Want to know who the next Beauden Barrett or Kieran Read will be? In his new weekly column for the Herald, schoolboy rugby expert Herschel Fruean singles out the best First XV matches of the weekend, and some rising stars to watch. Fruean will travel New Zealand looking for the
First XV Rugby: All you need to know about the weekend's best matches and players
NZ Herald
4 mins to read
Cam Church St Kentigern College. Photo / Supplied
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In difficult conditions with heavy rain both teams had great control over their possession of the ball.
Hooker Naryan Strickland for St Peter's College was a standout for his team and led them right from the start.
His leadership in carrying the ball and gaining those most important meters in tight against the rucks was something they needed.
St Peter's started strongly, throwing everything they had into their running game.
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Prop Lo'amanu Havea and open side Semisi Tapa both had physical games running the ball for St Peters. Tapa opened the scoring with a 25m run to the try line breaking three tackles and sliding over the line.
St Peter's made all the difference at the rucks and controlled so much of the game because halfback Benjamin Fuhinui was finding his big boys and giving them quality ball to hit the line.
St Kents found it hard matching up with the physical side even though prop Tiaan Tauakipulu and open side Cam Church did their best to even it up.
Tiaan had a big game "truckin up" a lot of ball crashing into the defence and really making St Peter's work on defence.
Church also got busy around the rucks making a play at the ball in every tackle.
St Kents had some surprise calls in their line up with prop Ben Ake playing at lock but it helped at scrum time because St Kents pushed St Peter's back three or four steps on every scrum.
St Kents weren't getting the line breaks but were getting enough forward movement that St Peter's started to creep forward into offside position with hands in the ruck, giving St Kents the opportunity to win the game late.
St Kents will now have to put up the Moascar Cup next Saturday against De La Salle College, who are looking really strong.
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Big win for Wanganui Collegiate
In the CNI Comp (Central North Island) Wanganui Collegiate had a big win over Francis Douglas Memorial College winning 19-12.
Center Sione Osamu for Wanganui Collegiate had a strong game with some big breaks in the line.
Also, No 8 Semi Vodosese and hooker Ben Strang were very big contributors to the game and how the boys ran.
The captain for Francis Douglas Memorial College, Jacob Hopkins, was quick around the field as usual and was making tackles from sideline to sideline.
Aotea dominating Wellington
The Wellington comp is being led by Aotea College, who beat Kapiti College 43-7 and picked up another bonus point, moving them into the No 1 spot in the comp.
St Patrick's College Silverstream got back to their winning form after a loss earlier in the week against New Plymouth Boys' High School but beat Hutt International Boys School on Saturday 71-3.
Down South
John McGlashan College beat King's High School 19-8 in the big game in the deep south, a real intense rivalry has developed there in the past few years.
Both of these two teams have picked up big time as rugby programmes and it is really showing in the quality of players they have coming out of these schools.
