10-08-2025
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.
