Hamilton Boys' High School might need a bigger silverware cabinet after its First XV clinched the Sanix world youth crown, an unofficial global schools championship, in Japan on Monday night.
The 15-11 victory in the final over Paarl Boys' High School was a last-gasp one after a very late tryin the corner to lock Viliami Tuipulotu. It means that Hamilton BHS now holds the Moascar Cup, a third Sanix title in five years, the Chiefs Cup, Super 8 and the Barbarians Cup for the national top four title, while the Third XV is the winner of the Waikato championship and Ian Foster Shield.
In the 2013 top four final against St Kentigern College of Auckland, Hamilton BHS knocked the champs off their perch with a narrow 12-10 result, so they can now call itself New Zealand and world champions, with a winning streak of 24 to its credit.
Monday's win was the culmination of a gruelling week in Fukuoka, where the team played six games in eight days, having to make full use of the 28-man squad. Sixteen teams compete at the tournament, eight from Japan and the other half from abroad.
After casting aside Japanese schools Toin Gakuen HS 46-0 and Josho Gakuen HS 47-5 in pool play, Hamilton BHS was pushed hard, 15-3 by French school Lycee Louis de Foix, of Bayonne, before punishing Higashi Fukuoka HS (62-10) and Tokai University Gyosai School (43-0) in the quarters and semis.
Paarl boasted a huge pack and had convincingly beaten Lycee Louis de Foix 37-5 in its semifinal, so was always expected to offer a stern contest for Hamilton BHS, which has lost most of its successful 2013 squad. But the boys have been training since December, so that fitness was telling when Tuipulotu, on his birthday, scored the match-winner. Sevu Reece had scored the first 10 points, but Paarl found itself ahead 11-10 with two minutes to play before Hamilton stole it at the death.
The team returns home on Friday to prepare for another big season of Super 8 and Chiefs Cup rugby. The two-week trip cost over $100,000 but it seems that was money well spent.
New Zealand schools have now won nine out of the 15 Sanix tournaments stretching back to its inception in 2000. The last five have all been won by New Zealand, whose representative is the national top four champion. St Kent's was the 2013 Sanix winner.
