Wednesday 28 August 2024
Second XI
King’s College 2A 0 vs 26 Sacred Heart
King’s College Second XV final match for the 2024 season was a bruising encounter with an undefeated Sacred Heart College side who were looking forward to their final with Kelston Boys High School. The team got off to a good start in the first 15 minutes of the match managing to maintain possession, and piece together sustained periods of attack while camped in the opposition’s 22, but the SHC defence was solid as they slowly built to turn on to the offensive, which they then maintained throughout the whole match right to the final whistle.
Flankers Christian Collin (Year 12, Major) and Hemana Connew (Year 12, St John’s) both registered stand out performances in both attack and defence making good impact on the game in terms of ball carries and tackles. Collin combined particularly well with hooker Christopher Hatch (Year 12, Major) with well executed attacking lineouts giving first five-eighth Zion Savaka (Year 12, Peart) and second five-eighth Kace Taimai-Hipkins (Year 12, Parnell) a good base to set off on attack. The match also featured some big hits put in by prop Keneti Fanuatanu (Year 12, St John’s), Savaka and Collins. Sacred Heart however always managed to stay composed, recovering to reset to the next phase of attack.
The moments of attack (or counterattack) that looked promising for King’s College were thwarted by errors, or turnover-ball at the breakdowns, and so despite some hearty attempts, the boys were unable to cross the line for points on the day. A tough way to end a season that has seen the building of great team spirit over time, player development in leaps and bounds, as well as a strong sense of friendship and brotherhood.
Well done King’s College Second XV on giving your best right to the very end, and for producing some of the most enjoyable and entertaining rugby in 2024. Virtus Pollet.
1R Maroon
King’s 8 vs 58 Auckland Grammar
Semi-Final
All week, we were expecting to play on the Grammar #1 rugby field, as indicated on the ARU website. However, when we arrived at the ground, we were informed that we would in fact be playing on the #3 field, which is an astro turf and is not at all like playing on grass!
However, we had prepared well during the week and were confident that we could turn last week’s result around in this knockout match. The game started very much like last week’s match and was quite evenly contested. At halftime, Grammar was ahead 12 – 8 but we were very much in the game. The second half, however, was very much all one-way traffic and while we tried to crack their defence and on several occasions, came close to scoring, we were unable to cross the chalk. We made simple errors, our discipline was poor, we fell off one-on-one tackles and Grammar opened us up and scored five unanswered tries to end our season and continue their unbeaten season.
We played some good football throughout the season and have come a long way, but we were beaten by a better team. Ben Willis and I were very proud of the boys and the progress made – both as individuals and also as a team. Our focus now changes as we prepare for the National tournament in Wellington that we will be attending during Winter Tournament Week in two week’s time.
Daryl Williams
1R Gold
King's 5 vs 25 Green Bay
Semi-final
This weekend’s game was played at Green Bay High on a damp ground. Green Bay started much stronger than King's, and with all of the possession, quickly scored out wide after four minutes. The try was unconverted 5-0 Green Bay.
In the 12th minute King's were penalized for hands in the ruck, Green Bay took the 3 points - Green Bay 8-0. In the 23rd minute Green Bay again scored out wide after sustained pressure, unconverted, 13-0 Green Bay. 31st minute and Green Bay score next to the posts from a charge down and convert the try - halftime 20-0 Green Bay.
King's had very little ball in the first half due to Green Bays speed and accuracy at the breakdown thanks to the input of Josh Kronfeld I suspect. After a game plan adjustment and a pep talk from Pita Alatini at halftime, King's were able to compete better in the second half and Malcolm Barrow (Year 11, School) who looked dangerous every time he touched the ball scored out wide in the 47th minute – the try went unconverted, Green Bay 20-5. In the 55th minute Green Bay scored out wide again unconverted leaving the full-time score to be 25-5 to Green Bay.
King's lost their halfback and first five a week earlier to injuries and despite a valiant effort by the replacements, were unable to get any attack happening. Good effort.
5A
King's 20 vs 10 Sacred Heart
Semi-final
For the second week in a row, King’s 5A were back at Sacred Heart and looking to improve from last week's loss. With the pressure of the semi final on the boys’ shoulders and the knowledge that some of the boys may not be eligible due to weight restrictions, the boys took training this week in their stride and balanced the focus, precision and hardness we required whilst being able to have a bit of a laugh. A Friday classroom meeting was held focussing on the game plan and the right mindset and the team was primed and ready.
Being unsure of the starting line-up until after the weigh-in, the whole squad of 23 was kitted and ready to go. The first hurdle for the team was the weigh-in with four of the boys at risk of the weight restrictions. As each one of the 23 boys were passed to play (great work by the boys and parents to ensure they were available), the cheers and support from the teammates was immense and with Sacred Heart standing watching, they knew they were up for a game.
The match began in damp conditions and right from the first kick-off, King’s hit Sacred Heart hard with its rush defence putting Sacred Heart on the back foot at every ruck. The three loose forwards, Sam Coulter (Year 11, School House), Zavier Linstrom (Year 11, Greenbank House) and Jamie Ogilvy (Year 11, Averill House) were a constant thorn in Sacred Heart’s side with their line speed and ferocity in the tackles and securing multiple turnovers. With the forwards providing the pressure this enabled Matt Cunningham (Year 11, Greenbank House) to play for field position, constantly keeping Sacred Heart pinned in their own half. As Sacred Heart is a very strong team, we knew we would have to keep the pressure on for long periods before they would crack. The first 22 minutes was an intense stalemate with no score until, with one of their rare forays into the King’s half, Sacred Heart opened the scoring with a penalty. 3-0 to Sacred Heart.
King’s responded in the same fashion that they had been doing in the first 20 minutes by putting the pressure on. At the 26-minute mark, after a kick to the corner and an error from the defending player, Barney Foote (Year 11, Averill House) dived on the ball to score for King’s. With a successful conversion from Matt Cunningham, King’s took the lead 7-3.
With halftime approaching, King’s were back on attack looking to close out the half and on the stroke of halftime were awarded a penalty 42 metres out from the line. Matt Cunningham stepped up once again and confidently kicked the penalty, finishing the half with King’s leading 10-3.
Straight from the kick-off after the break, Hugo Olde (Year 11, School House) reminded Sacred Heart that King’s were up for the second half with a monster tackle on the kick-off receiver. Building upon this momentum King’s were once again on attack and were rewarded with another penalty four minutes into the half. Matt Cunningham successfully made the kick, extending King’s lead to 13-3.
As with most of the season, the worst time for the team is soon after we score, and for the following 10 minutes, King’s dropped the intensity and Sacred Heart saw a chance to get back into the game. A few dropped passes, missed tackles and penalties, saw Sacred hot on attack and they scored under the posts at the 7-minute mark. The try was converted to bring the score back to 13-10.
Once King’s had got through its 10-minute period where it allowed Sacred back into the game, the focus came back and normal transmission was resumed with King’s dominating all phases of play for the final 15 minutes.
With one minute to play, with King’s hot on attack, the forwards set up a rolling maul from a lineout and drove towards the line. This led to multiple phases of rucks down the blind and then a gap opened through the middle of the ruck and Sam Coulter went over to score in the corner. With time up, Matt Cunningham confidently kicked the conversion from the sideline to bring the final score to 20-10 to Kings.
With the semi-final in the rear-view mirror, the boys are now focussed on the last game of the season with the final against Auckland Grammar. A big week ahead.
Game Summary
Tries: Barney Foote x 1, Sam Coulter x 1
Conversions: Matt Cunningham x 2
Penalties: Matt Cunningham x 2
6A
King’s 19 vs 10 Sacred Heart
Semi – Final
It was knock-out time as King’s took on Sacred Heart in the semi-final at home on the number one field. Having beaten them last week by a single point in the final round robin game we knew that Sacred Heart would come out with all guns blazing! During the weigh-in we lost two key front row forwards, so the coaches had to re-jig the forward pack before kick-off.
King’s got off to a sluggish start with numerous errors and couldn't quite get into a good playing rhythm. Sacred Heart kept us under pressure and had us pinned in our half for large periods of time and they eventually found a gap in our defence opening the scoring after 15 minutes to take a 5-0 lead. We lost a player to the sin bin soon after, everyone had to lift their game and knuckle down. King’s started to control possession and territory with strong forward drives and backline attacks down both sides. Sacred Heart were defending strongly but we kept applying pressure and eventually scored our first try with Henry Main (Year 10, School) barging over down the right to get King’s on the scoreboard. The try was converted from out wide by Toby Willis (Year 10, Selwyn).
We went into halftime with a slender 7-5 lead. The coach’s half-time message was to improve accuracy and discipline and get the ball wide into open spaces.
The second half got underway, and the game became a bruising encounter with both teams playing good rugby - running hard at each other and tackling with ferocity. It became extremely physical and boiled over at one point with King’s losing a forward to a red card. We were down to 14 players for the majority of the second half. We tightened the game up and put together some good phases of play. Hugh Smithies (Year 10, Parnell) directed play well from 1st 5 with clever chip kicks and straight hard runs. The team continued to apply pressure across the field. After a nice backline move the ball was swung out wide to Ollie Perry (Year 10, Marsden) on the left wing who beat his man to score Kings’ second try. The try was converted by Toby Willis to put King's up 14-5.
Sacred Heart came roaring straight back into the game immediately, they created an overlap and scored in the left-hand corner, the try was unconverted.
Coming into the final quarter of the game, King’s held a tight 14-10 lead, so it was all on to see who would prevail and make the final! King’s showed great composure and made all their tackles and on attack, making ground through strong pick and go running from the forward pack. Applying continued pressure Caleb Francis (10SCH) scored a great solo try bursting through tacklers to dot down over the line. Sacred Heart made one final attack at King’s but it wasn’t enough, the referee blew the final whistle. The full-time score was 19-10 to King’s.
We now start preparation for the final next week against traditional rivals Grammar. We know that we are going to have to play at 100% across all areas and improve our discipline to ruin Grammars unbeaten run, so we will be training hard this week!!
Back of the day: Hugh Smithies (Year 10, Parnell)
Written by Ollie Perry (Year 10, Marsden)