First XV Rugby: All you need to know about the weekend's best matches and players

St Kentigern College can expect a heated welcome from St Peter's College fans. Photo / Photosport

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 best talent the country has to offer, preview the big games every Friday, provide a wrap of all the results on Sunday, and rank the top 15 First XV teams (based on their performances throughout the season) every Monday morning.

This week's Top 15 schools

1. Hastings Boys' High School
2. Rotorua Boys' High School
3. Otago Boys' High School
4. Hamilton Boys' High School
5. Auckland Grammar School
6. King's College
7. St Kentigern College
8. Kelston Boys' High School
9. Scots College
10. Sacred Heart College
11. Nelson College
12. St Bede's College
13. Tauranga Boys' College
14. St Peter's College
15. Christchurch Boys' High School

Midweek action

On Monday St Andrew's College suffered a heartbreaking 26-27 loss to John McGlashan College before Westlake Boys' High School defeated Tauranga Boys' College 22-17 on Auckland's North Shore, with first-five Jock McKenzie in tremendous form off the kicking tee and out of hand. St Patrick's Town managed to hang on by the same scoreline against Wellington College in their traditional interschool clash - despite a yellow card resulting in two quickfire tries.

In Taranaki, New Plymouth Boys' High School won an action-packed contest against St Patrick's Silverstream by 39-13, with Jack Parker (first-five) and Tuterangi Anderson (prop) the standouts for New Plymouth BHS. St Pat's openside flanker Mitchell Southall was busy as always, hitting the line hard, along with No 8 Peter Lakai.

Mitchell Southall continues to be impressive for St Patrick's College Silverstream. Photo / Supplied

After four games in 11 days, fatigue finally caught up Auckland Grammar School - going down 17-19 in a scrappy affair to Hamilton Boys' High School, who hadn't kicked a ball in three weeks.

Finau Halafihi's Auckland Grammar School lost a close encounter to Hamilton Boys' High School. Photo / Supplied

In other matches, Nelson College and Christchurch Boys' High School also claimed victories over Marlborough Boys' College (48-14) and Christ's College (31-13) respectively.

This weekend's matches

As far as traditional rivalries go, you won't find much better than the encounter between Westlake Boys' and Rosmini College. If McKenzie can manage anywhere near a repeat performance of the mid-week clash with Tauranga Boys', Rosmini could be in for a tough day. That said, "Rozza" have some firepower of their own - most notably in the form of captain Carlos Phillips and his midfield partner Rory Taylor.
Saturday, June 1: 12pm: Westlake Boys' High School v Rosmini College (Westlake Boys' High School).

Westlake Boys' first-five Jock McKenzie had an excellent day with the boot against Tauranga Boys' College. Photo / Supplied

If you're in the City of Sails, make your way to "The Cage" where the Moascar Cup is on the line between St Kentigern College and St Peter's College. St Kents, up until a week ago the country's No 1 team, will still be smarting from the 50 points they conceded in the shock defeat to King's College. Even with a raft of experienced players still missing from the mix, St Kents should have too much for St Peter's - with forwards Cam Church Tiaan Tauakipulu due a big performance. For the home side, much will depend on captain Naryan Strickland - easily the most in-form hooker in New Zealand at the moment.
Saturday, June 1: 1pm: St Kentigern College v St Peter's College (St Peter's College, Auckland).

Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens is one of the brightest talents in New Zealand First XV rugby. Photo / Getty

Francis Douglas Memorial College have had a topsy-turvy start to the season but would still fancy their chances against Whanganui Collegiate School. First-five Jacob Ratumaitavuki-Kneepkens is one of the brightest talents in New Zealand and will have a big impact on proceedings unless the Whanganui midfield of Sione Osamu and Te Atawhai Mason can somehow limit his movement.
Saturday, June 1: 12pm: Francis Douglas Memorial College v Whanganui Collegiate (Francis Douglas Memorial College, New Plymouth).

The weekend's big game in the Otago comp will be John McGlashan College against King's High School. John McGlashan will be brimming their talismanic halfback Nathan Hastie ruled out for the remainder of the season, King's could find the going tough in this one.
Saturday, June 1: 1pm: King's High School v John McGlashan College (King's High School, Dunedib).