School rugby: History made in St Kentigern win

By JENNI RUTHERFORD

A lone bagpiper in full Scottish dress, complete with sporran, stood on a muddy bank oblivious to the bitter cold, rainswept day, pumping out the haunting tunes of battle.

Amid the din of yelling spectators, the piper - one of the St Kentigern pipe band that paraded before kick-off - played on, barely discernible over the ground-shaking roar of his schoolmates' impromptu haka.

Beyond the kilted figure lay the battle ground, a rain-sodden mire where Auckland's two top secondary school first XV rugby teams would wage war for 70 minutes.

With so much tradition surrounding the first XV rugby competition, it was only fitting that history be made.

St Kentigern College won their first 1A championships, defeating King's College 9-3 at the Merton Rd grounds on Saturday afternoon.

"I can't believe it," said St Kentigern captain Tim Lemiprieve. "I can't believe it.

"We have finally, finally done it."

St Kentigern have been finalists many times, including twice in the past three years - to Kelston Boys' High School in 1998 and St Peter's College last year.

They were known as a team that always stumbled at the last hurdle.

"This year was our year," said Lemiprieve, who was part of those losing sides and knew the emotions the King's team would be feeling.

"Agonising," was King's prop Andrew Campbell's take on how it hurt to lose the one that counts.

"It was pretty intense at halftime. We were discussing how to do it, how we were going to beat them, but it didn't work.

"Our game plan didn't work."

Despite the heartbreak, the King's parties planned for afterwards went ahead. "They won't be parties of celebration, more of reflection," Campbell said.

The conditions made for a tight game that saw the match won on penalties, although the 3500-odd spectators were treated to nail-biting times, as each side came within a breath of scoring.

St Kentigern held the lead from three minutes into the match, with the first of Josh Herron's three penalties.

They extended their advantage to 6-0 before King's first-five Kenzo Pannell booted one over. A third penalty had St Kentigern ahead 9-3 at halftime, a score they defended for the second half.

The sinbinning of King's centre Rob Connely made little difference, with four minutes left in the game. King's held out any last-ditch attempts by St Kentigern to extend the score.

As the crowd surged on to the field offering congratulations and commiserations to the players, the haka from each school bellowed.

The bagpiper was long gone from his post, probably joining the throngs of well-wishers hugging the victorious St Kentigern first XV of 2001.

* Across the bridge, Rosmini College relegated Massey High School to bridesmaids for the second consecutive year, with their 23-14 win in the North Harbour first XV competition at North Harbour Stadium.

Massey had plenty of fight, determined not to experience the despair of losing once again, and led 6-5 at halftime.

But Rosmini, who finished third in the round robin, were buoyed by their upset win against traditional rivals Westlake Boys' High School in the semifinals and scored three tries to one in the second half.

"It was a real ding-dong battle, but I think our boys wanted it more," said coach Taff Wikaira. "In a way the win against Westlake was more satisfying ... This was the icing on the cake."