College in hunt for twin titles

ON FORM: Joseph Robertson has been a prolific goal scorer for Wairarapa College.

Wairarapa College are chasing two premier one Wellington secondary schools hockey titles tomorrow night.

Their girls first XI will confront arch rivals St Matthew's Collegiate at Clareville in a match starting at 6pm and one hour later their boys first XI will take on Wellington College at the National Hockey Stadium in the capital.

The form book can never be entirely trusted when Wairarapa College and St Matthew's do battle. Their rivalry always has the element of "grudge match" about it, especially when championships are on the line.

So while everything points to a relatively comfortable win by Wairarapa College on this occasion it would be dangerous to discount the possibilities of a St Matthew's upset.

All three Wellington competition matches played between the two sides this season have resulted in wins to Wairarapa College and at the recent Federation Cup national tournament in Rotorua, Wairarapa College ended up fifth and St Matthew's were 11th.

The cup result hardly told the story of Wairarapa College's consistently strong form at that event. Their only defeat came in a quarter-final with Auckland Diocesan, in a penalty shootout after the scores were locked at 1-1 at the end of ordinary time.

In New Zealand age group representative Megan Hull, Wairarapa College have arguably the most influential player in secondary schoolgirls hockey, not only locally but nationally as well. She is a huge talent on attack and defence and keeping her under wraps will be the biggest challenge facing St Matthew's. Even if they manage to do that there are a number of other prolific goalscorers in the Wairarapa College side capable of making their presence felt, such as Brigette Mossman, Katie McAnulty, Michael O'Connor and Letia Jane.

Wairarapa College coach Willie Schaefer is confident his side have the firepower to thwart St Matthew's but is quick to emphasise matches between the two colleges usually go to the wire.

He said it would be no surprise if that happened again.

"We'll have a battle on our hands, we know that."

St Matthew's, who have the astute Kim Henson as coach, finished their Federation Cup campaign on a high with a convincing 3-0 win over Wanganui Collegiate in the playoff for 11th and 12th. Hannah Lang and Sara Jane-Raleigh are amongst their most potent attackers with Lang's ability to turn half-chances into goals sure to keep the Wairarapa College defence on their toes.

Favouritism in the boys match between Wairarapa College and Wellington College will be evenly spread. The Lance Hare-coached Wairarapa College side were given a decent confidence boost when they beat Wellington College 7-4 in a competition game three weeks ago but at the Rankin Cup national tournament Wellington College were fourth and Wairarapa College eighth.

Highlight of Wairarapa College's Rankin Cup effort was the goal-scoring exploits of national age group rep Joseph Robertson, who found the net on eight occasions.

He will torment the Wellington College defence if they give him any room in which to operate. Similar sentiments can be expressed about the likes of Alex Sumenko-Bucknell, Lucien Burt, Zac Hardie and Hamish Finlayson.