Sacred Heart players celebrate their win. Photo / Photosport
By Bruce Holloway & Adam Julian
Here’s a media intro that hasn’t been penned for close on six decades: Auckland salutes its 1A First XV rugby champions, Sacred Heart.
On Saturday the 58-year curse on one of New Zealand’s pre-eminent rugby schools was finally lifted when Sacred Heart surged to an emotional 39-29 1A grand final win over previously-unbeaten top qualifiers St Kentigern.
Image 1 of 12: St Kent's supporters cheer on their team
At the final whistle at the Waitematā Rugby Club in Henderson, where upwards of 6000 were sardined into the pitch surrounds, Sacred Heart players thrust their hands skywards and embraced.
And on the sidelines weather-beaten Sacred Heart old boys - many of them not even born the last time there were such celebrations - wept openly after years of heartbreak, hurt and frustration.
Despite a culture that salivates for the oval ball, and legends such as Sean Fitzpatrick, Kieran Crowley, Craig “Postie” Innes and Nili Latu having passed through, the last time Sacred Heart won this competition (in 1965) Keith Holyoake was Prime Minister, Dove-Myer Robinson was Auckland Mayor, and The Beatles had just released Yesterday.
Sacred Heart were undoubtedly aided by a hearty and vociferous crowd that barricaded the small, creaking grandstand and the narrow confines in front.
The hill on the opposite side was meant to be an exclusive domain for St Kentigern’s supporters but the westward migration from Glen Innes saw the Presbyterians outnumbered by two-thirds.
There they stood, the likes of “Dusty”, “Bolts”, “Lammergeier” and “Frosty”. Is there any school in New Zealand - apart from a couple in Christchurch perhaps - where grown men, decades departed, wear rugby-style leaver’s jerseys and chat hoarsely beside current students?
And they certainly played their part when things got tight. With five minutes left, and Sacred Heart hanging on tenuously to a 36-29 lead, with play stuck near their goal-line, this old boys’ corner started cheering like mad, and the players took inspiration.
Sacred Heart lock Josh Tengbald poached a St Kent’s lineout five metres out from his line. It was his Joanah Ngan-Woo moment. St Kent’s menacing drive was at last snuffed out. The roar became a collective exorcism. The infamous “curse” would be banished.
No one would have been more delighted with the outcome than Brother Michael Taylor, the college’s rugby oracle and coach of the 1965 Sacred Heart team - as well as the teams that finished second in 1966, 1967, 1970 and 1971. He’s 94, blind but sharp, and match updates were being relayed to him.
History has however weighed heavily on Sacred Heart since the days of Brother Michael.
Sacred Heart were the only team to twice conquer Auckland Grammar School when Sir Graham Henry was cutting his teeth there. Between 1975 and 1980, “Ted” won 95 of 102 games as head coach of a lion that roared, and even Sacred Heart’s notable wins couldn’t get them home.
Again, in 1995 and 1996, Sacred Heart beat national champions Kelston Boys’ High School but still couldn’t nab a title. In 2011 Sacred Heart beat every team in 1A but stumbled in the semis to Kelston, who charged on to win the national Top Four. With the exception of 2013, semi appearances followed every season until 2019.
In the 2016 decider, Sacred Heart were trailing Mount Albert Grammar School 15-13 at Eden Park when a brazen attack saw prop Fatongia Paea charge to within a whisker of the line, draw in two defenders, and offload fractionally forward to an unmarked winger.
The following year Sacred Heart was up 19-6 at halftime against St Kent’s and blew it. And last year there was the frustration of bowing out in the semifinals at the hands of Kelston, with just four points in it.
The consolation this time around was Sacred Heart had so many of the Class of 2022 back on deck, older, wiser and stronger.
Ironically their worst performance of the season had been against St Kentigern in round robin play. However the nucleus of this team has been together since Year 7 and are well-coached, with good structures.
St Kent’s started in a calculated fashion. Multiple phases were constructed attacking the middle of the Sacred Heart ruck, with No 8 Rawiri Martin a Trojan for St Kent’s, who benefited from three successive penalties. This eventually led to halfback Kees Kolose scoring in the ninth minute, and Adam Morrison converting.
But any suggestion Sacred Heart were overawed by the occasion was dispelled shortly afterwards. With his first venture into blue and white territory, silky first five Rico Simpson flashed into a hole and reached the 22. Lightning-fast possession followed and halfback Sione Finau crossed.
Sacred Heart loosehead Tonga Helu was consistently damaging. In the 13th minute, he detached from a submarine-sturdy rolling maul and exploded clear like a solitary missile. Sacred Heart, with Simpson’s sideline conversion, led 14-7 and would never trail thereafter.
While the forward exchanges were relatively even, Sacred Hearts’ courage and speed out wide was telling. Centre Sunia Ragede was rock-solid and injections from fullback by Cohen Norrie raised alarm bells on one side and decibels on the other.
This was the Simpson show though. Two minutes before the interval, Sacred’s talisman nimbly danced through congestion to dot down under the sticks and make it 24-10.
The irritating audio-sewage played over a very loud sound system at every dead ball situation was generally an unnecessary distraction, given they create their own atmosphere and personalised soundtrack so brilliantly in schoolboy rugby.
But you’d have to concede they at least got it right when they played Moves Like Jagger after Simpson’s try.
Sacred Heart had all the swagger after the interval with Helu and Finau completing personal doubles within 10 minutes of the resumption.
At 31-10, it should have been a simple navigation to fulltime for Scared Heart - but this is Sacred Heart.
Concentration lapsed, a yellow card was conceded, and St Kent’s hard-working lock Sam Jancys pulled it back to 31-15 following a 25-metre rolling maul.
Finau restored Sacred Heart’s 21-point margin with a try but St Kentigern centre Tevita Naufahu kept the pressure on with a converted try to make it 36-22 and pint-sized Kolose, nippy and elusive, further closed the gap with his second.
With a handful of minutes left St Kent’s were within striking distance. But Tengblad’s lineout steal ended that and fittingly Simpson (19 points) had the last say with a penalty goal.
For Sacred Heart, prop Tamiano Ahloo was a colossus and Helu, resplendent in his red head gear, was a machine, earning approval from Sacred Heart scrum guru and old boy Mike “Machine” Casey for his work at the set piece.
Locks Tengblad and Dominic Kelleher - whose brother Christian had captained the 2014 team - were always disruptive, while Rico Simpson added the stardust in the backline.
For St Kentigern, No 8 Martin was a workhorse, though Sacred Heart did a better job of containing him in the second half.
And Naufahu was a late threat, though St Kent’s strategy appeared to be to attack the middle of the ruck and they only expanded when desperate at the end.
“What a game - best day ever,” a Year 7 Sacred Heart student informed the Herald in the general euphoria at the final whistle. Blasphemy! In this bonkers era of media bans, let’s hope the kid has not been placed on detention all week as a result.
Because the incongruity of a media ban when you are playing a final at a community rugby club in front of a crowd 10 times bigger than was attending the Auckland v North Harbour National Provincial Championship match at the same time can’t be overstated. This is the through-the-looking glass stuff of Alice in Wonderland.
Fulltime should have been the stage for highly-regarded coach Mark Selwyn to publicly share what it meant to his committed and skilful Sacred Heart team - and the wider college - to achieve what so many who went before him could not.
But there you go. Instead it was left to the old boys to reflect.
Kelsen Butler, Sacred Heart’s head boy in 1983, summed up the mood in the camp after a night of song and dance back at the college, with fellow old boys having flown in from all around the country.
“This has meant so, so much to so many,” Butler said. “We had been so close so many times before and never quite got there.
“But we knew we had a good shot with this team, with all the key players having played in the [losing] semifinal last year.”
Butler summed up being part of the Sacred Heart brotherhood as “a Hotel California kind of thing - you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave”.
And as well as Brother Michael, Butler said the win was also an overdue recognition of other key figures who had built the college’s legacy and sense of belonging.
This included Brother Gerard Mahoney, another former First XV coach, who is doing it tough health-wise at the moment, which had prompted a number of the Sacred players to carry his name on their wristbands during the match.
The win was also a tribute to Brother John Koore, who for years coached the college’s Under-85kg team, 92-year-old Brother Dunstan Henry, and Brother Murray Kelly, who coached the First XV in the late 1980s.
Almost as significant was the fact that some highly-organised Sacred Heart old boys showed two fingers to Auckland’s 1A media ban by commissioning Sport Inc, an independent television production company, to roll in with three cameras at Waitematā.
They were alarmed that a historic occasion might go unrecorded so took matters into their own hands to make sure everything was captured for posterity for their vast Catholic diaspora.
And a high-quality final product seems destined to go far beyond anything Sky TV managed in pre-media ban days, with unique behind-the-scenes matchday footage.
So who knows, in the short term, this may be the path forward in Auckland First XV rugby: high-quality bootleg rugby videos for the massive but starved schoolboy rugby audience.
At first glance Waitematā, in the boondocks of west Auckland, might have seemed a curious venue for a showdown between two neighbouring East Auckland schools.
But neither school had an appetite for playing at the other’s home, while the Fifa Women’s World Cup ruled out Eden Park.
Hosting by the clubs such as Pakuranga and University was considered but the reality is that permits and health and safety plans are required for council venues, there was little time and there aren’t that many places that can handle crowds of over 5000.
Because the Waitematā ground is owned by the club, it is not subject to the same restrictions and they offered to help. The organisation on the day, slick and friendly, nicely complemented the on-field action.
Sacred Heart 2023 First XV squad: Tonga Helu, Sione Finau, Tamiano Ahloo (capt), Dominic Kelleher, Joshua Tengblad, Cruiz Simpson, Noah Grace, Caleb Woodley, Liston Vakauta, Rico Simpson, Jayden Griffin-Salt, Alvin Chong Nee, Sunia Ragede, Zebby Uini-Faiva, Cohen Norrie, Joshua Kopua, Obeley Tuinukuafe, Ben Millard, Toby Grace, Flawless Lokeni, Joachim Paul, Max Morgan, Sateki Misiuata, Michael Sanderson, Opeti Sitani, Kisione Fifita, Darcy Porter, Charlie Ashford, Anthony Wirjapranata.
Coach: Mark Selwyn. Assistants; Karna Luke, Josh Loughman. Trainer: Luke Adams. Physio: Cam Simmiss. Manager: Liam Bradley. Assistant: Francis Stowers.
On Wednesday, Sacred Heart have to travel to play Whangārei Boys’ High School in a Blues region semifinal. Assuming they win, a powerful and comparatively fresh Westlake Boys’ High School will be awaiting them in the Blues final at North Harbour Stadium on Saturday.
In North Harbour competition, Westlake remained unbeaten for the season after despatching a gritty Rosmini College 42-8 in front of a crowd of about 3000 to take out the title and set up a defence of their Blues title.
Westlake played with their usual efficiency across the park, running hard and straight both through the pack, and in the inside backs.
Rosmini scored at either end of the match - taking an early lead with a penalty in the second minute, but then never really threatening again until dotting down in the last minute of the game - with Westlake scoring regularly during the intervening period.
Rosmini never gave up throughout, and tackled well in sometimes long periods of defence, but couldn’t match Westlake’s well-coached tactics, patience and discipline.
A series of long raking kicks by the Westlake wings repeatedly had Rosmini trundling back 60-plus metres. The Westlake forwards putting the defensive lineouts and clearances under considerable pressure to keep Rosmini pinned down to their goal line.
Westlake’s scrum and lineouts have been incrementally improving throughout the season, and look to be peaking at precisely the right time.
# Hamilton Boys’ High School beat St John’s College 43-14 last week, and then Wesley College 52-5 in the Chiefs regional semifinal. They now face Tauranga Boys’ College in the final on Saturday, who beat New Plymouth Boys’ High School 65-7.
Meanwhile, Palmerston North Boys’ High School beat Napier Boys’ High School 19-10 in the Hurricanes semifinal.
In the other semifinal, Wellington champions Scots College defeated Central North Island winners, Feilding High School, 43-35. Feilding have logged an appeal after the scrums went to “golden oldies” after just 10 minutes.
Southland Boys’ High School are South Island champions after beating Christchurch Boys’ High School 29-28 in a thriller at Les George Oval, Invercargill, with Year 11 student Jimmy Taylor kicking the winning conversion from the sideline.
Kiwi schools have now won the tournament three years in a row.