KEY POINTS:
The boys overshadowed the men as the Auckland and North Harbour secondary schools rugby finals were played as curtainraisers at Eden Park and North Harbour Stadium on Saturday.
The consensus at the end of an absorbing day's play was that the schools finals had produced rugby of greater intensity and more excitement than the Air New Zealand Cup clashes served up as the main fare.
In the Auckland 1A final, underdogs Kings College struck first at Eden Park, stunning much-favoured De La Salle with an early Jesse Tofo try which Dylan Collier converted for a handy 7-0 lead.
Shocked, De La Salle hit back immediately with Karl Savelio crossing for the first of his three tries and Keleholio Hifo adding the wide-out conversion.
Collier soon had Kings back in front with a penalty but again De La Salle replied quickly when flanker Joseph Tupe stepped through the cover defence to score.
Both packs continued to hammer away in an even contest, but with lock Eden Whaitiri giving De La Salle the advantage at the back of their lineout.
Hifo was rewarded for his hard work when he chased a kick, claimed the ball and scooted 50 metres to score. When Savelio charged down and regathered to cross for his second, De La Salle found themselves handily ahead 25-10 at the break.
Kings refused to give it away even though they were up against it when Savelio scored his third for a 33-10 lead. Ari Rogers claimed a late try which Collier again converted to finish 33-17.
De La Salle halfback Elijeh Falealii was named man of the match.
In the 1B final at Pakuranga's Bell Park, hot favourites Aorere capped their unbeaten season but had to come from 7-10 at halftime before beating Macleans 23-10.
In the end, Aorere got home by scoring two tries to one with impressive first-five Leon Ellia scoring one and dropping a crucial goal. Jason Vaigafa played a key role in kicking two penalties and converting the tries scored by Ellia and Tyrone Lefau.
Loose forward Cameron McLean scored in the corner for Macleans. Nathan Symes landed the difficult conversion and kicked a penalty.
The North Harbour final was much closer with Westlake Boys High School holding on to score an upset 13-11 win over hot favourites Rosmini in a cliff-hanger. But for missed chances by both teams, the score could have been much higher.
WBHS, making good use of the wind, swept to a 13-0 lead as Josh Cooke scored their only try and Chris Winks slotted the conversion and added two penalties.
Late in the first half, Gareth Anscombe gave Rosmini some hope with his successful penalty attempt.
With 20 minutes to play, Rosmini captain Michael Olsen capped a good move with a well-constructed try to close the gap to 13-8. A second Anscombe penalty gave the Rosmini faithful real hope but the desperate Westlake defence held firm.
In another stirring contest, Rangitoto beat Takapuna 20-11 to take the Plate final while Birkenhead held off a spirited Long Bay College side to win the Bowl 24-20. Massey ran out comfortable 29-5 winners over Westlake Girls to wrap up the girls' competition.
WBHS and De La Salle now clash this afternoon at Westlake in the first of the northern play-offs to find their representative at next month's national top four play-offs. De La Salle are on the road again on Saturday to play Kerikeri HS with Kerikeri then hosting WBHS next Wednesday in the final of the round-robin series.
BASKETBALL
Despite losing to their last game to Rangitoto College, WBHS still claimed the premier title on Friday night. The perennial rivals finished their 14-match season with identical 12-win, two-loss records but with WBHS claiming the minor premiership on goal difference.
In the crucial game to find the fourth semifinalist, MAGS, led by 14-point hauls from James Ashby, Zane Moore and Kingston Manualofi, toppled Dilworth 71-70. Miah Maka scored 23 for Dilworth, who were already guaranteed a top four finish.
Rangitoto, too, lost their last game but had already claimed the girls' crown.
Teams are now preparing for next week's zone one premier tournament at Trusts Stadium.
HOCKEY
After seeing off long-time rivals Kings College 1-0 in the semifinals, Auckland champions AGS will face WBHS in tonight's intercity boys' final at Crown Relocations Stadium.
It was a spirited effort from the Kings XI who have struggled to match AGS this season.
It was just as close across the harbour with WBHS edging Rangitoto 2-1 in the second semifinal.
Tomorrow's girls' final will be an all-Auckland affair at AGS with Diocesan again pitted against St Cuthberts. Diocesan beat Rangitoto 2-0 in one semifinal while St Cuthberts ended MAGS's promising season 4-0 in the other.
All teams will then prepare for next week's Rankin Cup (boys) in Napier and the Federation Cup for the top girls teams at Lloyd Elsmore Park.
NETBALL
Perennial rivals MAGS and EGGS will take to the court at the Auckland Netball Centre tonight to find the winners of the premier and senior championships. The two schools will contest both finals with MAGS favoured in the premier contest and EGGS in the senior season finale.
Attention will then turn to next week's Upper North Island tournament hosted by Netball Counties Manukau at Papakura at which MAGS will defend the title they won last year.
The tournament, one of three to find the top 12 teams for October's national SS championships - to be played in Auckland - has attracted 91 teams with 32 teams, from Kerikeri HS in the north to Rotorua GHS in the south, to contest the A grade. The top four A grade teams will win through to the national final.
The next 32 teams will play B grade with the rest in the C grade. With all teams set to play two games a day, it promises to be a hectic week by the time the top two schools square off in the September 5 final at 2pm.
SOCCER
A seven-goal blitz was enough to wrap up a fifth successive A1 league title for Jonathan Raj and his Mt Albert Grammar School first XI but it is not a record run.
In beating KBHS 7-0 in yesterday's catch-up game, MAGS again kept their hopes of a league-cup double alive but left themselves two short of the record of seven straight set by the school between 1933 (when they shared the title with AGS) and 1939.
Mark Withers, in his last league outing for the school, and Dakota Lucas scored two goals each for MAGS, who led 5-0 at halftime.
MAGS finished two points clear of AGS at the top of the table after losses during the season to Macleans and WBHS.
In a replay of last year's Knockout Cup final, MAGS will play AGS on September 10. AGS beat Kristin 7-1 in yesterday's semifinal.
SQUASH
Victory in the national final capped an outstanding year for the Waikato Diocesan team. Determined to bounce back after losing last year's final, the Waikato team, led by their top player Kendyl Morris, later named at No 2 in the tournament team, beat EGGS 3-1.
The triumph in New Plymouth marked a remarkable turnaround for the Julie Bunn-coached team who, three years ago, were the bottom-placed secondary school team.
The side of Morris, Jorja Tarrant, Kendra Sneddon, Kimberley Bunn, Hope Sneddon and Tait Morris fully justified their top seeding in taking the honours.
