KEY POINTS:
School hockey is alive and well on Auckland's North Shore.
The North Harbour association - already regarded as one of the strongest at age-group level nationally - took more than a passing interest as Westlake BHS and Rangitoto College added to their haul with wins in the boys' and girls' inter-city finals in a competition involving the best teams from Auckland, North Harbour and Counties Manukau.
Against predictions, WBHS edged Auckland Grammar 3-2 in the boys' final. A day later Rangitoto completed the sweep with their 4-0 win over St Cuthbert's in the girls' final.
That match, at Crown Relocations Stadium, was virtually decided in an early 15-minute burst as Rangitoto College raced to a 3-0 lead. A fourth unanswered goal in the second half gave the Steve Heard-coached team a comfortable win.
Laura Josephson opened the scoring in the sixth minute with a spectacular flick high into the top corner which gave the custodian little hope.
Another two goals in the next nine minutes had Rangitoto firmly in control as they went on to complete their season in the North Harbour competition and inter-city play unbeaten.
"Even though it is a young team [including four Year 9 students] they showed a great deal of maturity," said Heard. "They dealt well with the pressure but at the same time kept to the game plan."
Although they have opted to play in the second-tier Marie Fry tournament in Hamilton this week, they aim to return to the top-level Federation Cup next year, with all but two of this year's squad due back.
Westlake handed coach Rakesh Govind a fitting farewell present with their win. After 13 years' involvement in the sport - nine at Auckland Grammar and the rest at WBHS - Govind is preparing to take a break.
At 0-1 he must have wondered whether his team were going to deliver.
But an equaliser from captain/inside left Garrick Frittelli just half a minute after Joe Crooks had given AGS the lead from open play restored his confidence.
James Coughlan added a second soon after for a 2-1 halftime lead. That was stretched to 3-1 10 minutes into the second spell when Craig Cachopa converted a penalty stroke. AGS got one back similarly with five minutes to play with Shay Neal scoring.
The cross-harbour rivalry continues today with AGS playing Rangitoto in the quarter-finals of the Rankin Cup as AGS continue their attempt to defend the premier national title.
They have won three of the last four Rankin Cups; their only miss was in 2005, when King's beat WBHS.
CYCLING
The growing popularity of cycling in schools has led to an increase in both the number of competitors lining up for this weekend's nationals and the number of days to accommodate them.
The championships, in their 19th year, begin on Friday with the Timex Time Trials over 4km and 8km out-and-back courses on Riverside Rd-Dunkirk Rd, Panmure. On Saturday the 426 cyclists will head to East Tamaki for the demanding Genius criteriums, where there will be seven races around the 1.2km circuit.
The competitors from 50 schools will be back at Panmure on Sunday morning for the last event, the testing 800m Full Cycle hillclimb up Mt Wellington.
The pressure will be on Alex Cull (Macleans) as he attempts to defend the overall under-20 title he won last year. He can expect strong challenges from St Kentigern's Myron Simpson and Tom Gate and Aaron Gate (AGS).
Some hot racing is also certain in the girls' under-20 championship, in which Emma Petersen (St Peter's School), Ellen Fowler (Macleans), Alice Ross (St Cuthbert's) and southerner Phillipa Swain (Central Southland) all have claims.
Sarah Gilkison will defend her under-17 title, and in the boys' under-17 grade Patrick Williamson (Dunstan HS) will go in as favourite after his win in the under-16 last year.
RUGBY
There will be plenty to play for when long-time rivals Wesley College and Hamilton BHS clash at Wesley today.
Wesley need only a draw in the match (1pm kick-off ) to go through to the national top-four secondary schools championships at Rotorua's Whakarewarewa Rugby Club.
Hopes that local school Rotorua BHS would win through to join Mt Albert Grammar, Gisborne BHS and Nelson Boys College in the top four were dashed when they were beaten by Wesley (17-7) and Hamilton (12-10) in hard-fought games. Rotorua represented the Chiefs franchise region in last year's top-four contest.
Hamilton go into today's game as slight favourites after going through the season unbeaten. Wesley are five-time winners of the national title, including a shared title with Christchurch BHS in 2004. In the following two years, Christchurch took the honours outright.
Mt Albert Grammar, the Auckland champions, secured their place at the national play-offs as representatives of the Blues franchise area with easy wins over the Northland and North Harbour winners.
MAGS beat Takapuna Grammar 45-6 a week ago after leading 26-6 at halftime. They then travelled early on Saturday morning to play Kerikeri HS - who had beaten Whangarei BHS 21-10 in the Northland final.
The visitors quickly took control, clearing out to win by a staggering 93-14 after leading 40-7 at halftime.
Kimami Sitauti led the charge with four tries - three in the second half. Ray Laulala scored three tries and kicked a couple of conversions. Sean Fletcher, Rocky Khan (2), Glen Potoi (2), Travis Brighouse and Iopu Iopu (2) also dotted down. Carl Perry landed seven conversions.
The finals will be a huge step up for MAGS but they, like Gisborne and Nelson, will at least have the advantage of having a week's break before their first game in Rotorua.
Gisborne BHS, who beat Wesley pre-season, drew with Wellington College and then beat Te Aute College to win the right to represent the Hurricanes franchise.
Nelson claimed their place by beating St Bede's to earn their chance to represent the South Island.
MAGS will play Nelson in the opener on Saturday, and Gisborne will meet the winner of today's game in the late match. The first-day winners will play in Monday's final.
SOCCER
There is a familiar look to next week's Auckland SS Knockout Cup final with MAGS set to play long-time rivals AGS at Bill McKinlay Park.
MAGS booked their 10th final appearance in 11 years with a 4-0 home win over Sacred Heart College. In the second semifinal, played a day later at Keith Hay Park, AGS claimed a last-gasp 1-0 win over St Peter's College.
After an even start, MAGS killed off their semifinal with a four-goal burst midway through the first spell.
Milosh Nikolic got them started when he ran on to a superb ball from Matt Killip and powered the ball past Anthony Brosnan in the SHC goal.
Nikolic added his second six minutes later when he provided the finish to a Malcolm MacRae cross from the right wing. Nikolic then turned provider in playing a wall pass with Mark Withers, who made it 3-0 in the 33rd minute. Two minutes later the scoring was completed when Skye Parmenter and MacRae combined well from a corner before the ball was played to the far post from where captain Ash Solly headed home.
St Peter's made life difficult for AGS and fought resolutely before going down in the dying seconds when AGS captain Ian Hogg expertly played a 25m freekick over the St Peter's defensive wall to find the left-hand corner of the net.
The September 5 KO final will come at the end of another long, keenly fought season, with MAGS and AGS currently playing the Lotto Sports Premier tournament in Napier, where they are again among the favourites.
SQUASH
Auckland Grammar struck again to continue their stranglehold on the national teams' title. Their win over Rotorua BHS earned them a fifth straight secondary school crown.
As top seeds, AGS were given a first round bye. They then crushed Marlborough BHS 5-0 before getting home 4-1 over a spirited St Kentigern in the quarter-finals.
The tempo picked up in the semifinals as AGS came from 1-2 down to beat Wellington's Tawa College 3-2.
AGS were given a flying start in the final, with Nathan Gunn winning 3-0. He was followed on court by captain Peter Sullivan, who was taken all the way in coming back from 1-2 to win a classic 3-2.
The title was clinched when AGS No 1 Cameron Jamieson won 3-1 and sealed victory, with the last two games not needing to be played.
TABLE TENNIS
Macleans continue to dominate the Auckland early spring championships. In beating near neighbours St Kentigern 6-1 in the feature fifth-round match, Macleans are now the only unbeaten team.
With Terry and Steven Zeng winning their two singles matches, Macleans were always in control. They also combined to win the key doubles. Roy Lin won one of his singles to complete a comprehensive victory. Lingnan Kong prevented the clean sweep by winning one singles.
AGS beat St Kentigern B 6-1 and Mt Roskill Grammar, too, won easily, getting home 5-2 over Macleans B. In the best battle of the round, the second AGS team beat their third team 4-3.
