Top Four beckons for Southland Boys'
They beat Christchurch Boys' 32-29 in Invercargill on Saturday and will join the regional winners of the Blues, Chiefs and Hurricanes competitions in the Top Four series later this month.
Southland Boys' won the national championship in 2023 when the then 15-year-old Jimmy Taylor drilled a late drop goal to help set up the 32-29 win over Westlake Boys'.
Taylor was at it again a couple of weeks ago when he banged over a drop goal to seal a 27-26 win over King's in the final of the Southern Schools Rugby Championship to clinch a berth in the South Island final.
Christchurch Boys' headed to Invercargill following a 52-0 demolition job on rival Christ's College in the Crusaders final.
The visitors opened up a 12-3 lead, but the home team rallied.
Lock Jack McKeay crashed over from a quick tap penalty, and Taylor nailed an important penalty before the break to give his side a 13-12 lead, coach Jason Dermody said.
"Just to go into the break with the lead was big," he said.
"We had a bit of a breeze behind us, which was good, so we could kick the ball deep into their half.
"There were a couple of big periods of defence, obviously, at the end again, where we didn't give away a penalty.
"Just real proud of the boys. We won it through defence again."
McKeay was back in the action early in the second spell when he drove over from close to the line.
Then flanker Josh Cairns picked the ball up from the base of a ruck and ran in unopposed to give Southland some breathing space.
Christchurch Boys' roared back with two unconverted tries.
The game was back in the balance until Zeke Hammond-Siolo scored a tremendous try.
A Christchurch Boys' clearance missed touch, and Southland Boys' spun it wide to the left winger. He hit the ball at pace, gave it the in-out to get around his marker, fended off the next and skipped through the last would-be tackler to score a 40m try.
There was one more twist.
Christchurch Boys' halfback Hiro Fuchigami scored a brilliant solo try to set up a tense final few minutes.
He sold a dummy then busted through around the ruck and ran 20-odd metres to score between the posts.
Southland Boys' defended desperately and held on.
— Christchurch Girls' cruised to a 73-12 win over St Hilda's Collegiate in the South Island secondary schoolgirls final in Christchurch.
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