Westlake celebrating their win.
Talent-laden Westlake Boys’ High will this week go in search of their first national first XV rugby title, having narrowly wrapped up the Blues region title for a second successive year.
Fuelled by a mix of infectious self-belief, individual brilliance, and cast-iron defence, Westlake pipped an equally-determined Sacred Heart 32-31 in front of a crowd of 5000 at home on Saturday.
It was a see-sawing thriller that would have gladdened the heart of even the most tortured All Blacks supporter or jaded NPC fan.
And they’ve now earned the right to face Tauranga Boys’ College – 33-26 winners over outgoing national champions Hamilton Boys’ High School – in Palmerston North on Friday at 1.10pm, while Southland Boys’ High School clash with Palmerston North Boys’ High School in the other Barbarians National First XV Championship semifinal.
But to paint an even broader picture, Westlake’s victory came in a week when first XV followers everywhere were left scratching their heads over murky manoeuvrings further south.
Wellington champions Scots College won an off-field legal maul, with a successful counter-appeal against a previously successful appeal, to knock Feilding High School out of the running - only to then almost immediately default their playoff with Palmerston Boys’ High School (and more about this later).
So in a sense this pulsating Westlake-Sacred Heart contest was the metaphorical ointment for the Scots College scab. This was the best of schoolboy rugby overshadowing the worst of schoolboy rugby.
Sacred Heart were worthy Auckland champions, but in crossing to a mysterious exotic rugby land on the northern side of the Harbour Bridge – where they are bold enough to livestream matches and (gasp) talk to media – they came up against a team which did to them exactly what they have been doing to other sides all season.
Westlake director of rugby Hugh McGahan said this title win was even more gratifying than last year’s breakthrough title.
“It was really satisfying because last year there were people saying that a North Harbour school winning the Blues title was probably just a fluke,” McGahan said.
“But we are serious about our sport and were well-prepared, even though we knew it would be tougher second time around in the sense that we had bigger expectations for ourselves.
“I think we were also more confident in that we knew what we had to do.”
Westlake, who are also proud Auckland First XI football and cricket champions, can’t match Sacred Heart for rugby heritage, though do have a small portfolio of All Blacks products in the form of Dean Kenny, Frano Botica, Ron Williams, Nick Evans, Luke McAllister and Dillon Hunt.
And despite being starved of quality opposition for much of the North Harbour season, Westlake are no longer trapped in crippling self-doubt, instead building their rugby legacy with an eye-catching brand of risk-and-reward play.
They flourished as a fearless, skillful and organised unit in an atmosphere of palpable optimism at Forrest Hill Rd and were worthy victors against the redoubtable Sacred Heart, who struggled to scale the colossal heights of the previous Saturday.
The special hero for Westlake was fullback Isaac Murray-Macgregor, who at this time last year made his name in kicking a late penalty for the inaugural 23-20 Blues final win over Kelston Boys’ High School.
This year Murray-Macgregor was again the match-winner, but this time more for his wily running, which nailed two critical second-half tries. After the final whistle, he was the one being most warmly embraced on the Westlake terraces.
Sacred Heart led 14-8 at halftime, thanks to tries from Zebby Uini-Faiva and a 60-metre runaway from the other winger, Jayden Griffin-Salt, but were listless after the interval, while Westlake played with fewer inhibitions and greater urgency.
Westlake scented blood and a feverish burst yielded three converted tries in 15 minutes. In between coldly monotonous lineout drives came two blockbuster strikes by Murray-Macgregor.
Hulking centre James Cameron introduced Murray-Macgregor to the scoresheet. A bullying bust at halfway saw the Crusaders-bound Murray-Macgregor galloping alongside Cameron to eventually take a regulation pass.
Truman Capote wrote in Breakfast at Tiffany’s: “Dizzy with excitement is no mere phrase”, and when Murray-Macgregor turned his usually-exceptional opposite Cohen Norrie in knots and flashed 40m, Westlake TV commentator Dominic Barker was leaping breathlessly on the balcony overlooking the pitch.
Barker, a gregarious Year 13 student, was so overcome with emotion he nearly fell off. Auckland’s 1A principals would prefer to suppress such overt displays of joy, but Barker’s euphoric commentary will be the soundtrack of many Westlake reunions.
Sacred Heart looked gone at 29-14, but the 2023 cohort have a steely resolve. A try to hooker Lotu Finau from quick initiative, followed by a 40m penalty to first five Rico Simpson, cut the deficit to five.
With legs barely the size of a corner flag, Murray-Macgregor appeared an unlikely prospect from a Sacred infraction 45m out. But cheered on by his own fan club, his penalty kick was a soaring success and Westlake led 32-24 with about five minutes remaining.
Westlake first five Blake Lidgard then shelled a pass beside the posts to revive the visitors. A try and quick drop-kicked conversion by Simpson paved the way for an anxious and exhilarating climax.
Sacred second five Alvin Chong Nee made frequent dents in the defence. When he blasted through feeble tackling like a cannon, the winning of the game was in the hands of wing Ulni-Faiva. He stumbled marginally short of the paint, a Westlake hand to ankle wobbling the accomplished finisher off his stride.
After a sluggish start, Westlake loosehead Alex Va’aia, with his Radike Samo hairstyle, was barnstorming. Loose forwards Travis Findlay, Luke Matson, and Jay Dunne were a complementary trifecta. Winger J.D. Van Der Westhuizen was rampant, and Lidgard was largely unshackled because of lightning service from halfback Taiga Kato, who started his rugby life at Westlake in Year 9 as a centre and fullback.
For Sacred Heart, lock Josh Tengbald proved steadfast in the middle row, but few other players could impose themselves in the manner they had a week earlier.
Westlake have now won the North Harbour competition so many times as to almost render that achievement meaningless, but their newfound Blues dominance should pose serious questions on the other side of the bridge.
Has 1A become too insular, too ingrown, with too much of a soft belly in its lower reaches, with too many teams that barely know what a win looks like? Is North Harbour now the default power base for first XV rugby in the Blues region?
Readers can make up their own minds. From a 1A perspective, to lose one final may have seemed unfortunate, but to drop two on the trot is downright careless.
There will be new first-time national first XV champions this year whatever happens this weekend, with none of the top four schools having previously won. Southland Boys’ High School lost in the 1987 final, while Palmerston North Boys’ High School lost in the 1996 and 1997 finals.
With Whakaata Māori planning to livestream the Barbarians National First XV Championships, the absence of a media-shy Auckland team might be fitting.
NZ Barbarians National First XV Championships draw, Friday:
Girls’ First XV Championship semifinals:
10.30am: Mt Albert Grammar v Hamilton Girls’ High School
12.30pm Manukura v Christchurch Girls’ High School
National First XV Championship semifinals:
1.10pm: Westlake v Tauranga Boys’ College
2.45pm PNBHS v Southland Boys’ High School
Sunday’s schedules for the finals may be subject to change, depending on who the finalists are and the availability of South Island flights, but the following is the planned schedule.
Girls’ First XV Finals:
10.15am: Playoff for 3rd. 10.30am: Final
National First XV Finals:
11.45am: Playoff for 3rd. 12.40pm: Final
The Scots College v Feilding debacle over front-row substitutes was so bizarre that if you had written it as a script for a television production it would have been laughingly rejected with a directorial note to make it more believable.
But the latest news is folk are at least trying to explore the movie possibilities on YouTube, where an 8-minute video has been compiled to forensically deconstruct Scots College’s game-day case about not having enough front-row reserves:
Scots College defaulted their Hurricanes regional final against Palmerston North Boys’ High School at 9pm on Friday, on safety grounds, citing a dearth of front-rowers.
But not before they had ensured that semifinal opponents Feilding High could not progress instead, following a saga that had more appeals than an America’s Cup regatta.
Scots College had beaten Feilding High 43-35 but the result was overturned following a Feilding appeal.
The game went to uncontested scrums early in the first half because Scots had an injury and said they did not have sufficient front-row reserves.
The laws state a team should have five front-row players in the squad of 22 - three starters and two reserves. If the team only has four front-row players, then they can only have a squad of 21 and if they have only three front-row players, then they can only have 20 players in the squad.
Feilding appealed and the outcome was overturned. But Scots then appealed their disqualification and New Zealand Secondary Schools Rugby Union upheld the appeal.
Scots were found to have supplied an incorrect teamsheet, something headmaster Graeme Yule called “a small technical matter”.
How and why this happened so late in the season with a coaching staff that boasts decades of experience in the game and a paid rugby director, Andre Bell, who has coached professionally (including the Wellington Lions) is a mystery. A rugby director is a luxury few schools enjoy.
But this is the third time in four years that Scots have botched paperwork, with the previous two cases leading to deductions in points in the Wellington Premiership. Last year, six points were wiped from Scots’ tally, which ultimately cost them a place in the semifinals.
Feilding had their appeal overturned on the technicality that they had contacted the incorrect person at the rugby union to lodge their initial protest. That’s like calling an Uber when you need an ambulance.
In justifying the appeal when Scots were not proceeding in the competition, Yule released a statement on Saturday in which - in the only comment the school would make - he said the final availability of the school’s squad was not known until Friday.
“And secondly, we needed to defend the complaint as it questioned the integrity of our coaching staff.”
Yule was delighted that the findings of an independent committee upheld Scots’ actions and descried media reporting as “ill-informed and inappropriate” and social media commentary as “unwarranted”.
And where some saw villainy, Yule even found virtue.
“This matter in many ways amplifies the issues and attitudes in the game that see declining player, coach, volunteer and referee numbers,” he said.
“It is disappointing that we have been unable to continue but we will always put player safety first. I would commend our coaching staff for their brave decision and the care of their players.”
But if Scots were entering a semifinal knowing they didn’t have contestable front rowers on their bench, there is an argument to say that they should have defaulted then, which would have put Feilding through to the final.
As a minimum, the minutes of the appeal hearings now need to be released for the sake of transparency.
Meanwhile, another lingering question is: how can the Wellington Premier champions and a top-eight school in New Zealand be so drastically short of front rowers?
Scots’ roll is only marginally smaller than Hastings Boys’ High School, which won the National Top Four in 2017 and 2019. Wesley College in the past won national titles five times with a smaller roll than Scots.
Scots’ Second XV plays in the Premier Four competition in Wellington. They finished third in the round-robin of the Onslow Cup. On July 29 they were beaten in the 3 v 6 quarter-final 22-7 by the Fourth XV of St Patrick’s College Silverstream.
Following a default of the late semifinal by St Pat’s Town, Scots earned the right to contest the plate final (for fifth place) against Hutt Valley High School. The match was cancelled, meaning that out of 38 open-weight Wellington Secondary School teams, Scots’ Second XV effectively tied for 35th place. Scots’ Under-15s compete in Division 2. They made the final and lost.
This might explain their lack of front-row depth and why Scots was the only school to resist a reduction in “new to school” numbers in Wellington. The “new to school” rule was also a source of real discontent in Auckland.
Scots College this week will instead compete in the Independent Schools First XV competition at King’s College, along with St Kentigern College, St Andrew’s College, Christ’s College, King’s College, and St Paul’s Collegiate.
Because the tournament is independent, it’s not subject to the same eligibility rules as the national competition. Wellington Under-16 prop Brandon Lo, who wasn’t available for the Feilding game because he is “new to school”, will likely cover one of the prop positions.
# Tauranga Boys’ College will contest the Barbarians National First XV Championship for the first time, while Hamilton Boys’ High School last missed out in 2015.
After their win over Hamilton, Tauranga now also hold the Moascar Cup for the fourth time.
The college’s finest season came in 1968, when they went unbeaten with 19 wins and a draw. In 1974 they won 17 out of 18 games, while in 1999 they won the Super 8 for the only time.
# Who was your school’s First XV player of the year, in your opinion? Readers are invited to send their thoughts, with a statement of case to: nzschoolboyrugby@gmail.com.
How different might rugby look in 25 years?