"In my first year we beat them twice and we were unbeaten coming into the semifinal, where we played them again. My brother was in the team that year and we lost. I was just gutted - it stuck in my memory that to have beaten them twice and then lose in the semifinal was a huge blow.
"But in my last game in 2006 we played them in the final at North Harbour Stadium and we smashed them 76-8 - that beat every record. It was a pretty special way for me to end my 1st XV career.
"Even now, before the two schools play each other, there are a group of old boys from both schools still in touch and we bring up that game on social media. We have a bit of banter about it and try not to let the Rosmini boys forget about that one."
It's not just the results, though, that have stuck with Harris. Rivalries have a way of putting the respective schools on edge: the focus can be intense as for many of the boys, those games will be the crowning glory of their rugby careers. And even though Harris has now played test rugby against the All Blacks, he says those matches with Rosmini are still high on his list of memories.
"There was a bit of a buzz in the lead-up to those games - the principal would talk about it in assembly and encourage people to come along and watch. As players we didn't say too much about it, we all kind of knew what it meant. That's the thing with big games... I can remember walking into the changing rooms before we played Rosmini and it would always be quiet. That was a sign for me that everyone was focused.
"I can remember we had what we called the 'Westlake Wagon', which was a car that we had painted and they had a Mini that they drove to the sidelines and had a few boys jumping up and down on it. The special thing about those games were that the two schools were only about a kilometre away so bragging rights were huge. They were good times."
The old match
King's College v Auckland Grammar
First played: 1896
Played: 199
Grammar wins: 126
King's wins: 57
Drawn: 16
Grant Fox played 46 test matches for the All Blacks between 1984-93. He was at Auckland Grammar between 1976-1980 and had three years in the 1st XV.
A World Cup winner and now an All Black selector, Grant Fox has experienced the Auckland Grammar versus King's game from both sides. First played in 1896, the clash between the two Auckland heavyweights is recognised as probably the biggest rivalry in the schoolboy game. Crowds can be in excess of 5000 and both schools see it as the respective highlight of their season.
Fox was at Grammar for five years between 1976 and 1980 and, as a boarder, he had to watch in his first two years before he made the First XV in what he still calls fifth form.
"We won two and drew once," he says with no hesitation. "I can remember that draw vividly because we would have won had someone not missed a conversion with a few minutes left! That guy was mortified.
"I remember playing at King's and it was incredible. At Grammar we didn't have a haka but we had these chants that we had to learn. We were in third form and these song sheets would be handed out and you had to learn them. But they had about 400 boarders back then and they would do this haka and it was impressive."
Grammar won three consecutive 1A championships during Fox's time - no doubt helped by the fact that the coach in that period was one Sir Graham Henry. The match was always special, he says, but it was when he switched allegiance in 2004 to help coach the King's First XV - when his son Ryan was in the team - that he got a better understanding of what the fixture meant.
"The King's guys were really on edge that week," he says. "We were going through a rebuilding phase in the year I helped out and Grammar were pretty strong. But our guys were so focused and up for it - I actually joked that I wish they could have been like that all the time. We held on until about the last quarter and then Grammar broke free but it was interesting to see the game from a different perspective and how much it meant."
The Catholics
Sacred Heart v St Peter's College
Historical stats not readily available
Craig Innes played three years for Sacred Heart and won his first All Black cap at the age of 20. He played at the 1991 World Cup before joining league side Leeds and is now a director of the player agency Esportif.
St Peter's are recognised today as a good rugby school, but not in the heavyweight category. Back in the 1980s, it was a bit different, Craig Innes reckons.
"They had some good players back then for sure," he says. "They had Pat Lam and I think Shane Howarth might have played there for one year. It was a different experience in those days playing in 'The Cage'. They didn't have the artificial turf back then and it could be intense. I can't remember too much of the detail - but I know we beat them a bit and they beat us a bit. It was a good rivalry."
Much of the intensity was driven by the desire both schools felt to be the best Catholic institution in the city. To be able to say that was important and it added depth to the occasion.
"I guess back then De La Salle weren't the force they have become now. The big games for us were against Auckland Grammar, King's and Mount Albert Grammar - but for obvious reasons, St Peter's was the big one because of us both being Catholic schools."
Innes played three seasons for the Sacred Heart 1st XV, having come up to Auckland from Matamata. He says the competition in the 1A was fierce and the rivalries were intense.
Whether he would have gone on to become an All Black had he stayed in the Waikato ... he says he can't be sure. The exposure he gained as being part of a good Sacred Heart side was helpful and he's not too surprised that many kids today feel they need to be playing in the 1A to be noticed.
"It's interesting, I don't think Sacred Heart have won the competition for about 60 years or something like that," he says. "The closest we got in my time was making the final one year and playing Auckland Grammar in the pouring rain on Eden Park No2 ground. I can't remember the score but they won quite comfortably in the end. But it was good rugby and I enjoyed being part of it."
The west
Mount Albert Grammar School v Kelston Boys' High School
Historical stats not readily available
Steven Luatua is a current member of the Blues squad and won his first All Black cap in June this year. He played for the MAGS First XV between 2007-2009 and is "gutted" he wasn't captain in his final season.
The big thing for Steven Luatua about playing Kelston was that he knew their pedigree. He knew that in the last decade or so, the West Auckland school has been the country's most prolific provider of All Blacks. Kelston have churned out five in the past 10 years.
"I knew a lot of players in their team," says Luatua, "and I knew their history and that they had produced a lot of good players over the years - guys who had gone on to be All Blacks.
"When I came into the 1st XV it was one of those games that when you played them, and if you won or went quite well against them, you knew you were on the right track. I can remember my first game in my first year because I was young, we scored a try and we won. We went on to win the title that year, but funnily enough, it was the game we lost that I remember better.
"We played them in the first round of the 1A in my final year and they beat us. We didn't play well and it took us a few games after a bad start to come good. That game was important because it showed us how hard we needed to work to get back to the standards we had set. I played in teams that beat them twice but I probably remember that defeat more."
MAGS recovered in 2009 after that poor start to win the 1A title which meant Luatua left with two champ-ionships. It probably should have been three, but as he says: "We played really well all year through the round-robin and then it came to the playoffs and we choked."
1st XV Mania - Win at what cost?
A week-long investigation into schoolboy rugby's dirty little secret
Sunday - Schoolboy rugby's dirty little secret
Monday - Auckland rugby's rich-poor divide
Tuesday - Scepticism at St Kent's
Wednesday - Sky TV fuelling the obsession
Yesterday - College rugby no road to riches
Today - The great school rivalries through the eyes of former stars
