Rugby: Hastings Boys' High to share Super 8 spoils

Hastings Boys' High School First XV rugby team are sharing the Super 8 rugby champions title with Hamilton Boys'. Photo/Paul Taylor

It's official and double-checked ... Hastings Boys' High School will share the 2017 Super 8 rugby title with Hamilton Boys' High School.

After Saturday's final in Hastings between the two teams ended in a 12-all draw, Hastings Boys' High School principal Rob Sturch said Hamilton would receive the trophy because they scored the first try in the match.

However, Hastings Boys' team manager Jason Bird found out yesterday that rule had been changed last year and replaced with a rule which stated if the final ended in a draw the trophy would be shared.

"We're thrilled to get our names on the trophy for a second consecutive year," Bird said.

Hamilton Boys' head coach Nigel Hotham had no qualms with sharing the trophy as he thought that was the case anyway.

Hastings Boys' have a rest this weekend before taking on the second-placed team from Wellington in the Hurricanes region qualifiers on August 26 for the national top-four competition.

Hawke's Bay Today reader David Brock, of Napier, had enjoyed watching the game but questioned the criteria surrounding the awarding of the crown to Hamilton Boys' High.

"But who were the rocket scientists who came up with this method of declaring Hamilton BHS the Super 8 Rugby winners?" asked Brock, after Hastings BHS won the round-robin stage with 34 points over Hamilton's 31 and the previous Saturday had defeated Hamilton away in the final round-robin match to post "a vastly superior points deferential".

"There was no provision for extra time. I imagine this may have been because of the fact that it was being televised live and scheduling was the king," he wrote.

He asked the administrator who came up with this scenario to explain the tie-breaking significance of scoring the first try.

Brock had suggested extra time as an option and, failing that, falling back to what transpired in the round-robin stage to declare winners.