Nelson College have dethroned Christchurch Boys' High School, taking out a thrilling UC Championship final 35-31.
After claiming an impressive 25-7 win over Christchurch in June, Nelson College proved that they were the real deal as they weathered an early storm from the visitors to finish strong.
Christchurch Boys - the South Island defending champions for three years in a row - rocketed out to a 12-3 lead early, playing scintillating running rugby in the tricky field conditions.
It only took them two minutes to put together 17 phases to barge over the line through prop Sam Frame, before Ben Hassall scored again in the 13th minute thanks to a gorgeous Sonny Bill Williams-esque offload which set up the try.
The visitors' early push, however, started to wear off towards the end of the first half as Nelson started to take over, with winger Connor Johnston eventually making the pressure count by scoring in the corner.
A big burst through the midfield by Nelson's Daniel Rogers led to a penalty and a final chance to take the lead into halftime. But after turning down a three-pointer, Nelson were held up and Christchurch hung on to a 12-11 lead at the break.
Christchurch started the second half like they did the first, scoring after just 18 seconds from the restart through a Keegan McGregor intercept try.
But Nelson would soon start to dominate the game again, and scored through Rogers, who was one of the best players on the park.
A couple of superb tries from their influential captain Anton Segner eventually put the game out of reach for Christchurch, who finished strong but weren't able to bridge the gap.
