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Otago Daily Times
a day ago
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Top Four beckons for Southland Boys'
Southland Boys' have made the finals of the National First XV Championship and will chase glory for the second time in three years. 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.
Otago Daily Times
10-08-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Taylor delivers late as Southland Boys' claim title
Southland Boys' captain Jimmy Taylor lifts the Southern Schools Rugby Championship trophy after defending their title at Les George Oval on Saturday. PHOTO: TONI MCDONALD Jimmy Taylor is made for pressure situations. The Southland Boys' captain came up with a clutch drop goal in the dying seconds of their final against King's to snatch a 27-26 victory to win the Southern Schools Rugby Championship final at Les George Oval on Saturday. With 10 minutes left on the clock, King's were down 24-23 and were hot on attack in Southland Boys' danger zone, recycling the ball to push their case forward. They finally got a break when Southland Boys' were pinged in front of the post and King's fullback Lafa Tofiga — who was outstanding with a haul of 21 points — stepped up and slotted it straight through. It nudged King's ahead 26-24 with less than one minute to play — but Taylor turned to his troops and told them the plan. They executed to perfection. After several carries, first five Taylor sat back in the pocket and banged over the game-winning drop goal. He raced back to the halfway mark throwing his hands in the air, and after King's restarted, Taylor booted the ball into touch to secure the victory, a third straight crown for his school. Southland Boys' coach Jason Dermody acknowledged his team did not play their best rugby, but he was delighted with their nerve in the final moments. "Jimmy said 'we've still got time' and I said 'let's get down there, get the ball and let's see if we can get an opportunity', which we did — and then he did the rest," Dermody said. "He's just a high-quality individual that's got a lot of rugby in front of him. "Just loves those pressure situations, but he practices hard and works hard for those situations. It's no fluke that he does what he does." Dermody praised King's for their performance throughout the season and said the final "could've gone either way". "They were obviously gutted after the game, but the work that they put in this year, they're going from strength to strength so you can't take it away from them. "They could've won that game. Huge respect for them." Tofiga banged a over a penalty in the opening two minutes to give King's the lead. Southland Boys' hooker Luka Salesa scored from a solid rolling maul to bounce back and Tofiga nailed another penalty for the visitors. Josh Cairns scored for Southland Boys' and the home side held a 12-6 lead. But Tofiga scored in the corner after a brilliant build-up and second five Jeremiah Tuhega-Vaitupu scored in a similar spot to give King's a 16-12 lead at halftime. Taylor shimmied out of two tackles to score to give Southland Boys' the lead again. They extended that to 24-16 until King's found another gear and fought hard to close the gap and give themselves every chance to win. Christchurch Boys' thumped Christ's College 52-0 in atrocious conditions in the Crusaders secondary schools final. They led 24-0 at halftime and demolished their rivals with an eight-try haul. Southland Boys' will now host Christchurch Boys' in the South Island final at Les George Oval this Saturday. In the Southern Schools division two final, Southland Boys' 2nds edged Waitaki Boys' 24-20. South Otago beat Mt Aspiring 31-17 to win the division three crown, and Central Southland beat King's 2nds 26-17 in the division four final. Southern Schools final The scores Southland Boys' 27 Jimmy Taylor, Luka Salesa, Josh Cairns, Jack McKeay tries; Taylor 2 con. King's 26 Lafa Tofiga 2, Jeremiah Tuhega-Vaitupu tries; Tofiga con, 3 pen. Halftime: King's 16-12.
Otago Daily Times
07-08-2025
- Sport
- Otago Daily Times
Wobbles for proposed competition
The proposed South Island-wide First XV competition has hit a hurdle — some of the schools do not want to play in it. The mooted competition hit the headlines in May when the South Island boys' secondary school principals released a joint statement announcing the attention to develop a new competition. It was billed as part of a wider collaboration between the boys' schools to enhance achievement and the wellbeing of young men. Under the proposal, eight schools from Canterbury and Tasman would join five schools from Otago and Southland in the competition. Waitaki Boys' were quick to opt out, citing resourcing issues and player depth. Now Christchurch Boys' have shied away. Christchurch Boys' acting principal Nigel Vernon told The Press earlier this week the school recognised the value in building stronger connections across South Island boys' schools. "However, we feel we can't endorse the proposal to form a new rugby competition in its current form," Vernon told the newspaper. "At this stage, there are too many question marks for us, with more work needed around long-term sustainability, funding, and the impact on our wider sporting programme and community." There are rumours John McGlashan College has reservations as well. College acting principal John Veitch declined to comment when asked if the school remained committed to the proposed competition. "We have another SI Boys meeting next Monday to further discuss this. Therefore, I cannot comment at this time," he wrote. "Hopefully, all will be sorted out next week." John McGlashan won the Otago Schools Rugby Championship in 2022, but have fallen a little behind the top three school sides — Southland Boys', King's and Otago Boys' — since then. They were beaten 64-12 by Southland Boys' in the Southern Schools Rugby Championship semifinal at the weekend. Otago Boys' rector Richard Hall could not be reached for comment. King's rector Nick McIvor said the school remained excited about joining the new competition "knowing that further details are being worked through on things like funding and how the First XV rugby competition will run in its first year". "With regards to the new competition, there's no negative. "[It's] enabling our boys to be challenged with games outside their region. It's a win for them. "It's also an indication of the strength of unity and leadership of the boys' schools in the South Island in our commitment to world-class boys' education." The co-educational schools are not invited to the new competition. But The Press reported promoters of the South Island-wide tournament were working on a potential compromise. The boys' schools could remain in their current competitions next year alongside the co-educational schools, but could carve out some time for a boys' competition. Otago Secondary Schools Rugby Council chairman Greg Heller did not want to be drawn on the proposed competition and what impact it might have on the Southern Schools Rugby Championship. However, he felt the Championship was a quality competition that produced a high standard of rugby, while also guarding against mismatches. "We think that the current competition is serving the needs of our rugby community," Heller said. "It's inclusive, it's merit-based and it's meaningful. It's allowing our teams to find their place. And we think the competition's in good heart. "We've worked hard to get it where it is currently. And I think we've got the right teams playing in the right grades. "We're not seeing the big blowouts that perhaps we saw previously when we had full round robins."
