2024 School Rugby
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Seen a post on a Facebook page that HBHS are not letting any of their top players play league. They train like pros so there would be a worry of burnout. Age grade league in the Waikato goes up to Under 17 and is played on Sundays.
Edit: The page mentioned in the article.
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@Bovidae said in 2024 School Rugby:
Out of curiosity I checked who they were:
None from Kelston, which is a surprise.
Hiraka Waitai-Haenga was the 2nd 5 at Hamilton BHS. His midfield partner had already signed for the Titans.
TBH, it's all a bit of B/S which looks like it's a bit of project for the Daily Telegraph in Oz with them cribbing stuff from Becht. They've done three similar articles/opinion pieces in about 7 days.
That list has a decent number of De La Salle, St Pauls, and Rotorua Boys players, who always feature highly in the schools league comp.
Also, any kid outside of Auckland is going to come from a "rugby" school.
@mikedogz said in 2024 School Rugby:
Seen a post on a Facebook page that HBHS are not letting any of their top players play league. They train like pros so there would be a worry of burnout. Age grade league in the Waikato goes up to Under 17 and is played on Sundays.
Edit: The page mentioned in the article.
This seems like a beat up too, who would go to Hamilton Boys (the premier rugby school in the country - yuck, felt sick saying that) and expect to be able to play for the 1st XV and then run of for the Warriors when they feel like it. No team would put up with that and if you want to play league then don't play for the rugby squad. As you note there's player burnout and lots of away games too.
It's not like back in my day where we could play rugby and league as the levels of professionalism weren't the same as now. Obviously I don't mean in the financial sense.
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@Nepia The list I posted was from the Warriors website (after a google search). I've no idea what other articles have been published as I don't follow RL that closely anymore. I agree it's a promotion piece.
The player I mentioned who signed for the Titans (Caelys-Paul Putoko) did miss some later Super 8 games last year to play RL although I have no idea who he played for on those weekends. He was still selected for the NZ Schools team though (the starting 12).
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@Bovidae said in 2024 School Rugby:
@Nepia The list I posted was from the Warriors website (after a google search). I've no idea what other articles have been published as I don't follow RL that closely anymore. I agree it's a promotion piece.
The player I mentioned who signed for the Titans (Caelys-Paul Putoko) did miss some later Super 8 games last year to play RL although I have no idea who he played for on those weekends. He was still selected for the NZ Schools team though (the starting 12).
That list was posted in the Daily Telegraph too, there seems to be two journos pushing it, a guy I can't remember and a lady named Fatima Kdouh. Kind of embarrassing for Richard Becht to be pushing it as a) a Kiwi and b.) someone who would know that Warriors junior teams have always had kids from rugby schools.
TBH, the hyping of league and attacking of rugby by the media is actually making me turn off the sport a bit (the Warriors returning to their old form might also be playing a part too).
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Pukekohe High School back into the local comp and are probably the favourites
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Hauraki Plains College gone back to Thames Valley
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Manurewa High School still playing in the North Harbour comp
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Here's some other results over the past week.
Auckland Grammar 26 - 12 New Plymouth BHS
CNI
St John’s College Hamilton 29 - 28 Whanganui Collegiate
St Peter’s Cambridge 24 - 31 Wesley College
Lindisfarne College 17 - 20 St Paul’s Collegiate
Rathkeale College 38 – 0 St John’s Hastings1A
Sacred Heart College 19 - 31 Kelston BHS
St Kent’s 25 - 17 St Peter’s College
Auckland Grammar 32 - 5 MAGS
St Paul’s College 28 - 17 Dilworth College
King’s College 36 - 31 Liston College
Botany Downs College 5 - 40 De La Salle CollegeHurricanes Preseason Tranzit Festival
Wellington College 5 - 38 Napier BHS
Gisborne BHS 18 - 20 St Pat’s Silverstream
Palmerston North BHS 59 - 0 HIBS -
1st two rounds of North Harbour
4th May
Mahurangi 16 - 5 Takapuna Grammar
Manurewa 5 - 24 Rangitoto
Rosmini 32 - 34 Whangarei Boys
Westlake Boys 44 -10 Massey11th May
Rangitoto College 22 - 12 Mahurangi
Whangarei Boys 49 - 0 Takapuna Grammar
Massey 48 - 10 Manurewa
Westlake 41 - 8 Rosmini -
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1A
Botany Downs Secondary College 6 - 31 St Paul’s College
De La Salle College 28 - 31 King’s College
Dilworth School 11 - 31 Liston College
St Peter's College 22 - 19 Kelston BHS
Auckland Grammar 27 - 20 Sacred Heart
MAGS 16 - 35 St Kent’sCNI
Whanganui Collegiate 24 - 41 St Peter’s Cambridge
Lindisfarne College 29 - 25 Wesley College
St John’s Hastings 0 - 90 Feilding High School
St Paul’s Collegiate 33 - 3 Rathkeale College
FDMC 10 - 41 St John’s HamiltonOther results:
Scots College 17 - 33 Hastings BHS
Gisborne BHS 17 - 49 Rotorua BHS
Palmerston North BHS 22 - 8 St Pat’s SilverstreamI went to watch the St Paul's-Rathkeale game. Rathkeale mastered the art of finding ways to not score a try including the final play of the game when one of their players lost the ball on the goal line from a low pass. St Paul's had two players sinbinned then and there wasn't a defender near him.
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Hmmm round 3 of Harbour and WBHS marching on (although TGS have a very weak team this year)
Mahurangi 21 - 22 Whangarei Boys
Rangitoto College 22 - 14 Massey
Takapuna Grammar 0 - 71 Westlake Boys
Manurewa 0 - 59 Rosmini22 - 12 Mahurangi
Whangarei Boys 49 - 0 Takapuna Grammar
Massey 48 - 10 Manurewa
Westlake 41 - 8 Rosmini -
Teenage talent wars: How the NRL is poaching Kiwi schoolboys
As rugby stands off, league is swooping to win the race to secure future talent.
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@Machpants said in 2024 School Rugby:
Teenage talent wars: How the NRL is poaching Kiwi schoolboys
As rugby stands off, league is swooping to win the race to secure future talent.
More of the league propaganda that is flooding media these days. "Rugby" school kids have been going to league for years. It was probably worse when the U20s was going than it is now as they were getting paid at 18.
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@Nepia Did you actually read the article?
In a wide-ranging investigation, after speaking with school coaches, parents and player agents, the Herald has uncovered at least seven players from under 15s school teams in Auckland who have signed with NRL clubs and relocated to Australia.
Five leading players from last year’s Auckland Grammar under-15s team were targeted, with two moving to Australia to join the Sydney Roosters and one from this year’s team signing with the Newcastle Knights.
Those numbers merely scratch the surface of the issue, with other Auckland schools such as Saint Kentigern, Sacred Heart and Kelston, the latter with a traditionally strong league affiliation, also believed to have experienced multiple deflections.
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My experience is that heaps of kids go to Australia to make it in league, but few of them do. It's the ones with stars in their eyes and a bit of physical talent that leave. The dreamers.
The grafters, the ones that work hard and make it in the end, are not tempted to change countries at 15.
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@Tim said in 2024 School Rugby:
@Nepia Did you actually read the article?
In a wide-ranging investigation, after speaking with school coaches, parents and player agents, the Herald has uncovered at least seven players from under 15s school teams in Auckland who have signed with NRL clubs and relocated to Australia.
Five leading players from last year’s Auckland Grammar under-15s team were targeted, with two moving to Australia to join the Sydney Roosters and one from this year’s team signing with the Newcastle Knights.
Those numbers merely scratch the surface of the issue, with other Auckland schools such as Saint Kentigern, Sacred Heart and Kelston, the latter with a traditionally strong league affiliation, also believed to have experienced multiple deflections.
Yes. Did you actually read my post?
As I said, bucket loads of young rugby players went to Oz during the Holden/Toyota Cup U20s comp. I was an assessor for a Maori sports scholarship fund for much of that time and we processed loads of applications for year 12 and school leavers going to Oz league teams.
Similar to the other articles put in the last few weeks they mix speculation with some facts, there's no allowance for leaguies going to traditional rugby schools for education/professionalism purposes (they've repeated the info about the Warriors supposed rugby player defections when an analysis of that original list showed that most players/schools were already in the league pipeline), furthermore when you read deep into the article the anecdotes are less about what's currently happening and more about what's always happened (with old players like Taumalolo and non league players like ENS as examples).
Meanwhile we're seeing multiple articles about schools banning kids from playing league when the reality is they're wanting kids to honour a commitment to the team they've joined.
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@Chester-Draws said in 2024 School Rugby:
My experience is that heaps of kids go to Australia to make it in league, but few of them do. It's the ones with stars in their eyes and a bit of physical talent that leave. The dreamers.
The grafters, the ones that work hard and make it in the end, are not tempted to change countries at 15.
Yeah, the ones I mentioned in the scholarship programme above, sadly the majority never made it.
