A five-point Hastings Boys’ High School First XV loss to Palmerston North Boys’ High School in Hastings on Saturday has completed Hawke’s Bay’s earliest exit ever from
Schools rugby: Hawke’s Bay schools bow out of national First XV contention early
![Doug Laing](https://s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/nzme/1ff2fc51-e5b2-404e-87cf-7a5f64baac1a.png)
Palmerston North will play St Pat’s Silverstream, who beat Wellington College 31-12 in the Wellington Schools final on Saturday, and Gisborne play co-educational campus Feilding High School.
![Both Hastings and Napier Boys' High School have been knocked out of national competitions early. Photo / Connull Lang](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/v2/4CEWVAHPK5B4BAK3KWW3HSEEBM.jpg?auth=67a5a9e4608cacc20b5b0cf6c8ac84146c90654583566bfccc3a305e2ad122ef&width=16&height=16&quality=70&smart=true)
A big upset on Saturday was the elimination of Tauranga Boys’ College from the national championship, after winning the Super 8 schools final 37-0 against defending champions Hamilton Boys’ High School seven days earlier.
On Saturday, they drew 20-20 with Rotorua Boys’ High School in a Chiefs region playoff. With no extra-time provision, Rotorua advanced to the next stage because they had scored the first try.
Southland Boys’ High School stayed in the race to defend the national Top Four title with a 32-15 Highlanders region final win over King’s High School and, in next Saturday’s match to decide this year’s South Island Top Four representatives, will play Nelson College, who progressed with a 20-17 win over Christchurch Boys’ High School.
There were also big upsets as the Central North Island Schools (CNI) competition ended in Taupō.
Hastings school Lindisfarne College claimed third place with a first-ever CNI-match win over St Paul’s Collegiate of Hamilton. Lindisfarne won 40-15, after being down 10-7 at halftime, while St John’s College Hamilton claimed the title with a 42-33 win over Feilding, which had otherwise gone 10 matches unbeaten in the competition.