NEW ZEALAND HEARTLAND PROVINCIAL CHAMPIONS 2010
St Kevin’s vs Waitaki Boys High School – Review of Game
Waitaki Boys High School made it four in a row yesterday in Oamaru when in the match between the two schools it defeated St Kevin’s College by 45-3 at Whitestone Contracting stadium.Waitaki was far too polished for the opposition dominating the lineouts, controlling the tackle area and thus allowing its backs to run freely especially in the second half when it had the strong southerly at its back.
Up front Waitaki produced two massive players in tighthead prop Tui Katoa and lock Don Lolo while at number eight Adrian Myburgh made the most of the freedom he was allowed scoring two tries with lock Simon Thorp maintaining a high workrate through out game. Waitaki had pace and power in midfield in the form of Levi Fogarty and Anthony Wetere-Sweet while Matt Day who converted five of the seven tries was elusive at both wing in the first half and fullback in the second spell.
Openside flanker Fergus Farrell tackled his heart out with tighthead prop Johnny Rusbatch featuring in the tight but too often the St Kevin’s scrum was subjected to enormous pressure.
St Kevin’s fullback Tim O’Malley kicked a penalty in the fifth minute but then the hard slog began. Myburgh went over following a lineout close to the St Kevin’s line four minutes later for Day to convert and Waitaki established a 17-3 halftime lead when the hardworking Thorp crossed in the 27th minute and Myburgh got his second eight minutes from the break.
Wetere-Sweet and Fogarty touched down in the third and twelfth minutes of the second half with Day converting both to take Waitaki out to 31-3 and then capped it off with tries to winger Dean Fenwick and Tui Katoa in the 22nd and 32nd minutes with Day converting both tries to wrap up the 45-3 victory.
St Kevin’s College vs Waitaki Boys High School Preview
St Kevin’s College and Waitaki Boys High School First fifteens will meet for the 77th encounter when the two sides play on Friday at Whitestone Contracting stadium at 1.30 p.m. Waitaki Boys will start firm favourites on the day and will be out to make it four wins in a row. St Kevin’s College last won the interschool fixture in 2007 with a 31-22 victory but since then Waitaki Boys have dominated. Both teams play in the Otago Rugby Union’s Highlanders XV competition an admirable concept which, to me, leads a little refining if it is to have a bigger impact on the growth of rugby in the Highlanders franchise, but more of that later.
Saturday mornings in Oamaru are abuzz with youngsters playing sport whether it be rugby, netball or football and enthusiastic parents and grandparents give eager support on the sidelines. The whole sporting scene is vibrant. In North Otago 34 rugby teams made up of primary school children, male and female participate in JAB rugby. Whilst the number are high there is an obvious falling off at the secondary school level with North Otago catering for only nine teams with St Kevin’s College a proud rugby school unable in 2011 to field a second XV. It is a trend that does not belong solely to North Otago. It is a nationwide trend which has been motivated by a number of factors.
In many schools today the First XV is not the “elitist” team of old, when the philosophy of a successful rugby side supposedly gave the school a positive profile. First XV rugby in New Zealand is still popular as the televised First XV matches have shown, but despite this there has been a gradual change of attitude and according to John Hornal, executive director of College Sport in Wellington speaking in a weekend publication a fortnight ago, many secondary school principals were questioning the policy of making the whole school roll watch the first XV games. He claims that at least half of those forced to watch were bored with their role of spectator.
And also in the same publication Mark Rice, principal of St Pauls College in Auckland which produces the best rugby league teams in New Zealand states “elitist” sports are over glamorised there’s a place for it but everyone should be valued. Do we want to turn kids into spectators at 14?”
So the fall off in rugby figures can be put down to the diversity on sports now available, but this diversity is only as stable as the demand increases for interested and effective coaches. Without them the whole system will fall over. Rugby may be going through this process at the present time.
Some claim that the decline in the number of active sporting participants is a societal thing there are too many counter attractions, or maybe doing nothing has become more attractive This dropout of players continues at the adult level and it is not just a New Zealand problem. England, which has 612,000 registered players as opposed to New Zealand’s 230,000,has 50,000 players fewer than it did in 2010. The adult falloff in New Zealand is occurring but it has been hidden by the number of children and women registered to play the game.
But back to Waitaki Boys High School and St Kevin’s College. For many of the players involved it will be the biggest rugby game of their careers. For a few it may be the last rugby game they play. Whilst striving to win and succeeding are admirable attributes, the battlers, who for game after game, turn out for a multitude of hammerings, and occasionally the odd victory, supposedly develop strongly built characters. But do they continue playing rugby?
The Highlanders XV competition because of this disparity of numbers and ability needs refining if it is to successfully promote rugby in the region, surely its primary objective. Numerically Southland Boys High School(1100), Otago Boys High School(930), Kings High School(777), John McGlashan(519) and Waitaki Boys High School(508) would constitute the top five in say the first division with the top team from the coeducational schools, Kavanagh College(430 boys), Gore High School(325), Verdon College(300), Dunstan High School(250), South Otago High School(250), St Kevin’s College(200) and Menzies College(140) going up to division one each year. Surely a system such as this would create more intense and more even matchups than the current system, and go some way to giving players more satisfaction and thus keeping players in the sport.
St Kevin’s College squad:
Backs: Jack Allan, Briones Facundo, Matt Daly(vc), Chris Moulton, Tim O’Malley, Sione Palaa, Ashley Peden, Ben Rapson, Steven Scott, Sam Spivey, Nick Staples, Dominik Yanzick.
Forwards: Johnny Rusbatch (C), Ben Catto, Bradley Clark, Fergus Farrell, Sean Hand, Tom Hutchison, Ryan Lill, Quinn McNab, Jack Meehan, Ashley Miller, Sione Misiloi, Will Plunkett.
St Kevin’s College Highlanders XV record(up to 1 July): L Otago Boys(0-57), L Menzies College(10-24), L Gore High School(0-36), L Southland Boys High School(6-72), B Verdon College(31-5), L Kings High School(7-53), L Dunstan High School(13-25), L South Otago High School(14-29).
Waitaki Boys High School Highlanders XV record(up to July 1): b Dunstan High School(34-28), b Kavanagh College(33-24), L Kings High School(12-29), b South Otago High School(41-29), b Menzies College(34-5), b John McGlashan(39-19), L Southland Boys High School(14-61), b Verdon College(51-0).
North Otago vs Otago Review
Superior fitness and conditioning carried Otago to a 78-9 win over North Otago at Whitestone Contracting stadium on Saturday in a game which Otago ran in twelve tries. Despite making eleven changes at halftime Otago lost little of its structure against a North Otago side which was out scrummed, outplayed in the line-outs and beaten convincingly at the breakdown. Otago co coach Andy Hunter was more than satisfied with the performance.
“It was the game we needed. The first 40 minutes were extremely physical and the score line shows that North Otago put a lot of pressure on us and that was exactly what was required, just to get everyone in the game mode. We’ve been training well but you can’t beat the real thing. The challenge for us was the change of players at halftime. Sometimes you can lose some control and structure, but we were pretty happy with the way we held together. It was an ideal time to give some of the younger guys an opportunity. Buxton Popoalii made the most of his opportunity at fullback and on the wing. He is very exciting, just a jack in the box who will pop up anywhere on the field and that’s his role, but right across the board it gave them a chance to play together and they learnt a lot from the game.”
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North Otago First Representative Match for 2011
North Otago will go into its first and only warm up game prior to a Ranfurly Shield challenge in seven days time with limited preparation based on three training runs for today’s game against Otago in Oamaru. But the same will apply to the opposition as well.
Six players will debut for North Otago in tomorrow’s game. English three-quarter Christoph Bart takes up one of the wing positions. Kariatiana Vette-Welsh a loan player from Northland will start at second five eighth while in the pack Carn Parata and Manu Taiti are the loose forwards, Rob Mafaleo comes in at tight-head prop in place of regular prop Palenapa Mafi who according to co coach Barry Matthews may get game time and University A hooker Sam Sturgess slots into the front row.
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