College sport: Scouts on sideline at league showpiece

Chloe MacLaren (left) and Manasvi Narula from King's in action at the inaugural inter-school championships. Picture / Greg Bowker

There will be more than passing interest in league's big day out at Ericsson Stadium today.

NZ Warriors development officer John Ackland and a number of interested Bartercard Cup club representatives are expected to use Auckland schools' finals day as the opportunity to cast their eyes over prospective players, especially in the big clash of the day between defending champions St Pauls College and Otahuhu College in the Premier Shield final.

The Warriors already have Otahuhu wing Cooper Vuna on their books.

He was the club's youngest player last season.

St Pauls have Scott Jones, a regular second-rower for Bartercard side Glenora Bears, although he is likely to play stand-off in today's 4pm final.

It promises to be a tight tussle. St Pauls have dominated Auckland and New Zealand schools league in the past decade, losing only once in recent years, when they went down to Kelston Boys High in the final two years ago.

In last year's closely contested final, St Pauls turned the tables but they go into today's game as only second-best in round-robin play.

In last week's semifinals they beat Mt Albert Grammar 33-16, and Otahuhu beat Kelston 28-18.

Eight finals for intermediate and secondary schools, including two for girls' teams, will be played today.


Archery


A strong showing by Chloe MacLaren, the only girl in a field of 10 in the recurve division, was not enough to spearhead her King's College team to victory in favourable conditions in the inaugural inter-school championships at the Auckland Archery Club's One Tree Hill ground on Sunday.

MacLaren, the outstanding individual performer on the day, topped the scoring in recurve - her 2974 points 27 better than team-mate Manasvi Narula - but their efforts were not enough to stop Auckland Grammar taking the honours.

Strong scoring by Joe Gaffney and Jin Twek, first and third in the novice division, backed Oliver Town's possible 3000 in compound to give AGS a solid base. Their fourth member, Jay Gong, was third-best in recurve.

The victory followed Auckland Grammar's success when they upset favoured King's in the final of the four-week indoor competition at Nicholson Park.

Such has been the success of the events, the schools asked for a rematch which will be held at the end of next term at the Mountain Green Club on Mt Albert.

That event is expected to include the return of strong girls schools Baradene, Westlake and Carmel College.

Organisers of the Auckland championship are keen to expand the event nationally next year.

Basketball


Westlake Boys continue to set the pace.

With strong games again from Thomas Abercrombie (32 points and eight rebounds) and Corey Webster (28 points, seven assists) and a handy 17 points and six rebounds from Tony Wallbutton, they were too strong for Mt Albert Grammar, winning 114-49.

Only Duane Bailey, with 12 points, offered much for MAGS.

Rangitoto College also topped the ton in beating Takapuna Grammar 118-41. Led by Daniel Horobin (34) and Sam Butler (33) and a strong defensive effort from Rhys Noble, Rangitoto were always in command. Jesse Mangu was rewarded for his non-stop toil for Takapuna with 14 points.

Kelston Boys also topped the century. Led by a number of three-pointers from Houston O'Riley, they beat Dilworth 102-73. Lydon Aoake and Tony Pulu were Dilworth's top-scorers.

Avondale College made the most of home-court advantage to beat Auckland Grammar 77-69.

In a warm-up match ahead of September's national championships, WBHS beat Church College of New Zealand 82-59 with Abercrombie and Webster again to the fore.

Not to be outdone, the Avondale College girls also notched 100 points against Diocesan.

Their 107-31 win was the only really clear-cut result of the round.

Northcote College, led by 22 points from Erica Hopkinson and five three-pointers from Rochelle Pompallier, edged away from injury-hit Rangitoto to win 83-57. Rose Twaddle was Rangitoto's standout with 14 points and 13 blocked shots.


Hockey


First-round action in the intercity competition suggests King's College and Auckland Grammar should be the teams to beat.

Auckland champions King's easily beat Rangitoto College 4-0 and Pukekohe and Waiuku drew 2-2.

The 5-0 win by AGS over Macleans was not a fair reflection of the match as Macleans battled well throughout. An early penalty corner strike gave AGS the edge but they could add only one more before halftime. The first 15 or so minutes of the second spell were scoreless until the pressure told and AGS scored three in a late rally.

In the remaining match, Rosehill College scored a good 2-1 win over Mt Roskill Grammar.

In an evenly contested girls' match, Macleans and St Cuthberts drew 1-1. St Cuthberts took the lead from a penalty corner after 15 minutes but Macleans fought back and a goal from Charelle Walker early in the second spell tied it up.

In second-round action tonight, the best games should be between Mt Roskill and Westlake and Rangitoto and Rosehill. The best matches in the girls' competition should be between Kristin and Diocesan.

Rugby


Like the basketball, there was a 100-point scoreline in the Auckland 1A championship, with King's swamping Macleans 105-3.

At the other end of the scale, MAGS edged De La Salle 6-3 and St Pauls and Sacred Heart drew 7-7.

In the match of the round, Kelston eventually beat Otahuhu 19-15. Otahuhu led 7-0 at the break but KBHS hit back with two converted tries for a 14-7 lead. A penalty and a try to captain Benson Auvaa got Otahuhu ahead 15-14 but they could not hold on as Kelston grabbed a late try.

Auckland Grammar ran in four tries in the opening 20 minutes and went on to lead Tamaki 27-6 at halftime. Tamaki continued to battle and outscored AGS three tries to one in the second half but AGS held on for a 38-23 victory.

In the other game, Tangaroa had a comfortable 22-8 win over St Peters.

In Saturday's features, MAGS are at home to AGS and Tangaroa have home advantage against King's.

Massey continue to set the pace in the North Harbour race. Following their big win over second-placed Westlake last week, they romped to a 39-0 win over Orewa on Saturday.

WBHS bounced back to beat Rosmini 32-13 while Takapuna were too strong for Rangitoto in the other top-six match, winning 29-20.

Soccer


Led by two goals from man of the match Byron Paulus, Mt Albert Grammar beat Kelston 5-0 away to retain their five-point lead in the A1 senior championship. Geoff Strickland also scored two and Joe Simpkins one as MAGS notched their seventh win in eight outings.

In the upset of the round, Rangitoto beat Auckland Grammar 3-2 at home to edge their way into the top four. Second-placed Westlake won 5-1 over Liston at home while St Peters grabbed a surprise point in holding King's to a scoreless draw.