KEY POINTS:
Juggling schoolwork and an international soccer career is not easy but Diocesan fifth-former Rosie White is giving it her best shot.
The star of the national team who won plenty of friends with their bold showing at the inaugural Fifa Under-17 Women's World Cup, White admits "schoolwork doesn't come easy", quickly adding, "I haven't failed."
Indeed, when she and other team members were in Chile in September with the national under-20 side, coach John Herdman insisted some time each day was set aside for study.
"I took some books as we had exams when we got back," said White, who scored a stunning hat-trick for the Young Ferns as they beat Colombia 3-1 in their final outing at the World Cup. "The school has been very supportive."
She knows the next two years will be more of the same with soccer and schoolwork making demands on her time and books becoming more important in her last two years at school.
White did find it easier to fit in both in the first half of this year as she recovered from an ACL injury which sidelined her for six months.
But, back to fitness after cycling and then running, she had one game for her Western Springs club and then took off to South America.
As one of two 15-year-olds in the Young Ferns, White will be around for the next under-17 tournament in 2010. She is also likely to play at under-20 level again that year. It promises to be a seventh-form year to savour as she contemplates trips to Trinidad and Tobago and Germany.
Not bad for someone who, until she became a fleet-footed footballer, had only been to Fiji on holiday.
Cricket
Auckland
A resounding win by an innings and plenty over Macleans College has Auckland Grammar in the driving seat heading into the last round of the 1A two-day championship.
At home to Sacred Heart for their last match, which will be played over the next two Saturdays, AGS, with a handy four-point lead over St Kentigern, should wrap up another title.
Against Macleans, AGS, who had scored 330/8 dec on the first day and then had the opposition in some trouble at 45/5, continued the demolition job as Lochie Ferguson went on to bag 4-48 as Macleans reached 111.
Forced to follow on, the east Aucklanders fared a little better, reaching 132 with Henry Helsby claiming five wickets.
St Kentigern took first innings points from MAGS but then went very close to losing outright. Resuming at 99/3, St Kentigern, led by an unbeaten Brad Stanfield half century, cruised to 164/4. They then dismissed MAGS for 133, leaving themselves with a modest 126-run target for outright points.
They never got close and in the end were forced to defend. At the start of the last over they had three wickets in hand.
That became two and then one.
From the last ball of the innings there was a huge appeal for leg before. It was turned down and, at 71/9, they survived.
The 244/9 dec scored by Sacred Heart proved too many for WBHS, who reached 219 in reply with James Coughlan (44) and Cory Bell (40 not out) giving them some hope.
Waikato
The strength of cricket at Hamilton BHS has again been underlined with their Emerging and Development teams among the semifinalists in the 1st XI championship.
The Emerging XI finished atop the points table after nine keenly fought rounds finishing with a flourish.
After losing the toss and being asked to bowl first, they had to work hard as Matamata College posted a reasonable 182/9 as Nikhil Vishwanath bagged 4-22. Led by Ryan Thomson's unbeaten 48, HBHS got home with 12 overs to spare.
The HBHS Development XI won almost as comfortably, scoring 132/6 in reply to the 131 Cambridge High managed as they struggled to master Hugh Blake's bowling as he picked up 5-13.
Te Aroha College had the easiest win of the round beating Fraser High by 118 runs. Electing to bat, Te Aroha began slowly reaching 48/1 at drinks but once Ben and Rhys Evans-Brown took over, the scoring rate accelerated. They were both unbeaten in the 40s when the innings ended at 190/6.
With Jatinder Singh ripping their top order apart and Matt Hema mopping up the tail, Fraser managed just 72 in reply as they were sent packing in the 26th over.
St Peter's School continued their solid form and made certain of second place and a home semifinal with their 115-run win over Morrinsville College.
Led by Gwylim Prosser's half-century, St Peter's posted 217.
In reply, Morrinsville started steadily with Erasmus Van Zyl and Danny Lowe scoring 41 from the opening 10 overs. The innings then fell apart somewhat as leg-spinner Warrick Lynn bagged a healthy 5-30 from his nine overs.
With their victory, St Peter's defended the Dave Hoskin Trophy for the third successive match and can now, deservedly, put their name on the trophy.
Chris Jamieson's outstanding form continued as Hillcrest High made certain of third place and a spot in the semifinals.
Jamieson scored 74 as Hillcrest reached 226/6 in their 50 overs.
He then took control of the bowling to send St John's College reeling. Despite a timely 64 from opener Jude Cooper, St John's managed only 143 in reply to lose by 83 runs.
The teams will play Twenty20 matches this week before reverting to the 50-over championship with the semifinals on November 22.
Soccer
Auckland's young talent will be given their chance to press claims for places in the secondary schools under-15 and under-19 representative teams at a three-day trial in April.
Determined every player should have an opportunity to play at the highest level, coach Nathan Janes has invited sports co-ordinators at all schools to nominate players for the April 20-22 trials.
With a vision of "developing a Kiwi-style of play", Janes is determined to spread the selection net far and wide.
"We had 60 at under-15 and 80 at under-19 level this year," said Janes. "But the message did not reach all players. We are hoping for a bigger turn out next year."
The teams will play against representative school teams from Christchurch, Wellington and Waikato in July (under-19) and September (under-15) in 2009.
"This year matches were played as friendlies. Next year it will be the real thing. We have not had a secondary schools rep team since 2000."
Touch
Orewa College overcame the odds to snatch a thrilling extra time winner to beat Mahurangi College 6-5 and retain the Bentley Cup.
Up against it when captain Shaun Johnson was sent off after just nine minutes, the remaining five Orewa players dug deep to eventually get home in drop off extra time.
Spurred by a noisy home support, Mahurangi gave as good as they got.
With tries to Ali Cargo, Cameron Plant (2), Nathan Cargo and Karl Brown, Orewa led Mahurangi 5-4 after Manaia Rudolph, Kane Middleton (2) and Kieran Parker had touched down for the hosts.
The second controversy came in the 36th minute when Mahurangi were awarded a penalty touchdown.
In extra time, and still a player short, Jon McCarthy scored in the corner to ensure the cup would remain in Orewa hands for at least another week.
On Saturday, Orewa are on the road again, this time to play St Kentigern in the third of five scheduled challenges.
In the curtain-raiser, a first for a Bentley Cup challenge, Rangitoto girls beat Mahurangi 10-3.
Water Polo
Sacred Heart gave their supporters plenty of nail-biting moments before holding on to claim the boys' title from titleholders WBHS at the North Island SS championships at the West Wave Aquatic Centre on Sunday.
After leaping to a 7-4 halftime lead, Sacred Heart had to withstand a storming finish from Westlake before winning 10-9. Goalkeeper Sean Duffey was Sacred Heart's hero, making three shots in the last 20 seconds as WBHS threw everything at them.
It was a sweet victory for the Aucklanders who last won the championship in 1995. They had further cause for celebration when teammember Matthew Lewis was named MVP.
MAGS, third a year ago, repeated that effort with their 6-4 win over AGS in the bronze medal match.
The girls' final was a different story with defending champions Rangitoto College racing away to beat Sacred Heart Lower Hutt 11-3 after leading 7-1 at halftime. Rangitoto's Sarah Landry was named MVP.
* www.asbcollegesport.co.nz
