Premiership
Round 3
Christ's College v Timaru BHS - 6.30pm
Livestream:
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@Bovidae Yeah, the last good year of sideline live was 2020. Then they changed ownership and the quality went down. Last year, I had to ask my money back (which they fortunately did) because they announced games and then didn't stream them. Or the stream didn't work and they moved the game to Facebook (for free). Totally unreliable. I think schools just weren't interested in using them anymore.
This is a YouTube channel where sometimes games are streamed without any commentary.
There's also a FB page where sometimes games are streamed. Mostly games in Waikato/BOP.
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In the past the schools tended to play against other schools from their own region, hence the list of Northland schools in the 1950s and 1960s.
Another interesting point is that two more recent previous holders no longer exist anymore - Church College and St Stephen's.
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@Stargazer Coaching. HBHS doesn't usually have the best athletes but are always very fit and well-drilled. There are a few players from out of Hamilton (greater Waikato, Northland) but the scholarships were usually for a Fijian (e.g., Reece, Narawa), and there are none of those in the team.
They only have 3 Super 8 home games and others are against the other top schools (Rotorua and Hastings).
BTW, they actually released a team list on their FB page before the game.
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Coaching, yes. They put a lot of their school budget into that, which other schools might spend on, you know, teaching.
But also a couple of other factors greatly help Hamilton BHS.
Sheer size. Some of the Super 8 are big too, but not all. Hamilton BHS is three times the size of Hastings BHS, for example, and twice the size of Rotorua BHS.
The lack of alternatives for good rugby boys in the Waikato. St John's is something of an alternative, but you have to accept being "Catholic" and they are only recently any good. The other good rugby schools in the area are all private. The other big state schools in the area have very poor rugby programs for their size. Cambridge, for example, don't produce anything like what they should.
A HBHS "ballot" for out of zone boys that magically has every good rugby boy selected. That combined with an aggressive targeting of young rugby boys to go to HBHS, means that they hoover up from the whole province.
Success breeds success, so the likes of Warren Gatland choose to send their sons there, when he could afford a private school.
Moascar Cup History
